[mythtv-users] AIW 8500DV

[Bruce Markey]

ElectricianDrew at aol.com wrote:
> Hello all,
> I know this question has been asked a million times,

More realistically, it's in the hundreds.

> but I've searched 
> the mailing list archives and can't find the answer for my specific 
> hardware.

The GATOS drivers can not record with anything other than the
TCL app by the authors. Specifying a model number doesn't change
that.

> I am planning on using an ATI All-in-wonder 8500DV with MythTV (kinda 
> waiting for 0.9) on Mandrake 9.1. I don't need TV-out but it would be 
> nice. The latest GATOS drivers ( http://gatos.sf.net ) can capture 
> video,...

Only from X memory while it is being shown on screen when
using an app written specifically for the km driver.

> ...show it on the screen,...

The driver and the associated app do not playback the files.
You can view then through another player.

> ...output to TV...

Only if you pay attention to the letter of the instruction
and use the "devel" branch of CVS; not the current CVS or
latest release, only the branch tagged "devel".

> ...and work as the video card as 
> well ( http://gatos.sourceforge.net/supported_cards.php ) . Why won't 
> this work in MythTV? It's supposedly working completely with the GATOS 
> tv viewer / capture application. The GATOS drivers support video4linux.

It won't work with MythTV or the majority of other v4l apps
because km can only capture while the output is being displayed
in X. It does not support mmap features from the bttv driver
commonly used by most apps but not part of the formal v4l
standard.

It's the classic Emperor's New Clothes effect. People go to
the GATOS site wishing that it will simply so everything that
they dream it might do and the site doesn't spell out what
won't work. I suspect that most people slave away with no
success then give up assuming that GATOS would do wonderful
things but they just didn't get their configuration worked
out correctly.

> Maybe I need to use composite video in, instead of the tuner?

See what I mean ;-).

> I've seen hints that the AIW 8500 is useable in MythTV, but that other 
> AIW's have trouble. Perhaps the 8500 DV (note the DV) works differently?

Nope. Any "hint" you saw was a misunderstanding or wishful
thinking.

> If anyone has had any success with this specific card then I'd love to 
> hear how it's done.

I went out and bought bttv cards and used the leftover AIW
cards for TV out only. However, the output is limited to 16
bits, there is no overscan support and the color reproduction
is really poor so nVidia is a better choice for TV-out.

> I'm familiar with Linux and can edit config files 
> and compile drivers or whatever but I've never done anything huge like 
> recompiling the kernel so if that kind of stuff needs to be done, you'll 
> have to walk me through it :-)
> If I could at least get capture working in MythTV then that would be OK, 
> but I'd much rather get capture and video output (at least to a monitor) 
> if possible. Again, if it works in the Gatos AVview program, why won't 
> it work in MythTV?

See above.

> I also noticed that ATI themselves also puts out an RPM package of 
> drivers for this card ( http://support.ati.com/ ). Anyone have any luck 
> with these?

It doesn't work no matter who compiled the driver.

> Sorry for the long message but I had lots of questions.

Really one question and the answer is, no, it won't work.

I hope this saves you some time and gets you headed in the
right direction.

--  bjm