[mythtv-users] Current wisdom on PVR-150/250/350/500

Jeff Simpson jeffsimpson at alum.wpi.edu
Mon Apr 17 21:39:22 UTC 2006


On 4/17/06, Jerry Rubinow <jerrymr at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/16/06, Jeff Simpson <jeffsimpson at alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
> > > When Nvidia's hardware is supported by free software, I'll buy this
> > myself.
> >
> > Nvidia IS supported by free software. There is an open-source driver that
> > works.
> >
> > HOWEVER nvidia ALSO releases their own binary driver, out of the
> > goodness of their hearts. And it works great and supports ALL the
> > features of the card.
> >
> > I don't see Hauppauge jumping up to release ANY drivers for their
> > hardware. They are all about saying "Works in Linux / MythTV", but
> > they won't even release register maps for their hardware to
> > developers, we've had to reverse engineer. The ivtv driver was written
> > by somebody from what I assume was reverse engineering the windows
> > driver and reading the specs for the various chips on the card.
> >
> > Remember that company that had open-source linux drivers, Matrox?
> > Neither do I. They just couldn't keep up with the competition.
>
> I'm not sure what your point is here.  Matrox still very much exists,
> and they provide binary drivers in what looks like a similar manner as
> Nvidia.  Not sure if they have a full source driver of some sort, but
> I didn't look that hard.
>
> http://www.matrox.com/mga/support/drivers/latest/home.cfm

Unless I am wrong in how I remember it, they once provided open source
drivers, and they sucked. At the time when I purchased my geforce2, it
was matrox vs geforce, and nvidia beat the pants off the matrox in
every linux benchmark. It was basically the question of "do I want
open-source or do I want a great card with great support".

My point was that people who are gung-ho on the "I only use things
that are open source, nay on nvidia for not being open" should
probably expand their horizons a bit and instead look at how well it
works in linux. It's like saying "I only want to buy a car that comes
in turquoise blue" and not looking at any of the reviews of the car,
the specs, the price, or safety.

Especially since their comparison "open-source" card, the PVR-350 is
only open source because hauppauge doesn't provide a binary driver for
it. People should not be ragging on nvidia for not providing an open
driver, they should be applauding them for providing an excellent
linux binary driver when other companies (hauppauge) provide nothing.
People shouldn't rag on hauppauge, either, but that's not the point I
was making.


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list