[mythtv-users] PVR-350 - PAL-I Variant, for use in Ireland?

Steve Dwyer stevedwyer at ntlworld.com
Sat Jan 31 18:49:47 EST 2004



> Hi All,
>
> First post from a MythTV newbie, so go easy on me. :)
>
> I've just bought a Hauppauge PVR-350, with the intention of
> bulding a Myth-based PVR.  But it looks like I may have made
> a really dumb mistake, and bought the wrong version...
>
> I live in Dublin, Ireland, and I want to use the card with
> the local NTL cable service.  I bought the card over the web
> from a company in Germany.  At the time, I thoght that was a
> reasonable thing to do, since Germany and Ireland both use PAL,
> right?
>
> Well, now I can't get the card to work.  As I installed it,
> I noticed that the card has a label on it that says:
>
>    "PAL-B/G  48134  Rev J347"
>
> I think that "PAL-B/G" is the problem - it's PAL-I that we use
> in Ireland, it seems - at least according to this list of
> broadcast standards by country:
>
>   http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/WorldVideo.html
>
> (Wish I'd seen that *before* I bought the card.)
>
> I tried installing the card anyway, and installed the Windows
> software under Windows98 (It's a dual-boot setup, with Win98SE
> and RedHat 9 at the moment.)  The Windows channel-scanning
> application found 15 channels on my NTL Cable connection, which
> is correct - but when I try to view  them, all I get is
> a black screen.
>
> So far, I haven't started installing the ivtv driver or any
> other Linux software.  But when I run "lspci", the output now
> includes this, all on one line:
>
> 00:0e.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc
>    iTVC15 MPEG-2 Encoder (rev01)
>
> So, I've got lots of questions:
>
>    Am I right in thinking that this card is a version
>    that works in Germany, but not in Ireland?

Yeah, The Tuner is Country Specific. If only everywhere would use the same
tuner,
then we would be able to get the PVR-350 much cheaper shipped from the USA!!

>
>    Is it possible that there's something I can do in software
>    (or firmware) that will make this card work with PAL-I?

I'm Not actually sure how the PAL Tuners differ from each other. But I doubt
it.

>
>    Does a PAL-I version of the PVR-350 exist, and where
>    would I buy one?  (I've seen the PVR-250 in stores here,
>    but never the 350.)
>

Yes they do, I bought one recently. I got it from www.savastore.com for £107
exc. VAT
I believe amazon also sell them, the postage from them might be a bit
cheaper.


>    Has anyone got a PVR-350 (or 250) working with NTL's
>    cable service (the basic analogue package) in Dublin?
>
>    Does anyone want to buy a PAL-B/G PVR-350, as new?  :)

Just out of interest, How much did you buy it for?

>
> Any answers would be *very* gratefully received.
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Lorcan Hamill
>
>


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