Which DViCO FusionHDTV ATSC card(s) do you plan on using with SageTV 3?

[mseery]

If you already plan on using a FusionHDTV ATSC card with SageTV 3, can you tell me which precise model is it?

Please indicate which card by filling out the poll above, and posting a message if you so desire.

http://www.fusionhdtv.co.kr/ENG/Products/


Thanks,

Michael Seery
SageTV Quality Assurance

[RandyJohnson]

Michael...

While it looks like you are talking about ATSC primarily, the Fusion 5 Gold also handles QAM.

I have been able to get unencrypted QAM channels to work with Fusion's provided software.

It also works very well on ATSC signals.

One card unfortunately can only do OTA or QAM not both simultaneously.

Randy

[salsbst]

I have the 3T... but I'll use whatever one first supports QAM in Sage.

[mkanet]

I'm a big confused... Why would anyone would want to get anything other than the Fusion 5 Lite if they are buying a new card and plan on using it with SageTV 3?

Fusion 5 Lite=ATSC
Fusion 5 Gold series=ATSC + NTSC (with no hardware encoder)

If you're going to use the Fusion for HDTV, you can't use the analog capture on it too in SageTV. Even if you could, you would still have to encode it in real-time in software. SageTV doesn't support software encoding; just like MCE doesn't.

EDIT: Opps, my bad, I didnt read the first post carefully enough. With older Fusion cards, you had no choice but to get one with the included uncompressed analog AVI (NTSC) capture.

[salsbst]

Seems clear that the 5 Lite is the way to go if you're shopping for a new Fusion HDTV card for use with SageTV.

Perhaps the question is in part motivated by the fact that some users may already have purchased Fusions that they'd like to use with SageTV.

[srothwell]

Maybe I missed something..... why don't I want to buy the Gold version?

[sleonard]

From what I've read the Gold version is more expensive because it includes Dvico's TV SW that is unneccesary for use w/ Sage. Other than that the Gold and Lite hardware is identical. Why spend more $$ for SW that you won't use?

*Randy in the post above said that only the Gold supports QAM so, if that is the case, then the Gold would be a viable option.

[salsbst]

Originally Posted by RandyJohnson

Michael...

While it looks like you are talking about ATSC primarily, the Fusion 5 Gold also handles QAM.

I have been able to get unencrypted QAM channels to work with Fusion's provided software.

It also works very well on ATSC signals.

One card unfortunately can only do OTA or QAM not both simultaneously.

Randy

*Randy in the post above said that only the Gold supports QAM so, if that is the case, then the Gold would be a viable option.

It seems to me that he didn't say that. I think that if he had said that, it would be incorrect.

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Pro.../fusion5lt.asp

[srothwell]

Originally Posted by sleonard

From what I've read the Gold version is more expensive because it includes Dvico's TV SW that is unneccesary for use w/ Sage. Other than that the Gold and Lite hardware is identical. Why spend more $$ for SW that you won't use?

*Randy in the post above said that only the Gold supports QAM so, if that is the case, then the Gold would be a viable option.

I am also waiting for the QAM feature to work in Sage. I have it working on my HDTV set (I think I get about 10 channels in the clear.... 4 of which are local HD stations....)

I live too close to the towers here in Richmond. I get multi-path issues galore. However I hear that the 5th gen RX (that, incidentally is in the Fusion5 product) handles multi-path very well and that it might make things a little better.

Hopefully some folks will keep us up to date on the progress of the Fusion5 both for OTA and QAM with Sage. Unfortunately, my wife will not let me buy what she calls the potential for another $150 paperweight until other people have it working perfectly.

Judging my the amount of PC-based crap sitting in my closet that never quite worked right --- I don't blame her!

Stacy


Stacy

[DFA]

It seems that the Fusion "Lite" uses the older Connexant bt878 8-bit chip while the Gold Plus uses the later Connexant 10-bit chip. As I recall, the bt878 had no standard way of handling audio and was always a problem with the "DScaler" application in terms of getting audio over the PCI bus.

I would have to go with the Gold Plus for that reason alone.

DFA

[salsbst]

But the Lite isn't meant to capture analog...

[sleonard]

Originally Posted by salsbst

It seems to me that he didn't say that. I think that if he had said that, it would be incorrect.

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Pro.../fusion5lt.asp

I re-read his post and you are correct, he didn't say that. I don't know what I was thinking when I first read his post but something got crossed in the path from my eyes to my brain.

[DFA]

Salsbst:

True but the chip is still involved in providing PCI bridge function.

DFA

[srothwell]

Originally Posted by salsbst

But the Lite isn't meant to capture analog...

Ahhh.... but there lies the lure.

Wouldn't it be cool if, someday, Sage would support these hybrid cards so that I could have three tuners.... the two PVR250's I have now and the Fusion5. If I need three analog tuners, I've got them. If I need two analogs and a DTV, I've got that, too.

Just a thought.

[srothwell]

OK.... here's a question.....

Who has an ATSC tuner card (don't really care which one) that might be willing to post a 30-second clip or so of the transport stream file?

I'd love to see if the darn file will playback at all before buying a card and finding out the PC doesn't have enough horsepower.

Don't want to run afoul of the law..... maybe a commercial .... but then that wouldn't be in HD would it?

Just an idea.... I'd love to see just a few seconds or so.

Stacy

[salsbst]

Originally Posted by DFA

Salsbst:

True but the chip is still involved in providing PCI bridge function.

DFA

But it can't really mess up the audio if it never sees the audio (within a transport stream), right?

[salsbst]

Originally Posted by srothwell

Ahhh.... but there lies the lure.

Wouldn't it be cool if, someday, Sage would support these hybrid cards so that I could have three tuners.... the two PVR250's I have now and the Fusion5. If I need three analog tuners, I've got them. If I need two analogs and a DTV, I've got that, too.

Just a thought.

Keep in mind that there is no MPEG2 encoder on any of the Fusions, so you'd need to do encoding in software to use it for PVR purposes.

[DFA]

Strothwell:

That is something that others may consider as well.

Since using Sage for recording HD via Firewire from my STB, I have found the system considerably more stressed. I have not been able to use VMR (no HW decoding assist available with VMR) since bringing HD into the mix.

I know some are excited about the possibilty of running two Avermedia A180 cards with a future driver release. I have a hard time imagining something not getting saturated while recording two HD streams and watching a previously recorded HD stream all at the same time.

DFA

[DFA]

Salbst:

True again. But was not thinking about the audio in the context of its PCI bridge performance.

Fundamentally, I just see the bt878 as a bit far into the legacy catagory.

DFA

[srothwell]

So, does anyone have a little HDTV clip they can post?