[mythtv-users] Chaintech 7nif2 and sound

[Jason S]

I'm one of those guys who wrote the reviews at Newegg
on the 7NIF2... the deal is the old version of the
board (back when it had the 8738 4-channel sound DID
have the pinout, but no bracket. (Build your own I
guess). Now that they are shipping with the 9739a
(which is an AC3 decoder, like the MCP-T!), they
stopped populating the pins on the board. Don't ask me
why, I've asked chaintech twice and never got an
answer.

As for an earlier comment that it's the only Microatx
with sound/SPDIF/tv, that's not true at all. There are
at least four other boards (not counting the Aopen
MK79G-1394, which never made it to the US) that are
out there:

Asus A7N8X-VM: Need special card/cable for TV/out (on
Newegg), Realtek ALC650 6-channel sound. ($95 + $15
for DVI, worst reviews out of the 4)
Biostar M7NCG 400: Needs spdif and TV cables. Realtek
ALC650 6-channel sound. ($68, have the 3x1 SPDIF at
Newegg, need 2x2 TV which I JUST learned you can buy
from Biostar directly. )
Albatron KM18G: AC'97 sound, has TV connector, but not
Spdif, that's sold seperately for around $8. ($80,
need 5x1 SPDIF)
MSI K7N2GM-L: Realteck AC'97, comes with TV-out
bracket, SPDIF bracket sold seperately God-knows where
($85, uses a 3x1 SPDIF, I'm going to use Newegg's
Biostar 3x1 SPDIF cable)

I shipped back the Chaintech board (I'm using two
slots for tuners, and want the other for my 802.11g
card) and bought the MSI K7N2GM-L 'cause I didn't know
where to get the Biostar TV cable. Now that I know you
could buy it directly from them, I'd highly recommend
taking that route. (The MSI is more expensive,
although they do have a great reputation too). 

- Jason Syversen

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