[mythtv-users] FusionHDTV 5 on Linux

[Stefan Wrobel]

Forwarding this convo onto the list because I think it would be helpful to
other people out there.

Stefan Wrobel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andrew Gallatin <gallatin at cs.duke.edu>
Date: Sep 28, 2005 7:48 AM
Subject: Re: FusionHDTV 5 on Linux
To: Stefan Wrobel <swrobel at gmail.com>

Stefan Wrobel writes:
> Drew,
> I saw your message on the Mythtv-users mailing list about using the Fusion
> HDTV5 successfully to tune QAM. Can you elaborate a little bit more on
what
> driver you used and any caveats with the setup? As far as I had found
(until
> I saw your post) there wasn't a solid, working driver for this card in
> Linux. Thanks!

The driver is not in the linux kernel yet. I'm running a vanilla
kernel.org <http://kernel.org/> 2.6.13 kernel, with the DVB and V4L drivers
built from CVS.

To build the DVB/V4L drivers from CVS, follow the directions at
http://www.linuxtv.org/v4lwiki/index.php/How_to_build_from_CVS.
Make sure to also reboot after installing the kernel as they
describe in step 2.

I have the FusionHDTV5 Gold, but according to the mailing lists, the
Lite works as well. I'm quite happy with my Gold. I'm currently only
using it on cable, so I cannot comment on its OTA reception. Also, if
you get the Dvico MCE remote (which is bundled with the gold), search
the mythtv archives for a patch to lircd to make it work.

Drew

Stefan Wrobel writes:
> Awesome, thanks for the response. I'm just planning on using this for
cable,
> and I already have a remote, so I think I'll just go for the Lite. Are you
> aware of any difference in functionality? I knew that the FusionHDTV III
was
> in DVB CVS, but that's exciting to hear that 5 is. Thanks for the advice,
>

I think the difference is that the gold has a cx88 based tuner, while
the lite has a bt878 based tuner.

My impression from what I've read on the linux dvb mailing list is
that the bt878 has a smaller buffer than the cx88, which would make
the lite more sensitive to contention on the PCI bus, or longer
interrupt latency (shared irqs, etc). See the threads at
http://www.linuxtv.org/pipermail/linux-dvb/2005-September/thread.html

I do know that my gold has a problem recording a full QAM stream
without pid filtering. Eg, if I try to record the full stream from
QAM channel 84 here, which is both DicoveryHD and TNT-HD, then I get
skips and artifacts. But if I use pid filtering to record JUST
DiscoveryHD or TNT-HD, then the stream is fine. Note that myth
does pid filtering, but there are plans afoot to allow for recording
multiple streams from the same dtv multiplex (which is basically like
my example of recording all of channel 84). I would guess that that
lite would be worse than the gold for cable, but you never know.

Also, the gold I have requires a bit more signal than my TV's QAM
tuner does. The gold only started to work once I put an 8db amp
on the cable line.

Drew
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