[mythtv-users] Hauppauge Freestyle Info & ?s

Will Dormann wd at pobox.com
Sun Jul 27 18:25:21 EDT 2003


>8.  From reading posts on this list, it looks like both the Freestyle and
>the PVR-250 work fine with MythTV.  Posts also seem to indicate that the
>PVR-250 has the best recording quality.  I'm guessing that the Freestyle
>would be comparable, but I haven't read anything confirming this.

The quality should be the same.  It's the same tuner, same encoding chip.

>1.  Do multiple Hauppauge cards work together?  I'm interested in any
>combinations of Freestyles and PVR-250s.

There are reports on the ivtv mailing list of multiple cards working fine.
 Haven't tried this myself, though.


>2.  Do the Freestyle and PVR-250 use the same software drivers?  I'm
>interested in both under Linux/MythTV and (bite-my-tongue) Windows.

Yes.  The Freestyle uses the PVR-250 drivers, since that's in essence what
it is, but with different connectors.

>3.  Some other TV Tuner cards need to be jumpered to a computer systems
>sound card in order for audio to be heard or recorded.  Is this necessary
>for the PVR-250 and the Freestyle?

No, they handle the audio internally.  The audio is sent from the tuner
directly to the MPEG encoder chip, so there's no jumper cables or anything
to mess with.   You don't need a sound card to record TV with audio.

>4.  The Techsys EBay ad for the Freestyle says that it must be installed in
>the middle PCI slot of the motherboard.  I'm guessing that this is just for
>maximum cooling.  Does anyone know of any other restriction?

It requires a bus mastering PCI slot.   The ebay ad text comes directly
from the Gateway web site, so presumably gateway systems have a bus
mastering middle PCI slot.  (but who knows about the others.... sounds a
little strange)

-WD


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