Hauppauge WinTV-NOVA-T-500
This is a dual tuner DVB-T PCI card from Hauppauge.
Native support under Linux started at kernel 2.6.19. As development and refinements never stopped since then, it is strongly suggested to compile an up-to-date v4l-dvb drivers tree and get the latest firmware.
Overview/Features
In actuality, the device's receivers are USB based, but there aren't any USB plugs or sockets involved -- the single PCI card itself sports on board dual USB based receivers that interface with a host USB 2.0 controller (USB to PCI). This unique design is also known as "Bristol".
Components Used
- 2x Microtune MT2060 tuner
- 2x DiB3000P DiBcom DVB-T demodulator & USB controller
- 1x VIA VT8xxx host USB 2.0 controller (USB-to-PCI)
- A single Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) is present for both channels, but needs to be manually activated (see below).
Some further technical details may be found in DiBcom DiB0700 USB2.0 DVB-T based devices.
Identification
You will find the model name and number on the box, under the bar code. Cards known to work have the following:
- WinTV-NOVA-T-500 model 289 SL-289-V2.0-UK (in the UK there is also a model 287 - according to Hauppauge UK support this is identical to the model 289 - it is just a PC World/Dixons specific box)
- WinTV-NOVA-T-500 model 289 SL-289-V2.1-UK ... Note: It would appear that having V2.1 on the box could be either the Nova-T or the unsupported Nova-TD (see below). Most confusing!
- List incomplete, please add
WinTV-NOVA-TD-500
This card appears to have been released, in low volumes, only in the UK, but unfortunately it seems that Hauppauge is shipping the Diversity* card in regular NOVA-T-500 boxes!
[* The "Diversity" option is a hardware based feature that allows for the device's two receivers to be configured in a combined use mode to achieve better reception on a single channel. The diversity feature of the DiBcom demodulators is currently not implemented in the Linux-DVB drivers, so only the dual tuner configuration is presently supported on such devices [1]. ]
This newer revision can be distinguished by:
On the box:
- You will find the model name and number under the bar code:
- WinTV-NOVA-T-500
- model 289
- SL-289-V2.1-UK.
- The box also has a sticker stating it is the diversity option and only suitable for intel cards.
- To quote one user running the device under Windows: "When i put it in my athlon based XP box it blue screened as soon as i tried to load the drivers. I brought mine from Amazon.co.uk and there was no mention that this card was any different or wouldn't work with non-intel processors."
On the card:
- it is labeled with the 'Diversity' feature stickers and the actual model number on the printed circuit board is NOVA-TD-500 (WinTV-NOVA-TD-500 DVB-T 68109 LF rev C1B5)
- the card has two aerial connectors.
- it uses a DiB0710 host USB controller (USB-to-PCI controller) instead of a VIA controller
The DiBcom DiB0710 controller used by this newer revision was apparently never sold for mass-production and DiBcom has end-of-life'd the chip. Furthermore, DiBcom currently do not plan on providing support for this controller. Consequently, given the low shipping volume and the limited support options, development of a Linux driver for this revision would likely be a waste of effort. [2][3]
Fortunately, for Linux users who have mistakingly received a Diversity variant, Hauppauge are apparently willing to exchange this product to a genuine T-500. Call the UK support line 0207 378 0202 and say you have read this article and bought your product from ebuyer, dabs or wherever.
Template:Making-it-work:dvb-usb-dib07000
Specific to the model
You may want/need to turn on the on-board amplifier:
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options
Add:
options dvb-usb-dib0700 force_lna_activation=1
Sample kernel output
[ 30.965645] dib0700: loaded with support for 5 different device-types [ 30.965925] dvb-usb: found a 'Hauppauge Nova-T 500 Dual DVB-T' in cold state, will try to load a firmware [ 31.008899] dvb-usb: downloading firmware from file 'dvb-usb-dib0700-03-pre1.fw' [ 31.206081] dib0700: firmware started successfully. [ 31.711176] dvb-usb: found a 'Hauppauge Nova-T 500 Dual DVB-T' in warm state. [ 31.711222] dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer. [ 31.711325] DVB: registering new adapter (Hauppauge Nova-T 500 Dual DVB-T) [ 31.831535] DVB: registering frontend 0 (DiBcom 3000MC/P)... [ 31.854890] MT2060: successfully identified (IF1 = 1220) [ 32.388673] dvb-usb: will pass the complete MPEG2 transport stream to the software demuxer. [ 32.388853] DVB: registering new adapter (Hauppauge Nova-T 500 Dual DVB-T) [ 32.394293] DVB: registering frontend 1 (DiBcom 3000MC/P)... [ 32.398790] MT2060: successfully identified (IF1 = 1220) [ 32.959607] input: IR-receiver inside an USB DVB receiver as /class/input/input4 [ 32.959633] dvb-usb: schedule remote query interval to 150 msecs. [ 32.959637] dvb-usb: Hauppauge Nova-T 500 Dual DVB-T successfully initialized and connected. [ 32.959657] usbcore: registered new interface driver dvb_usb_dib0700