[linux-dvb] Re: ATSC/DTV question

[Ralph Metzler <rjkm@convergence.de>]

Hi,

Daniel Schmelzer writes:
 > I suspect that the differences between the DVB and ATSC streams is *quite* 
 > small, because Elecard was able to modify its demuxer in one evening to 
 > handle the raw ATSC files.  However, as has been pointed out, I'm not sure 
 > about all of the multiple program streams, channel mapping and other stuff 
 > going on that are needed to fill out the functionality...
 > 
 > As for the hardware, both the HiPix and the WinTV-HD are based on the Janus 
 > reference design, so if you support one, you can support the other (and any 
 > subsequent cards) fairly easily.

On Dec 30. 1999 David Auld of TeraLogic asked for interested Linux
developers for the Janus reference design on the Video4linux mailing list.
I exchanged some mails with him at that time but it was not really
possible for me to work on a driver lacking US TV reception.
But they wanted to support Linux driver development. So, I am
surprised that there is no driver yet.

 
 > Other substantial designs include Conexant's D-Stream design, which strips 
 > all of the hardware decoding in favor of software-only decoding.  I think 
 > that it uses a modified 878a chip and DMAs the ATSC stream to memory.  I 
 > haven't seen any consumer cards based on this yet, if only because few 
 > machines can handle the load on a 1080i stream.

I don't know how close this is to the Conexant design used for DVB
e.g. on the Pinnacle DVB card. But Pinnacle gave me the email address of a
contact person at Conexant, even introduced me to him by email. I got
no reply to my request for information about the tuner, demodulator
and Fusion878a hardware. Recently, datasheets even for the older chips
(Bt848, etc.) disappeared from their pages. Don't know what's going on
there ...
So, they do not seem to be interested in Linux drivers.

 
 > Please let me know if you need any testing done at dschmelzer@hotmail.com.  
 > I have the HiPix and access to digital channels that have various types of 
 > streams (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i), but little coding knowledge or experience 
 > (and very modest experience with Linux).  I can also provide some raw ATSC 
 > files and HiPix headed files if you need them.


I would be interested in those.


Ralph


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