[linux-dvb] FusionHDTV5

[Michael Krufky]

Jate wrote:
> I am thinking about buying a DVICO FusionHDTV5 Lite. I read that DVICO
> recommends a video card with MPEG2 decoding acceleration to provide hardware
> assistance with the HDTV stream decoding.

Just curious, why the Lite model and not the Gold?  I recommend the Gold 
model over the Lite model, any day.

> I have also read that Linux video card drivers do not necessarily have
> support for this hardware assistance. I have also read that binaries from
> NVidia may have this support. I want to know if I would need to upgrade to a
> brawnier processor in order to get this working.

The Gold model is less CPU-intensive than the Lite model.  The Lite 
model does NOT have the mpeg decoder that you are speaking of on-board, 
but the Gold model does.  Actually, DViCO recommends ATI video boards 
for the DxVA acceleration... I like to stay away from NVidia, but that 
is just me...  Be my guest and taint your kernel with proprietary 
binaries ;-)

> If you are a FusionHDTV5 Linux pioneer, can you tell me your performance
> experience?

I have tried all three of these models (below) with my Pention 4 3.06 
GHz HT processor... I have some slower machines here, but I havent 
bothered sticking any of these cards in there yet.  They all perform 
very well in my machine under both Linux AND Windows, except that Linux 
DVB support for the Lite board isnt yet complete.  Mac Michaels, the 
author of the frontend driver for all of these boards, has a slightly 
slower machine, and he has mentioned that his machine chokes a bit on 
the 1080i HDTV streams.  I, on the other hand, can still compile a 
kernel in less than ten minutes while watching HBO in Hi-Def on the same 
machine without a hitch.

FusionHDTV 5 LITE:  I am currently working on the driver for this card. 
  I have completed analog video support, and it is flawless.  The 
(analog) driver for this board can be found in video4linux cvs, and 
probably will not hit the stable linux kernel until 2.6.14  (we missed 
the 2.6.13 deadline for this one).  DVB support for FusionHDTV5 Lite is 
a work-in-progress.  It is coming along, although I wouldn't expect full 
support right away.

FusionHDTV5 GOLD:  I was able to sneak analog support for this board 
into 2.6.13, but DVB support requires the newer version of the analog 
driver, found in video4linux cvs.  Yes, I *did* say that DVB support 
requires an analog update, not a DVB update.  I'd rather not explain 
this now -- it's a long story.  Mac Michaels wrote the driver for the 
LGDT3303 frontend (used in all of these boards), and that driver will be 
included in 2.6.13, but disabled for FusionHDTV5 Gold.

FusionHDTV 3 Gold-T: If you want a board that works in linux NOW (as of 
2.6.13) then THIS is the board that you want to buy.  Full analog AND 
dvb support have been implemented, and this code is already present in 
Linus' 2.6.13 stable tree.

---The three boards in my posession are the ones above this line.

FusionHDTV 3 Gold-Q: Same story as the Gold-T ... Mac has this board. 
This is a slightly older model... You can probably get this for cheaper 
than the Gold-T model, and they're pretty much the same thing, although 
this one is harder to find nowadays.

If you end up getting the FusionHDTV Lite anyway, then just cross your 
fingers and hope that I figure out this IRQ problem mentioned in an 
email I wrote last night.  Regardless, it would be nice to have someone 
else to test my work on the dvb-bt8xx driver (for FusionHDTV5 Lite) 
besides just me alone. I hope this information is what you were looking 
for... If you have any other questions, please ask.

-- 
Michael Krufky