Hello to all

I have just seen the 2.6.25.4 changelog and there is now support for dvb-t for the following devices :

- Terratec Cinergy HT USB XE (USB-ID: 0ccd:0058)
- Terratec Cinergy HT Express (USB-ID: 0ccd:0060)
- Pinnacle 320CX (USB-ID: 2304:022e)
- Pinnacle PCTV72e (USB-ID: 2304:0236)
- Pinnacle PCTV73e (USB-ID: 2304:0237)

I have been waiting a long time for support for such devices but haven't yet bought one in case i wasn't able to install it.
As it is clearly stated that these are dvb-t drivers does anybody know if analog tv, FM and dvb-t radio are also supported or will they be in the future ? (i was aiming for the Cinergy HT Express)
I just don't want to spend my money on something i cannot utilize as unfortunately in my region everything is still analog.

Thank you very much.
Regards.

I just patched my 2.6.25 to .4 to have a look. I do not have your hw desires and could not get an exact match to your desires.

let me reveal the mentions and you decide which is a match? my search term was cinergy

-----
Documentation/dvb/cards.txt
Cards based on the Phillips saa7146 multimedia PCI bridge chip:
"budget" cards (i.e. without hardware MPEG decoder):
Terratec Cinergy 1200 DVB-S (no CI support)

o Cards based on the Conexant cx2388x PCI bridge:
- TerraTec Cinergy 1400 DVB-T

-----
/Documentation/dvb/README.dvb-usb
The framework provides generic functions (mostly kernel API calls), such as:

- Transport Stream URB handling in conjunction with dvb-demux-feed-control
(bulk and isoc are supported)
- registering the device for the DVB-API
- registering an I2C-adapter if applicable
- remote-control/input-device handling
- firmware requesting and loading (currently just for the Cypress USB
controllers)
- other functions/methods which can be shared by several drivers (such as
functions for bulk-control-commands)
- TODO: a I2C-chunker. It creates device-specific chunks of register-accesses
depending on length of a register and the number of values that can be
multi-written and multi-read.

The source code of the particular DVB USB devices does just the communication
with the device via the bus. The connection between the DVB-API-functionality
is done via callbacks, assigned in a static device-description (struct
dvb_usb_device) each device-driver has to have.

For an example have a look in drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/vp7045*.

Objective is to migrate all the usb-devices (dibusb, cinergyT2, maybe the
ttusb; flexcop-usb already benefits from the generic flexcop-device) to use
the dvb-usb-lib.

Have a look at the Wikipage for the DVB-USB-drivers to find out, which firmware
you need for your device:

http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
---------------------
see next post for the full output
----------

/linux-2.6.25/Documentation/video4linux/bttv/Cards
Cinergy 400 (saa7134), "E877 11(S)", "PM820092D" printed on PCB
Cinergy 600 (saa7134)

see saa7134 later
-------------------------
/linux-2.6.25/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.cx88
30 -> TerraTec Cinergy 1400 DVB-T [153b:1166]
------------------------
/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.em28xx
2 -> Terratec Cinergy 250 USB (em2820/em2840) [0ccd:0036]

comment yes I can spot this is usb but no match to id

6 -> Terratec Cinergy 200 USB (em2800)

---------------------------
/linux-2.6.25/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.saa7134
8 -> Terratec Cinergy 400 TV [153b:1142]
11 -> Terratec Cinergy 600 TV [153b:1143]
38 -> Terratec Cinergy 200 TV [153b:1152]
47 -> Terratec Cinergy 400 mobile [153b:1162]
48 -> Terratec Cinergy 600 TV MK3 [153b:1158]
83 -> Terratec Cinergy 250 PCI TV [153b:1160]
105 -> Terratec Cinergy HT PCMCIA [153b:1172]
108 -> Terratec Cinergy HT PCI [153b:1175]

output of /Documentation/video4linux/README.saa7134
What is it?
===========
This is a v4l2/oss device driver for saa7130/33/34/35 based capture / TV
boards. See http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/pip/saa7134hl for a
description.
Status
======
Almost everything is working. video, sound, tuner, radio, mpeg ts, ...
As with bttv, card-specific tweaks are needed. Check CARDLIST for a
list of known TV cards and saa7134-cards.c for the drivers card
configuration info.
Build
=====
Pick up videodev + v4l2 patches from http://bytesex.org/patches/.
Configure, build, install + boot the new kernel. You'll need at least
these config options:

CONFIG_I2C=m
CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV=m

Type "make" to build the driver now. "make install" installs the
driver. "modprobe saa7134" should load it. Depending on the card you
might have to pass card=<nr> as insmod option, check CARDLIST for
valid choices.
Changes / Fixes
===============
Please mail me unified diffs ("diff -u") with your changes, and don't
forget to tell me what it changes / which problem it fixes / whatever
it is good for ...
Known Problems
==============
* The tuner for the flyvideos isn't detected automatically and the
default might not work for you depending on which version you have.
There is a tuner= insmod option to override the driver's default.
Card Variations:
================
Cards can use either of these two crystals (xtal):
- 32.11 MHz -> .audio_clock=0x187de7
- 24.576MHz -> .audio_clock=0x200000
(xtal * .audio_clock = 51539600)
Some details about 30/34/35:

- saa7130 - low-price chip, doesn't have mute, that is why all those
cards should have .mute field defined in their tuner structure.

- saa7134 - usual chip

- saa7133/35 - saa7135 is probably a marketing decision, since all those
chips identifies itself as 33 on pci.
Credits
=======

andrew.stevens@philips.com + werner.leeb@philips.com for providing
saa7134 hardware specs and sample board.
Have fun,
Gerd
--
Gerd Knorr <kraxel@bytesex.org> [SuSE Labs]

Thanks a lot aus9.

Unfortunately the express card (Terratec Cinergy HT Express) does not seam to be supported at the moment (express cards come always last).
The 2.6.25.4 changelog from Linux.org did mention it but in the v4l documentation of the 2.6.25.4 kernel it is not mentioned (the pcmcia is though).
I haven't managed to find which chip it is based on so i am completely blind at the moment (Linux.org does mention it is the saa7134 0ccd:0060).
I guess i'll have to wait longer.

Thanks.

And as i wait i see new products arriving.

I just spotted on the web the Avermedia AverTV Hybrid Express Slim (54).
It doesn't extend out of the laptop chassis at all (perfect).
It's the most compact thing i have ever seen (Analog TV, DVB-T, FM and an optional remote control).
Once more i can't even find the chipset of this device not to say it isn't even mentioned in any linux forum.

Well, regarding device drivers, patience is a virtue (Microsoft users don't need it).
When will the manufacturers realize they are obliged to support all OSes.

Regards.

its in the dox...there is more than one mention of avermedia...the list is
/Documentation/dvb/avermedia.txt
/Documentation/dvb/bt8xx.txt
/Documentation/dvb/cards.txt
/Documentation/dvb/get_dvb_firmware
Documentation/dvb/README.dvb-usb
/Documentation/dvb/readme.txt
/Documentation/video4linux/bttv/Cards
/Documentation/video4linux/bttv/CONTRIBUTORS
/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.bttv
/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.cx88
/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.ivtv
/Documentation/video4linux/CARDLIST.saa7134
/Documentation/video4linux/w9968cf.txt
/Documentation/video4linux/Zoran

the next post is the full output of the top file which looks promising?

HOWTO: Get An Avermedia DVB-T working under Linux
______________________________________________

Table of Contents
Assumptions and Introduction
The Avermedia DVB-T
Getting the card going
Receiving DVB-T in Australia
Known Limitations
Further Update

Assumptions and Introduction

It is assumed that the reader understands the basic structure
of the Linux Kernel DVB drivers and the general principles of
Digital TV.

One significant difference between Digital TV and Analogue TV
that the unwary (like myself) should consider is that,
although the component structure of budget DVB-T cards are
substantially similar to Analogue TV cards, they function in
substantially different ways.

The purpose of an Analogue TV is to receive and display an
Analogue Television signal. An Analogue TV signal (otherwise
known as composite video) is an analogue encoding of a
sequence of image frames (25 per second) rasterised using an
interlacing technique. Interlacing takes two fields to
represent one frame. Computers today are at their best when
dealing with digital signals, not analogue signals and a
composite video signal is about as far removed from a digital
data stream as you can get. Therefore, an Analogue TV card for
a PC has the following purpose:

* Tune the receiver to receive a broadcast signal
* demodulate the broadcast signal
* demultiplex the analogue video signal and analogue audio
signal (note some countries employ a digital audio signal
embedded within the modulated composite analogue signal -
NICAM.)
* digitize the analogue video signal and make the resulting
datastream available to the data bus.

The digital datastream from an Analogue TV card is generated
by circuitry on the card and is often presented uncompressed.
For a PAL TV signal encoded at a resolution of 768x576 24-bit
color pixels over 25 frames per second - a fair amount of data
is generated and must be processed by the PC before it can be
displayed on the video monitor screen. Some Analogue TV cards
for PCs have onboard MPEG2 encoders which permit the raw
digital data stream to be presented to the PC in an encoded
and compressed form - similar to the form that is used in
Digital TV.

The purpose of a simple budget digital TV card (DVB-T,C or S)
is to simply:

* Tune the received to receive a broadcast signal.
* Extract the encoded digital datastream from the broadcast
signal.
* Make the encoded digital datastream (MPEG2) available to
the data bus.

The significant difference between the two is that the tuner
on the analogue TV card spits out an Analogue signal, whereas
the tuner on the digital TV card spits out a compressed
encoded digital datastream. As the signal is already
digitised, it is trivial to pass this datastream to the PC
databus with minimal additional processing and then extract
the digital video and audio datastreams passing them to the
appropriate software or hardware for decoding and viewing.
_________________________________________________________

The Avermedia DVB-T

The Avermedia DVB-T is a budget PCI DVB card. It has 3 inputs:

* RF Tuner Input
* Composite Video Input (RCA Jack)
* SVIDEO Input (Mini-DIN)

The RF Tuner Input is the input to the tuner module of the
card. The Tuner is otherwise known as the "Frontend" . The
Frontend of the Avermedia DVB-T is a Microtune 7202D. A timely
post to the linux-dvb mailing list ascertained that the
Microtune 7202D is supported by the sp887x driver which is
found in the dvb-hw CVS module.

The DVB-T card is based around the BT878 chip which is a very
common multimedia bridge and often found on Analogue TV cards.
There is no on-board MPEG2 decoder, which means that all MPEG2
decoding must be done in software, or if you have one, on an
MPEG2 hardware decoding card or chipset.
_________________________________________________________

Getting the card going

In order to fire up the card, it is necessary to load a number
of modules from the DVB driver set. Prior to this it will have
been necessary to download these drivers from the linuxtv CVS
server and compile them successfully.

Depending on the card's feature set, the Device Driver API for
DVB under Linux will expose some of the following device files
in the /dev tree:

* /dev/dvb/adapter0/audio0
* /dev/dvb/adapter0/ca0
* /dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0
* /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0
* /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0
* /dev/dvb/adapter0/net0
* /dev/dvb/adapter0/osd0
* /dev/dvb/adapter0/video0

The primary device nodes that we are interested in (at this
stage) for the Avermedia DVB-T are:

* /dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0
* /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0

The dvr0 device node is used to read the MPEG2 Data Stream and
the frontend0 node is used to tune the frontend tuner module.

At this stage, it has not been able to ascertain the
functionality of the remaining device nodes in respect of the
Avermedia DVBT. However, full functionality in respect of
tuning, receiving and supplying the MPEG2 data stream is
possible with the currently available versions of the driver.
It may be possible that additional functionality is available
from the card (i.e. viewing the additional analogue inputs
that the card presents), but this has not been tested yet. If
I get around to this, I'll update the document with whatever I
find.

To power up the card, load the following modules in the
following order:

* modprobe bttv (normally loaded automatically)
* modprobe dvb-bt8xx (or place dvb-bt8xx in /etc/modules)

Insertion of these modules into the running kernel will
activate the appropriate DVB device nodes. It is then possible
to start accessing the card with utilities such as scan, tzap,
dvbstream etc.

The frontend module sp887x.o, requires an external firmware.
Please use the command "get_dvb_firmware sp887x" to download
it. Then copy it to /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware or /lib/firmware/
(depending on configuration of firmware hotplug).

Receiving DVB-T in Australia

I have no experience of DVB-T in other countries other than
Australia, so I will attempt to explain how it works here in
Melbourne and how this affects the configuration of the DVB-T
card.

The Digital Broadcasting Australia website has a Reception
locatortool which provides information on transponder channels
and frequencies. My local transmitter happens to be Mount
Dandenong.

The frequencies broadcast by Mount Dandenong are:

Table 1. Transponder Frequencies Mount Dandenong, Vic, Aus.
Broadcaster Channel Frequency
ABC VHF 12 226.5 MHz
TEN VHF 11 219.5 MHz
NINE VHF 8 191.625 MHz
SEVEN VHF 6 177.5 MHz
SBS UHF 29 536.5 MHz

The Scan utility has a set of compiled-in defaults for various
countries and regions, but if they do not suit, or if you have
a pre-compiled scan binary, you can specify a data file on the
command line which contains the transponder frequencies. Here
is a sample file for the above channel transponders:
# Data file for DVB scan program
#
# C Frequency SymbolRate FEC QAM
# S Frequency Polarisation SymbolRate FEC
# T Frequency Bandwidth FEC FEC2 QAM Mode Guard Hier
T 226500000 7MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/8 NONE
T 191625000 7MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/8 NONE
T 219500000 7MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/8 NONE
T 177500000 7MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/8 NONE
T 536500000 7MHz 2/3 NONE QAM64 8k 1/8 NONE

The defaults for the transponder frequency and other
modulation parameters were obtained from www.dba.org.au.

When Scan runs, it will output channels.conf information for
any channel's transponders which the card's frontend can lock
onto. (i.e. any whose signal is strong enough at your
antenna).

Here's my channels.conf file for anyone who's interested:
ABC HDTV:226500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_3_4:QAM_64
:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:2307:0:560
ABC TV Melbourne:226500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_3_
4:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:65
0:561
ABC TV 2:226500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_3_4:QAM_64
:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:562
ABC TV 3:226500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_3_4:QAM_64
:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:563
ABC TV 4:226500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_3_4:QAM_64
:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:564
ABC DiG Radio:226500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_3_4:Q
AM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:2311:56
6
TEN Digital:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:158
5
TEN Digital 1:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:Q
AM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:1
586
TEN Digital 2:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:Q
AM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:1
587
TEN Digital 3:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:Q
AM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:1
588
TEN Digital:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:158
9
TEN Digital 4:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:Q
AM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:1
590
TEN Digital:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:159
1
TEN HD:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:QAM_64:T
RANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:514:0:1592
TEN Digital:219500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:650:159
3
Nine Digital:191625000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:QA
M_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:513:660:10
72
Nine Digital HD:191625000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2
:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:512:0:1
073
Nine Guide:191625000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_3_4:FEC_1_2:QAM_
64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_16:HIERARCHY_NONE:514:670:1074
7 Digital:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_6
4:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:769:770:1328
7 Digital 1:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:769:770:1329
7 Digital 2:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:769:770:1330
7 Digital 3:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:769:770:1331
7 HD Digital:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QA
M_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:833:834:133
2
7 Program Guide:177500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3
:QAM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:865:866:
1334
SBS HD:536500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_64:T
RANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:102:103:784
SBS DIGITAL 1:536500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:Q
AM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:161:81:785
SBS DIGITAL 2:536500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:Q
AM_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:162:83:786
SBS EPG:536500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM_64:
TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:163:85:787
SBS RADIO 1:536500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:201:798
SBS RADIO 2:536500000:INVERSION_OFF:BANDWIDTH_7_MHZ:FEC_2_3:FEC_2_3:QAM
_64:TRANSMISSION_MODE_8K:GUARD_INTERVAL_1_8:HIERARCHY_NONE:0:202:799
_________________________________________________________

Known Limitations

At present I can say with confidence that the frontend tunes
via /dev/dvb/adapter{x}/frontend0 and supplies an MPEG2 stream
via /dev/dvb/adapter{x}/dvr0. I have not tested the
functionality of any other part of the card yet. I will do so
over time and update this document.

There are some limitations in the i2c layer due to a returned
error message inconsistency. Although this generates errors in
dmesg and the system logs, it does not appear to affect the
ability of the frontend to function correctly.
_________________________________________________________

Further Update

dvbstream and VideoLAN Client on windows works a treat with
DVB, in fact this is currently serving as my main way of
viewing DVB-T at the moment. Additionally, VLC is happily
decoding HDTV signals, although the PC is dropping the odd
frame here and there - I assume due to processing capability -
as all the decoding is being done under windows in software.

Many thanks to Nigel Pearson for the updates to this document
since the recent revision of the driver.

February 14th 2006

oops forgot to define chipsets

Cards based on the Conexant Bt8xx PCI bridge:Avermedia DVB-T

DiBcom DVB-T USB based devices: Avermedia AverTV DVBT USB

Cards based on the Phillips saa7134 PCI bridge: AVerMedia AVerTVHD MCE A180

slim is not mentioned but that last post shows good support since 2006 so maybe list is your new shopping investigation?

Thank you aus9.
I am using VLC too (since the day i reverted to Linux) and was happy to see the Video4Linux and DVB support it offers.
I'll look into it.

Regards.

Hello again.

I finally got the Avermedia AverTV Hybrid Express Slim
http://www.avermedia.com/avertv/Prod...il.aspx?Id=289

mainly for its size as it doesn't extend out of the laptop chassis at all.
I was expecting it's too new to be supported under Linux but i wasn't expecting this.

I have a very stable Fedora Core 6 system which never crashes. Everything works like a charm (or looks like it) until i insert this express card.
After a while the system freezes and there is nothing logged in /var/log/messages.
This card tends to get extremely hot but seams not to be defective as other owners on the web have mentioned this, unless all of them are problematic. I thought the heat was the problem (and might turn out to be in long use) but freezes occur even when the card hasn't built so much heat.
I have a Fedora 9 system also on the same laptop. Things there are even worse. If i try to insert the card it freezes instantly and the Scroll Lock and Caps Lock leds start to blink. Sometimes if i remove the card the system reboots.
In the beginning the card wasn't detected at all. According to a thread on the web i did the following (under Linux.org 2.6.25 kernel) :
downloaded latest v4l-dvb from http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb
make all
make install
checked that the new modules where copied over in the /lib/modules/2.6.25 relevant directory
modprobe pciehp pciehp_force=1

so lspi gave me this :
0c:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Unknown device 8852 (rev 02)
and lspci -vvv :
0c:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Unknown device 8852 (rev 02)
Subsystem: Avermedia Technologies Inc Unknown device d939
Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 0
Region 0: Memory at efa00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=2M]
Capabilities: [40] Express Endpoint IRQ 0
Device: Supported: MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, ExtTag-
Device: Latency L0s <64ns, L1 <1us
Device: AtnBtn- AtnInd- PwrInd-
Device: Errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported-
Device: RlxdOrd+ ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop+
Device: MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes
Link: Supported Speed 2.5Gb/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Port 0
Link: Latency L0s <2us, L1 <4us
Link: ASPM Disabled RCB 64 bytes CommClk- ExtSynch-
Link: Speed 2.5Gb/s, Width x1
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2
Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Capabilities: [90] Vital Product Data
Capabilities: [a0] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [200] Virtual Channel

After rebooting dmesg gave me this :
[ 10.911969] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 10.963726] cx23885 driver version 0.0.1 loaded
[ 10.963812] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:0c:00.0[A] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
[ 10.963819] cx23885[0]: Your board isn't known (yet) to the driver. You can
[ 10.963821] cx23885[0]: try to pick one of the existing card configs via
[ 10.963822] cx23885[0]: card=<n> insmod option. Updating to the latest
[ 10.963824] cx23885[0]: version might help as well.
[ 10.963827] cx23885[0]: Here is a list of valid choices for the card=<n> insmod option:
[ 10.963830] cx23885[0]: card=0 -> UNKNOWN/GENERIC
[ 10.963832] cx23885[0]: card=1 -> Hauppauge WinTV-HVR1800lp
[ 10.963835] cx23885[0]: card=2 -> Hauppauge WinTV-HVR1800
[ 10.963837] cx23885[0]: card=3 -> Hauppauge WinTV-HVR1250
[ 10.963840] cx23885[0]: card=4 -> DViCO FusionHDTV5 Express
[ 10.963842] cx23885[0]: card=5 -> Hauppauge WinTV-HVR1500Q
[ 10.963845] cx23885[0]: card=6 -> Hauppauge WinTV-HVR1500
[ 10.963892] CORE cx23885[0]: subsystem: 1461:d939, board: UNKNOWN/GENERIC [card=0,autodetected]
[ 11.113063] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[ 11.113088] sr 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 5
[ 11.191724] cx23885[0]: i2c bus 0 registered
[ 11.191901] cx23885[0]: i2c bus 1 registered
[ 11.191968] cx23885[0]: i2c bus 2 registered
[ 11.222231] cx23885_dev_checkrevision() Hardware revision = 0xb0
[ 11.222245] cx23885[0]/0: found at 0000:0c:00.0, rev: 2, irq: 19, latency: 0, mmio: 0xefa00000
[ 11.222257] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:0c:00.0 to 64

The cx23885 page is http://www.conexant.com/products/entry.jsp?id=393
If i remove or reinsert the card it is logged in /var/log/messages.

So ok the card isn't supported yet but can that be the reason the system freezes? Under no other circumstances does this system freeze so it can only be this express card. Freeze occurs even if the card is inserted in it's slot before turning on the notebook and is not removed later on.

Any ideas?
Thank you in advance.
Regards.

since its avermedia did you try the "get the card going" modprobes mentioned in post 7?

2) if it supposed to run on a cx chipset....cx cardlist only has one mention
32 -> AverMedia UltraTV Media Center PCI 550 [1461:8011]....not a good sign

3) please read all of this next .....it contains some warnings, wonderful advice and tells you how to get better hardware info and post to that mailing list (the person has same cx number alto different manufacturer.

http://www.linuxtv.org/pipermail/lin...er/022473.html

4) I personally would not be happy if some new card was introducing more heat. Perhaps if its normal you may consider getting a switch controlled case fan with a high CFM in or out flow to cool the beast?

Hello aus9 and thank you.

I have tried several modprobes with no luck.
Thanks for the link. I'll look into it.
By the way i am too, not happy at all with the heat this device releases.
Just below it rests the hdd of this laptop and i wouldn't like to cook it.
As the RF input of this device gets hot enough to cause a light skin burn you can imagine this heat is also transmitted through the express card pins to the main board, memory, etc.
This is the 2008 and such problems are supposed to be of an older era.
Also this is a laptop and we are talking about a 54mm express card. There is no way of keeping it cool except for setting an external fan to blow over the express card which is not very attractive. After all this is a mobile computer.

Thank you.
Regards.