[mythtv-users] Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD question

[Gavin Whitehead]

On 21/08/2020 11:03, Stephen Worthington wrote:
> On Fri, 21 Aug 2020 09:19:35 +0100, you wrote:
>
>> I'm building a replacement backend server and I'm looking to replace my
>> Hauppauge Nova-TD-500 (DVB-T) with a Hauppauge WinTV-quadHD (DVB-T2).
>> I'm a little confused.   The Nova-TD-500 has two connectors and can
>> record from 2 MUX's at once.  Can the WinTV-quadHD record from 4 MUX's
>> at once with just a single connector?
>> I'm UK based.
>>
>> Gavin
> Technology has moved on since the TD-500s.  They actually have two
> aerial inputs but if you connect to the correct input (the lower one),
> it is split and fed to both tuners (at half the signal level).  If you
> connect both aerial inputs, they have a "diversity" function, which
> may only work with the Windows drivers as I have seen nothing about it
> with the Linux drivers.  On the TD-500 card there is a USB hub
> connecting the two USB tuners to the PCI bus.  They are fairly
> standard Hauppauge USB DVB-T tuners.
>
> We have two of these cards and just having upgraded my mother's MythTV
> box to a new PCIe only motherboard, I have now got them in an external
> PCIe to two slot PCI adapter out the back of her PC.  If you want to
> keep on using yours, you might consider doing the same.  I am using
> one of these adapters that I bought from a local auction site rather
> than wait months for Aliexpress.  They should be available in the UK
> too:
>
> https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32975912171.html
>
> I have put photos of my setup on my web server if you are interested:
>
> http://www.jsw.gen.nz/mythtv/TD-500_20200821_211624.jpg
> http://www.jsw.gen.nz/mythtv/TD-500_20200821_211636.jpg
>
> I still need to get a longer power cable and USB cable to move them
> around the side of the PC where they will be out of the way.  Since
> PCIe is a self clocking serial signal, there is no problem with having
> it extended for long distances over a cable, unlike PCI signals.  It
> just happens that a USB 3 cable is right for that job, so that is what
> is used on adapters like this.  So if you wanted to, you could put a
> much longer USB 3 cable on and have the tuners metres away from the
> PC.  If there is the right sort of space inside your PC case, you may
> be able to mount the PCIe to PCI adapter internally.  Alternatively,
> you can get PCIe x1 to PCI adapters that go in the standard PCIe x1
> slot and allow a low profile PCI card to be mounted directly on top of
> them in the PCIe x1 slot.  Since the TD-500s are supplied with a low
> profile bracket as well as the full height one, you could consider
> that option.  It does use up two PCIe slots though, compared to using
> the above adapter with puts both PCI cards on one PCIe x1 slot.
>
> The chips in the WinTV-quadHD will be the new sort that have a low
> noise amplifier/splitter frontend.  They have one aerial input which
> goes to an amplifier then to a splitter and then to each tuner.  Since
> there are four tuners, the amplifier makes the signal four times as
> large so that when it is split four ways, each tuner gets the same
> signal level as the original signal at the aerial input.  Since it is
> a low noise amplifier, there is not much quality loss in the
> amplifier/splitter and the quality at each tuner is only a little less
> than at the aerial input.  I have two TBS cards (one DVT-T2 and one
> DVB-S2) that have 8 tuners each and work like this, with only one
> aerial input needed.  They both work very well.
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Stephen,

Thanks for all the details.  I think I now understand a little better 
how these cards work.

I am going to replace my TD-500 as it, like most of the hardware in my 
combined BE/FE, is 10-12 years old  and following a series of quite 
intense meetings of the "WAF Budgetary Committee" I now have sign of on 
the funds to build new separate BE and FE systems.

Thanks again,

Gavin