[mythtvnz] Nova T-500 cards

[Stephen Worthington]

I ordered a Hauppauge Nova T-500 card from Ascent:

  http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=373800

What has just arrived is not the model I ordered - it is a Nova TD-500
Model 298.  The box shows a picture of a card with two aerial inputs -
the web page I ordered from clearly had a picture with only one aerial
input.  The model number on the box is a sticker - I can read through
it to see that the model number it covers up is 289.  So the picture
on the outside of the box, and the text that says "Diversity
Technology", may not actually apply to the card inside.  I know that
the Linux drivers work for the original Nova T-500 cards.  And I have
found pages that say they have recently (late last year?) been updated
to work with TD-500 cards.  But the "diversity" cards definitely do
not work and never will (there were only a few made and they have all
sold out).  Indeed, Hauppauge UK seems to have been swapping the
diversity cards for Linux users so that they can get something that
works.

Ascent do not want me to open the packet and try the card out to see
if it is OK with Linux.  I would prefer to keep the card if it is
going to work, rather than sending it back, as I suspect that
Hauppauge are no longer shipping the original Nova T-500 cards and
they will not be able to swap the Nova TD-500 for one.

So, has anyone out there used one of these Nova TD-500 Model 298
cards?  Do they work?  Does the remote work?  The FM radio?