stephen_agent at jsw
Apr 13, 2012, 6:47 AM
Post #5 of 11
(1081 views)
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On Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:25:30 +1200, you wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>I'm pretty convinced I've reached the end of my efforts to make this card
>work, so just thought I'd plunk all my findings here and see if there are
>others that were in the same position.
>
>I'm located in New Zealand (h264 encoding on HD Terrestrial TV) and ever
>since I have got hold of this card, it's giving me problems with reception.
>As we have always been in a rental with questional aerials, I have always
>blamed that and kept using DVB-S freeview. In our last place I did actually
>go through the trouble of installing a new masthead amp, which helped, but
>still signal quality issues. We have recently purchased a home, and now I'm
>committed to make it all work and get a good setup.
>
>Basically what I'm seeing is corrupt signals (artifacts). When I "re-wind"
>and play the same piece of recording again it's the same which indicates to
>me it's a receiving problem, not playback.
>
>So I've been searching the net and forums and I have found other people
>with the same issue, most not being able to fix it and simply going for
>another card. Apparently the card needs a really strong signal. Also, the
>internal low noise amplifier has been reported to be a problem (mine was
>off). Chaning it to "on" (options dvb_usb_dib0700 force_lna_activation=1)
>did not appear to make any difference.
>
>I have borrowed a separate freeview set top box, which gets excellent
>picture. Also Prime (an analog channel from the same transmitter) is
>crystal clear. So my feeling is that I have exhausted all things I can do,
>apart from installing a higher gain antenna and possible a mast head amp.
>Although I'm not convinced as the stb works fine.
Prime is broadcast on a different frequency from the DVT-T
multiplexes. Its signal levels at your aerial will be different due
to both the different frequency and any difference in transmitter
power levels.
>One thing I don't understand yet is the "Diversity" mode, which seems to
>connect the 2 antenna connectors together so only 1 antenna cable is needed
>(i always had 2 connected). No Idea how to control that in Linux, and what
>the correct setting is anyway.
There are no settings for the diversity setup in Linux. With two
different aerials connected, in Windows the TD-500 is supposed to run
both its tuners at the same time on the same multiplex and select the
packets with the lower error rate dynamically from the two sources.
The Linux drivers do not seem to support this.
>There are also reports that this card just does not do h264 with high
>bitrate properly and not to be used in NZ, and that there are versions that
>are faulty or slightly different hardware that makes it not work in all
>situations.
Those reports are wrong, unless they are about a different version of
the TD-500. My two work just fine on NZ signals at all bit rates
including TV3 which seems to be the one using the highest bit rates.
>So put all these variables together and I'm thinking... not worth the
>effort anymore. Has anyone had similar issues with this card? And managed
>to fix it?
>
>So thinking of switching to a HVR-2200, or maybe another one that is
>recommended. I have an HVR-4400 isntalled too, which I want to use for some
>satellite channels.
>
>Oh.. running on Opensuse 12.1
>
>Cheers
>Johan (Auckanld, Te Atatu Peninsula Area)
I have had a Nova TD-500 running in my mother's MythTV box for years
and I also ran one in my box for quite some time until I needed that
PCI slot for something else. I did have signal level problems with my
MythTV box, until I added an aerial amplifier. I did get reception,
but there were often glitches. But the level problems were probably
because I had so many things split off the one aerial (2 TVs, an FM
tuner, 2 MythTV boxes with 3 tuners each, 2 VCRs, and another Windows
PC with 3 more tuners). For some time, my mother's card worked
without an amplifier, until one day she started to have problems too.
On investigation, I found that the VHF aerial on the roof had come
loose on its mount and swung around to touch the UHF aerial, causing a
small signal level drop. Swinging it around again fixed the problem,
but the difference in signal level between working and not was very
small, so I opted to add an aerial amplifier there too, and that fixed
the levels to such an extent that when the VHF aerial swung loose
again in the next storm, the TD-500 kept on working.
Hauppauge is notorious for slipstreaming different versions of
hardware without changing the product name or ID. But they usually
have a different USB or PCI device ID and can be distinguished that
way. My mother's card is ID 2040:8400. What does the lsusb command
show for your card?
For reference, here is what my mother's card shows for an lsusb "-d
2040:8400 -v" command:
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 2040:8400 Hauppauge
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
idVendor 0x2040 Hauppauge
idProduct 0x8400
bcdDevice 1.00
iManufacturer 1 Hauppauge
iProduct 2 WinTV Nova-DT
iSerial 3 4032966243
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 46
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xa0
(Bus Powered)
Remote Wakeup
MaxPower 500mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 4
bInterfaceClass 255 Vendor Specific Class
bInterfaceSubClass 0
bInterfaceProtocol 0
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x01 EP 1 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 1
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 1
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x82 EP 2 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 1
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x83 EP 3 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 1
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
bLength 10
bDescriptorType 6
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
bNumConfigurations 1
Device Status: 0x0000
(Bus Powered)
It is also possible that your card is simply faulty. Is it possible
to test it in a Windows PC on the same aerial? I run Mediaportal on
my Windows box for TV recording:
http://www.team-mediaportal.com
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