All.
Some of you might be aware that I have been hard at work doing more hardware modifications for Series 1 TiVo's and have said that shortly I would be making public some news.
That day has come - if not a little later in the day than expected as I wanted the parts in my hand before going public and the couriers took their time....sigh
Anyway, with that little hiccup aside I am pleased to announce that after almost three months of research and co-operation with both "Thompson TiVo" in New Zealand and Keith Wilkinson in Australia, and finding stocks of the new parts at a reasonable price, that the method of obtaining stereo sound from an internally fitted PAL tuner module with an add-on stereo decoder board sitting on top of the tuner module as you have known it for the last 18 months is officially superseeded.
From this point on, any PAL tuner installs that I do (and I'm still doing on average three a week) will have what I am now calling the "Mark 2" stereo decoder fitted. This new way of obtaining stereo sound involves NO add-on stereo decoder board, but instead a complete replacement of the 3430G Micronas sound processor chip on the motherboard for a 3410D version. This is the same chip used in the UK Thomson model TiVo. Now that I am using both the same tuner as fitted to the UK TiVo and now the same sound processor that means there is not a lot of difference between a stock UK TiVo and a modified USA TiVo apart from the SCART connectors.
The benefits of a "Mark 2" decoder over the older (and what I am now calling the "Mark 1") decoder are as follows:
* Mono transmissions get detected and switch to a true mono output in under 2 seconds
* Poor signal areas now hold stereo better, and fall back to a true mono if necessary
* No interference from an internal “Airnet” wireless card as some people experienced
* It is more stable than the “Mark 1” in stereo separation and performance
* It has the ability to decode more stereo sound standards in other parts of the world
* NICAM stereo for New Zealand will (hopefully) one day soon be available^
* It looks more elegant. In fact it is hard to see that the board has even been modded!
* The "2nd Audio input" modification for two independent A/V inputs is still possible with the 3410D chip just like before
^ The 3410D does support NICAM stereo but there is a software conflict issue preventing this from being supported at present. For the time being the sound output is being decoded as mono from the 3410D and software testing is being carried out. It is recommended for anyone in NZ contemplating their options to consider a “Mark 2” decoder modification and when the issue is resolved a simple software upgrade will enable stereo decoding of NICAM transmissions at a later date. This applies only to New Zealand TiVo owners as Australian stereo sound decoding is NOT affected.
To enable this modification to function correctly a modified version of "palmod_config" is required. At present this is NOT INCLUDED on any OzTiVo image release but will have to be manually installed otherwise some weird sound effects will be heard. This modified palmod is Thompson's handy work and he has done a fine job incorporating the 3410D functions and also written into the module a logging function so that you can actually see in the kernel log what the decoder is doing. In fact his modified palmod can also be used on stock unmodified motherboards and will auto detect the type of Micronas chip fitted and switch accordingly. The software upgrade procedure along with the updated "how-to" document that encompasses all methods of obtaining sound from the internal tuner (ie mono, "Mark 1" stereo and "Mark 2" stereo) and a section on upgrading from either mono or "Mark 1" stereo to "Mark 2" stereo is available on Minnie here:
http://minnie.tuhs.org/twiki/bin/vie...erModALPSHowTo
While being able to deliver a more elegant and technically superior way of handling audio from the internal PAL tuner I've also been able to keep the cost of conversion to the same price as the older method. I also acknowledge that the new "Mark 2" may not be attractive to the D.I.Y. hobbyist due to the high level of soldering required which is why I am still offering "Mark 1" stereo decoders if you so desire to fit one of those yourself. All prices and an actual photo of a "Mark 2" modified board is available on my website here:
http://www.members.westnet.com.au/ki...tivo/index.htm
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Keith and Thompson for their software support as without them this would not be possible. I'd also like to thank all of the beta testers and especially Ron Davis who can confirm that proper mono resolution of TEN-Capital in Canberra is indeed a reality as this fact alone haunted me from day one of the original decoder. I'd also like to thank the half a dozen or so people who had faith in me and took me up on the offer for getting their TiVo's fitted with the new "Mark 2" decoder while I had their TiVo's in for PAL tuner fitting - all of which I am sure are happy with the result, or at least I presume so as I have not heard anything otherwise!
I always promised in the original stereo decoder document that a better solution would one day be available and anyone who knows me well enough knows I like to keep promises. Enjoy
Kind regards
Darren King
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Originally Posted by Islander
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