[linux-dvb] Fusion HDTV5 / Airstar HD5000 features, support?

[Michael Krufky]

Matto Marjanovic wrote:
> Hiya,
> 
> I'm trying to get a handle on weighing the options for a new ATSC tuner
>  card; I've looked looked through the list archives and haven't quite
>  found an answer to these questions.  (Perhaps, if they get answered
>  here, the answers could find their way into the ATSC_cards page in the
>  linuxtv wiki?  Can anyone add stuff to the wiki?  If so, I'd be happy
>  to do it.)

Anybody can add to the wiki... Please, feel free.  I enjoy writing code 
better than documentation. (dont we all) .... SO, go for it!

> The DVICO Fusion HDTV5 Gold, HDTV5 Lite, and Airstar HD5000 all appear
>  to work under linux now - fantastic!  But why use one over the other?
>  Here are some questions that come to mind:

I don't know as much about the Airstar HD5000, but I can tell you that 
it is not yet supported without Tyler's patch.

You neglected to mention FusionHDTV3 cards... These use a slightly older 
  tuner/frontend combo, but they work well too, and have the same 
capabilities as the FusionHDTV5 cards.

>  o Is a dual-card/dual-tuner setup possible with any of these?

Don't know about airstar, but it is working well for me with the 
FusionHDTV cards.  Airstar *should* work also.

>  o Do the linux drivers support recording from analog broadcast?

Airstar does not support analog.  *ALL* of the ATSC/NTSC FusionHDTV5 and 
FusionHDTV3 cards DO support this.

>  o Do the linux drivers support recording from composite/s-video input?
>     (I believe only the HDTV5 Gold has such an input, right?)

FusionHDTV3 Gold-T, FusionHDTV5 Gold and FusionHDTV5 Lite all have 
s-video, composite, NTSC and ATSC.

I'm not sure if the GPIO for FusionHDTV3 Gold-Q is correctly programmed 
for s-video / composite.  Mac Michaels has that card, and I do not know 
if he has tested those inputs.

>  o What kind of closed-caption support do these cards have?

Closed-caption is not yet supported in the cx88 driver. So, if you need 
this support, I'd recommend the FusionHDTV5 Lite.

>  o The HD5000 can do TS stream demultiplexing in hardware, correct?
>     What kind of impact does this have on its performance (i.e. what
>     kind of difference does this make, and when)?

IDK, probably less CPU strain...

>  o [A non-linux related question, for the heck of it:]
>    I believe the RF frontend on all these cards is the same; do these
>     three cards work equally well in pulling in an HDTV signal, in 
>     multipath rejection, etc?  (How about analog broadcast signals?)

The following does NOT answer your question, but:

AFAIK, airstar doesn't receive analog broadcasts at all.

If this question applies to linux, then I would say:

cx88 driver is less mature than bttv, and bttv deals with analog 
television broadcasts *much* better than the cx88 driver.

Also, in my experience, I have gotten more of a steady stream from the 
bt878-based FusionHDTV5 Lite as opposed to the cx88-based Gold models.

So, overall, the FusionHDTV5 Lite is my favorite among these cards, but 
I have not yet tried the AirStar 5000.

Hope this helps,

-Michael Krufky