Luke McKee wrote: >Does anyone want to help me reflash my TVeeprom? >Is the TVEeeprom used to make assumptions about the card model and >region used in mythtv code? > > Not really. Its the ivtv driver which reads the EEPROM and based on that will report capabilities to any application querying it. The Firmware will use the EEPROM to know what initialisation to use on the card.
>Is it easy to change a tuner? It's only got a few pins, I could just >check the datasheets, and use another tuner to work with mythtv. > > Unless you are experienced with soldering, its a perfect way of making it fully non-functional. This type of soldering needs very good temperature control. The soldering iron you need for that, can cost about as much as a new PVR350. You would also need to re-flash the EEPROM. And to do that you again need some special equipment. And detailed knowledge of the card design (both the layout and the electrical design). >I did have it working for a few hours using the SVHS input. It's just >now it's gone out to lunch and I'm trying to find out why. > > If you remove power for several minutes, it may start working again. >I am working on a LIRC project to make an external tuner using my DVD >recorder. I haven't even bothered to test the tuner.. unless anyone >knows a PAL tuner is capable of working. > >Rudy: What your saying is that there are design deficiencies with the >PVR hardware to prevent NTSC devices playing PAL signals? > > If you want to look at it that way.... Actually no, its simply that in cases like this assumptions, and the resulting design choices, play a big role. Its not so much a deficiency as a limitation. Basic assumption 1: if somebody lives in NTSC country, the likelyhood he will move to PAL country is low (for the reverse the same is true), Assumption 2: Most people will use the tuner as main input, and the other inputs are additional, for "special" usage. Anyway Assumption 3: When in NTSC, you will not encounter PAL (and the reverse). Again, this third assumption is something like 99% correct... HW fact: Building a device that can handle both PAL as well as NTSC is possible, but expensive. Even your high-end TV which is always multistandard, can only handle either NTSC or PAL on its tuner. Essentially you have to include 2 tuners. Take a look at the mentioned 3 assumptions (which happen to be based on statistical fact), and you start knowing why it is not done. Business fact: in Mass Production each cent counts, and has a visible result on the financial bottom line. Most people do not realise this, but Consumer Electronics really is cut-throuth on cost (unless in really really high-end). All in all you end up with a product where although the basic design can easily handle both NTSC and PAL, the actual implementation for a particular area will almost always be limited to one of them. Also in the sections which are generic. Regards, Rudy >Cheers, > >Luke > >On 27/12/06, Rudy Zijlstra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >>Luke McKee wrote: >> >> >> >>>Hello all, >>> >>> >>> >>>I have a PVR-350 NTSC version and I'm in a PAL country. I have >>>over-rided the standard with PAL=M, and in full debug it seems to be >>>putting the card in PAL mode. I also use v4l2-control to do this.The >>>MSP44xx seems to support pal audio even though it is not listed in the >>>module options. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>I have some strong doubts on whether you can get this to work in a >>stable way. Not because of any limitation on the main chipset (cx, >>msp,..) but because of the tuner. >> >>NTSC is a 6MHz bandwidth. PAL is either 7 or 8MHz. This means that when >>you use an NTSC tuner in PAL country, you will not capture all the >>signal. Especially on an 8MHz PAL signal you will loose way too much >>information. On a 7MHz you may get lucky and capture enough of the >>signal to get image / sound. I suspect though, that you will most often >>loose out on audio. I suspect the tuner will lock on the video carrier, >>and the audio carrier will at least partly be outside the SAW filter of >>the tuner. On an 8MHz PAL this will certainly be the case. >> >>Using SVHS will work around this problem. What i do not know, is whether >>the only difference between NTSC / PAL version is the tuner, or whether >>the routing on the card is also different. Hans may know this, having >>gone through the code in detail on this. >> >>A different problem you can run into, is that the firmware of the card >>may be making some assumptions. Like that when the tuner is an NTSC, >>then certain combinations are "unexpected" and thus not supported in the >>firmware. This is not so much a concious "not supported" as well as "not >>foreseen to be used". The latest can lead to some very dificult to debug >>problems. >> >>Good luck! (i suspect buying a PAL version will safe you a lot of time >>and effort). >> >> >>Rudy >> >> >> _______________________________________________ ivtv-users mailing list [email protected] http://ivtvdriver.org/mailman/listinfo/ivtv-users
