[opendtv] Re: 20060726 Wolfsson's Wednesday Words (Mark'sMonday Memo)

  • From: Bob Miller <bob@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 18:07:18 -0400

18 months? There were USB DVB-T receivers 3 years ago and a PCMCIA card 
well before that.

Bob Miller

Rod Hewitt wrote:

>I was given one of these to see how well it worked with my TSReader app.
>It's supplied with BDA drivers (so it'll work with MCE) and a playback app
>for users that don't have MCE. The standard playback app is VERY poor.
>
>The thing gets incredibly hot - even with vent holes on the side it's too
>hot to hold for any length of time. I haven't measured the current it uses
>but it's got to be pretty close to the 500mA maximum for USB. In contrast, a
>Freecom DVB-T stick receiver hardly generates any heat!
>
>Internally the Artec uses:
>
>a) a Cypress FX2 micro-controller to handle setup, I2C passthrough and data
>transfer. 
>b) a Microtune MT2060 tuner
>c) an LG 5th generation demodulator
>
>I reverse engineered their USB protocol to write my own driver for the thing
>since the BDA driver was dropping packets from time-to-time. Saw the same
>issue with my code and interestingly the packet loss happens exactly every
>55 seconds so I suspect either there's a design issue (perhaps related to
>the heat) or there's some RF making its way inside the thing and that's
>causing the loss - need some more research.
>
>In theory the thing is also capable of receiving QAM since it's got the LG
>demod, but I haven't figured out how to make this work right yet. Anyone
>with register level setup experience with the MT2060 and LGDT3303 feel free
>to email me!
>
>Nice to see a small 8VSB receiver though - we're now only 18 months behind
>the DVB-T guys in this regard!
>
>Rod
>
>
>  
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Kon Wilms [mailto:kon@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
>>Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 10:23
>>To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>Subject: [opendtv] Re: 20060726 Wolfsson's Wednesday Words (Mark'sMonday
>>Memo)
>>
>>This device uses standard directshow drivers with VMR rendering. Any
>>extra requirements are due to defective software i.e. MCE. And you
>>absolutely do not need MCE for it to work.
>>
>>I wonder if it exposes the transport pins? :) Still, the price doesn't
>>really make it interesting enough to waste 90 bucks on in order to find
>>out.
>>
>>Does anyone know how the chipset in this performs?
>>
>>Cheers
>>Kon
>>
>>On Thu, 2006-07-27 at 09:16 -0400, John Shutt wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Mark Schubin wrote:
>>>
>>>- Artec's T14A is a tiny USB ATSC receiver for $89, including antenna:
>>><http://www.artec.com.tw/ehtm/be124.htm>
>>>     This story says, "You'll also need an analog TV tuner installed on
>>>      
>>>
>>your
>>    
>>
>>>machine":
>>><http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/334/C8775/>
>>>
>>>
>>>The article in mobile mag left out a bit when re-writing the original
>>>Gizmodo article:
>>>
>>>"It includes Windows XP Media Center Edition drivers, but keep in mind,
>>>      
>>>
>>if
>>    
>>
>>>you want to use that, you'll also need a separate analog TV tuner
>>>      
>>>
>>installed.
>>    
>>
>>>It's $89 with free shipping. There must be a catch. This we gotta try."
>>>
>>>So it sounds like you need the analog tuner card for WinMCE to be happy,
>>>although one reviewer at PC Alchemy said he got it to work on his laptop
>>>with WinMCE but no analog tuner.
>>>
>>>Reviews of the unit are not encouraging, although the effort is
>>>      
>>>
>>definately a
>>    
>>
>>>step in the right direction.
>>>      
>>>
>>    
>>
>
 
 
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