[mythtv-users] Looking for HDTV Tuner Diagnostic Tips (AirStar-HD5000)

[William Munson]

Dale wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have an AirStar-HD5000AV-PCI card running on my backend MythTv system. It
> records standard definition (SDTV) digital flawlessly. No pixelation at
> all. However, when I record HDTV content I get many "bursts" of pixelated
> areas on the playback. They occur roughly every 4 to 10 seconds and show as
> horizontal defects that are several scanlines tall. 
>
> I'm pulling the QAM 256 modulated digital video from my TimeWarner system.
> The card taps in right at the incoming cable. The digital STB from
> TimeWarner works flawlessly and it's much farther down the cable than my
> MythTv backend.
>
> My first thought is that perhaps the caching between the capture card and
> hard drive is not working well. I'm just not sure how to set or diagnose
> this. I've been a software developer (Assembly, C/C++ ...) for many years
> but Linux is fairly new to me.
>
> My analog capture cards work capture excellent quality video. Much better
> than my Tivo Series 1 in it's best quality mode.
>
> My system is comprised of:
>
> Athlon XP 3000+
> 2 GB of RAM
> Two PVR 150 analog capture cards (they usually not capturing while HDTV is)
> One AirStar-HD5000AV-PCI card
> 500 GB Maxstor 7H500 SATA drive.
> NVIDIA GPU GeForce FX 5200
>
> Dale
>   

I don't have an answer to your question but wanted to chime in that I am 
also getting many glitches from my ComCrap cable (20+ in any 1 hour show 
with no discernible pattern or timing) and I was wondering if there was 
a tool to measure the number/type of disruptions. I have a HDHR 
connected via a dedicated high speed switch. I have a AthlonXP 3200+ 
overclocked to 2.6GHz, 512M ram, 2 pvr250's and a FX5200 video card.

It would really be helpful to me if I could prove that the glitches are 
in the source stream and not in my setup.

Bill