Is anybody working on TechniSat CableStar Combo HD CI USB device?

Is anybody working on TechniSat CableStar Combo HD CI USB device?

[Tobias Maier]

This is the device:
http://www.technisat.com/index9332.html?nav=PC_products,en,76-229

lsusb:
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 14f7:0003

on the card is a Micronas DRX 3913 JKA2 which is a combined analog
cable, DVB-C and DVB-T Demodulator.

best hit I can get with google is
http://www.tridentmicro.com/producttree/tv/dtv/drx/drx-39xyk/ 

any chance this device is supported soon? Anything i can do to get
this going?

Re: Is anybody working on TechniSat CableStar Combo HD CI USB device?

[Jan-Pascal van Best]

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On 06/07/2010 09:01 AM, Tobias Maier wrote:
> on the card is a Micronas DRX 3913 JKA2 which is a combined analog
> cable, DVB-C and DVB-T Demodulator.
> any chance this device is supported soon? Anything i can do to get
> this going?
>   
Hi Tobias,

I'm in the market for a USB DVB-C device, and I've been looking into
this device. I've added it to the linuxtv.org wiki
(http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/TechniSat_CableStar_Combo_HD_CI).

It seems the Windows drivers for this device are very similar to those
of the (supported) Terratec S7 DVB-S device. No quite sure that to make
of that, though. The Micronas DRX series seems to 'evil' in that there
is only a closed-source driver and the manufacturer doesn't cooperate
with open source developers.

Jan-Pascal


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Re: Is anybody working on TechniSat CableStar Combo HD CI USB device?

[Jan-Pascal van Best]

On Tue, June 8, 2010 08:26, Tobias Maier wrote:
>> The Micronas DRX series seems to 'evil' in that there
>> is only a closed-source driver and the manufacturer doesn't cooperate
>> with open source developers.
> Have you asked them or are you simply asuming this because there is no
> open source driver?
"
It is important to notice that the vendor (Trident) doesn't seem to want
helping with open source development. Contacts with the vendor were tried
during 2007 and 2008 in order to get their help by opening docs, via Linux
Foundation NDA program, without success.

The vendor also seems to be refusing so far to help the development of a
driver for their demod DRX-K line that they acquired from Micronas (as
pointed at http://linux.terratec.de/tv_en.html).
"
(http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Trident_TM6000)

Re: Is anybody working on TechniSat CableStar Combo HD CI USB device?

[Markus Rechberger]

On Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 10:03 AM, Jan-Pascal van Best
<janpascal@vanbest.org> wrote:
> On Tue, June 8, 2010 08:26, Tobias Maier wrote:
>>> The Micronas DRX series seems to 'evil' in that there
>>> is only a closed-source driver and the manufacturer doesn't cooperate
>>> with open source developers.
>> Have you asked them or are you simply asuming this because there is no
>> open source driver?
> "
> It is important to notice that the vendor (Trident) doesn't seem to want
> helping with open source development. Contacts with the vendor were tried
> during 2007 and 2008 in order to get their help by opening docs, via Linux
> Foundation NDA program, without success.
>
> The vendor also seems to be refusing so far to help the development of a
> driver for their demod DRX-K line that they acquired from Micronas (as
> pointed at http://linux.terratec.de/tv_en.html).
> "
> (http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Trident_TM6000)
>
>

We have been working on getting those chipsets work with our devices.
http://sundtek.com/shop/Digital-TV-Sticks/Sundtek-MediaTV-Digital-Home-DVB-CT.html

Trident is also still improving the quality of their driver and
firmware, it very much makes
sense that they handle their driver especially since those DRX drivers
are very complex
(basically too complex for being handled by the community, the drivers
would just
end up somewhere unmaintained).

Best Regards,
Markus

Re: Is anybody working on TechniSat CableStar Combo HD CI USB device?

[Bjørn Mork]

Markus Rechberger <mrechberger@gmail.com> writes:

> Trident is also still improving the quality of their driver and
> firmware, it very much makes
> sense that they handle their driver especially since those DRX drivers
> are very complex
> (basically too complex for being handled by the community, the drivers
> would just
> end up somewhere unmaintained).

Ouch.  That makes me wonder about the state of the Windows drivers for
those devices...  Better stay away from them, I guess.


Bjørn

Re: Is anybody working on TechniSat CableStar Combo HD CI USB device?

[Markus Rechberger]

On Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 12:14 PM, Bjørn Mork <bjorn@mork.no> wrote:
> Markus Rechberger <mrechberger@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Trident is also still improving the quality of their driver and
>> firmware, it very much makes
>> sense that they handle their driver especially since those DRX drivers
>> are very complex
>> (basically too complex for being handled by the community, the drivers
>> would just
>> end up somewhere unmaintained).
>
> Ouch.  That makes me wonder about the state of the Windows drivers for
> those devices...  Better stay away from them, I guess.
>

If you have issues with your Windows driver you should contact the
manufacturer of your device.
If they care about their product and/or some customer relation they
will try to help you.

Markus

Re: Is anybody working on TechniSat CableStar Combo HD CI USB device?

[BOUWSMA Barry]

On Tue (Tuesday) 08.Jun (June) 2010, 12:14,  Bjørn Mork wrote:

> Markus Rechberger <mrechberger@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Trident is also still improving the quality of their driver and
> > firmware, it very much makes
> > sense that they handle their driver especially since those DRX drivers
> > are very complex
> > (basically too complex for being handled by the community, the drivers
> > would just
> > end up somewhere unmaintained).
> 
> Ouch.  That makes me wonder about the state of the Windows drivers for
> those devices...  Better stay away from them, I guess.

Just to throw this out there, the 'doze support for one such
Micronas-based device I have -- the Linux kernel support for which
either does not exist or cannot be publicly distributed -- is less
than optimal in my experience, which may have nothing to do with
reality.

While I was able to make a flawless test recording for a few
minutes of one medium-bitrate lower-resolution high-definition
programme to mislead me into thinking that I'd have success with
a full-length programme, for some reason it turned out that my use
of the device under 'doze for an extended time on a borrowed 'doze
box suffered fairly frequent problems manifested each as a short
dropout of the recording.

This could also be pilot error, as I remain willfully ignorant of
'doze and its details, but if a machine with CPU horsepower over
eight times that (neglecting other acceleration) of my workhorse
that routinely makes four simultaneous flawless recordings
including some at higher resolution/bitrate, is unable to keep up
with the bitstream, then something has got to be seriously wrong,
in my opinion.

A later recording of a higher bitrate (excellent quality standard-
definition video source) stream again exhibited the same problem.
Perhaps 'doze can't keep up writing to its own native filesystem
as it approaches being full, or if I can't keep my hands away from
configuring it to be user-hostile as I prefer.

And of course there's the factor of intermediate hardware to be
considered -- my device is connected via a USB interface which has
caused major filesystem corruption over time with the particular
Linux kernel I was using, despite of working flawlessly with a
different video card.  And 'doze...  *shiver*

Anyway, I'd be happy to learn that others have had success with
the same device, although for me it's no longer a priority to have
it working, to say nothing of working perfectly.  My testing of
the device has been relatively minimal, using it where other tuner
cards lack support.


barry bouwsma