[linux-dvb] Re: ATSC/DTV question

[Daniel Schmelzer <dschmelzer@hotmail.com>]

Hi Keith--

> > There are at least three boards on the consumer market that pick up an 
>ATSC
> > stream:  Hauppauge's WinTV-D, Hauppauge's WinTV-HD, and Telemann's 
>HiPix.
> > So far, the Telemann board is the only one with accompanying Windows
>
>Is there any sort of Linux support available for these, or any projects
>under way to support them?

The Metzler Bros., et al., seem to be able to command the sun to rise and 
set in open source media applications.  Unfortunately, they don't have 
access to ATSC over-the-air and don't have immediate access to the high 
definition streams.  So I fear that if this effort isn't yet supporting it, 
then no established Linux open source projects are addressing it.  I've 
looked some, but haven't been able to find anything yet.

I get the feeling that there is interest in supporting ATSC boards, 
however...

> > 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.
>
>Pardon my ignorance - but am I thinking correctly when I assume the Janus
>design is simply another layer between the actual work-doing hardware and
>the PCI bus?  Assuming one supported the Janus chipset, would not there be
>additional work involved in accessing the hardware?

That kind of question is way above my pay grade, but I think it's just a 
board outline using, inasmuch as possible, proprietary chips.  I'm guessing 
that it's quite similar to the approach that is/was used by 
Brooktree/Rockwell/Conexant on its chip line that forms the basis for 
innumerable analog cards--one main chip driving it all and allowing for 
various tuners, with the added complexity of an MPEG decoder, video output, 
and AC-3 manipulation and output.  In addition, the Janus design includes 
the analog side of things as well.

Listing out the components like that sure makes it sound like a lot of 
coding is invoved, especially since the tuner situation is not at all 
settled (the Hauppauge and HiPix cards use different tuners, for instance) 
and there are wild-cards such as cable and OTA encryption.

Regards--

Dan
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