[mythtvnz] Haupauge Nova-TD500

[Duncan Kennington]

On 13 April 2012 21:25, Johan Schuld <johanschuld at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I'm pretty convinced I've reached the end of my efforts to make this card
> work, so just thought I'd plunk all my findings here and see if there are
> others that were in the same position.
>
> I'm located in New Zealand (h264 encoding on HD Terrestrial TV) and ever
> since I have got hold of this card, it's giving me problems with reception.
> As we have always been in a rental with questional aerials, I have always
> blamed that and kept using DVB-S freeview. In our last place I did actually
> go through the trouble of installing a new masthead amp, which helped, but
> still signal quality issues. We have recently purchased a home, and now I'm
> committed to make it all work and get a good setup.
>
> Basically what I'm seeing is corrupt signals (artifacts). When I "re-wind"
> and play the same piece of recording again it's the same which indicates to
> me it's a receiving problem, not playback.
>
> So I've been searching the net and forums and I have found other people
> with the same issue, most not being able to fix it and simply going for
> another card. Apparently the card needs a really strong signal. Also, the
> internal low noise amplifier has been reported to be a problem (mine was
> off). Chaning it to "on" (options dvb_usb_dib0700 force_lna_activation=1)
> did not appear to make any difference.
>
> I have borrowed a separate freeview set top box, which gets excellent
> picture. Also Prime (an analog channel from the same transmitter) is
> crystal clear. So my feeling is that I have exhausted all things I can
> do, apart from installing a higher gain antenna and possible a mast head
> amp. Although I'm not convinced as the stb works fine.
>
> One thing I don't understand yet is the "Diversity" mode, which seems to
> connect the 2 antenna connectors together so only 1 antenna cable is needed
> (i always had 2 connected). No Idea how to control that in Linux, and what
> the correct setting is anyway.
>
> There are also reports that this card just does not do h264 with high
> bitrate properly and not to be used in NZ, and that there are versions that
> are faulty or slightly different hardware that makes it not work in all
> situations.
>
> So put all these variables together and I'm thinking... not worth the
> effort anymore. Has anyone had similar issues with this card? And managed
> to fix it?
>
> So thinking of switching to a HVR-2200, or maybe another one that is
> recommended. I have an HVR-4400 isntalled too, which I want to use for
> some satellite channels.
>
> Oh.. running on Opensuse 12.1
>
> Cheers
> Johan (Auckanld, Te Atatu Peninsula Area)
>
>
Hey Johan,

Not a useful response but....

I have one of these cards and have been using it successfully with
Mythbuntu 10.04 / 0.23 for a bit over 2 years.  From time to time I have
some glitches on TV3 (almost inevitably 7 Days - have settled on taping it
from TV3 Plus 1 to avoid this) but otherwise it's been a solid card giving
no issues at all.  I am only using one of the two RF plugs and no special
options for the module.

To be fair however I have direct line of sight with Mt Kaukau which is less
than 4km away.

If you want to turf the card contact me off-list I might want to buy it! :-)

Cheers,
Duncan
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