[mythtv-users] M179 vs. PVR-250. was: ivtv firmware 2.02 or 1.9 ?

[Jeff]

Wednesday, March 24, 2004, 3:11:48 AM, Jarod C. Wilson wrote:

> On Mar 20, 2004, at 13:41, Bruce Smith wrote:

>>> And the firmware isn't what needs patching to support the M179, it is
>>> the ivtv driver itself. And yes, the latest packages on ATrpms do have
>>> the M179 patch applied. I use them myself with both my M179 cards, no
>>> problem.
>>
>> I'm looking to buy a 2nd card (my first is a PVR-250), and I'm debating
>> about getting a M179 off ebay, or another PVR-250.  How does the 
>> quality
>> compare between them?  I've read some postings about M179's having bad
>> quality, but that may only apply to the Windows drivers (which I don't
>> care about).  If there is any difference in quality, I'll spend the
>> extra for another PVR-250.  If the quality is the same, then I might as
>> well save the money.  Does a M179 and a PVR-250 play nice together in
>> the same box?  Which would you recommend for a 2nd card?  Thanks!

> No distinguishable difference between the two for me. I have a retail
> rev2 PVR-250 and an M179 in the same box, no problem. For a secondary
> card (or even a primary, if you have another remote control interface),
> the M179 is a solid deal. Save the money.


I would recommend the PVR-250. I have both and the M179 card is
the only one that gives me zero length recordings. I get it up and
running and then the machine reboots for some reason and it takes
me a while to get the M179 happy again. The symptom is I get are
problems initializing the firmware during boot and then:
   ivtv: timed out waiting for firmware
   ivtv: init error <n>. Code -16
Others have said that they can rmmod ivtv; insmod ivtv to get it
to work, I always get a "device inuse" message from the rmmod. A
couple more reboots and sometimes reloading the firmware fixes
the problem.

This never happens with the PVR card.

I'm using ivtv-cvs-latest+1125A+M179_close_stream with
Knoppmyth and pvr250_17_21226.exe