[mythtv-users] Mac Mini and Broadcom Crystal HD PCI Express mini-card

[Brian Wood]

On Wednesday 30 December 2009 04:10:05 pm Jarod Wilson wrote:
> On Dec 30, 2009, at 10:53 AM, Fredrik Hallgarde wrote:
> >> So as Scott said, just in case anyone missed it in the other thread, we
> >> just got a late $holiday present:
> >>
> >> http://www.broadcom.com/support/crystal_hd/
> >
> > As we seem to be moving from vaporware to somehing usable I wonder, where
> > would I buy one (or 3 for that matter) of these things? I understand that
> > they are listed at ebay from various chinese sources, however does anyone
> > have a particular source they recommend?
> 
> I saw logicsupply.com offering them for sale, but they were a bit on the
>  expensive side[*]. I have three different card variants, two that came
>  straight from Broadcom (newer variant mini pcie and pcie x1), and one
>  older mini pcie variant I got via eBay from a seller in Hong Kong (three
>  of them, actually). The older mini pcie has slightly higher power draw
>  than the new one, but all three cards perform more or less the same, save
>  a udelay after a register write that is absolutely required with the newer
>  mini pcie variant to keep the thing from stalling out (but unneeded on
>  either of the other two variants).
> 
> > I figure they could potentially be available from HP as a spare for the
> > 110 netbook, anyone have a parts number?
> 
> I poked around the hp web site a bit to see if I could find it, but failed.
>  I also called up Dell to see if I could order one of their "Broadcom BD
>  Accelerator" cards, which is also just a crystalhd card, but nobody at
>  Dell had a clue how to order one stand-alone.
> 
> [*] http://www.logicsupply.com/products/bcm970012 for $70. Looks to be the
>  newer variant of the card.
> 

Thanks, I ordered one.

Granted they are a tad pricey, Logic Supply tends to be that way, but their 
strength is that they have things difficult or impossible to find elsewhere.

IMHO $70 beats chasing one around the world and fooling with international 
shipping etc. 

I may never use it, as I'm building an ION frontend, but it's good to have one 
anyway, an interesting toy.