[pvrusb2] pvrusb2-mci-20070114 radio support - stereo?

[Rick Macdonald]

Mike Isely wrote:
> OK, I tried a couple things.
>
> First, I have 3 PVR USB2 devices here of various ages.  So I looked at 
> the packaging.  The newest two devices have the same box, while the 
> oldest device was packaged in a box with different artwork on it (same 
> size box however).  On that old box, I found one spot where it says 
> this: "125 channel cable ready TV tuner and FM stereo radio receiver".  
> However on the other two boxes the best I could find just had "FM radio 
> receiver".
>
> I listened briefly to FM radio (using mplayer) on a model 29032 device 
> (one of the newer ones).  You're right.  It's mono.
>
> Wondering if perhaps the stereo FM capability had been lost during a 
> "cost reduction" for the newer devices, I pulled my oldest device out of 
> my mythtv setup and tried its FM radio.  (This was the device that 
> arrived in the packaging that said "FM stereo radio receiver".)  Result? 
> Same as before: mono audio for the FM radio.
>
> This could very well be a bug in the V4L chip-level driver for the 
> demodulator.  Or it could be that the FM radio simply doesn't work in 
> stereo (which would be rather astounding).  There are a few other leads 
> to chase here.  I'm going to try this same experiment under Windows.  
> If someone would like to try that first, I'd welcome hearing about the 
> result.  Before I can try this under Windows, I've got to reinstall the 
> WinTV package and drivers under Windows.  I haven't had to run this 
> under Windows for quite a while and have since replaced all the hardware 
> and reinstalled the operating system.  (For me the half-life of a stable 
> Windows installation seems to be about 6 months.  Stupid P.O.S.)
>   
OK, I installed the USB2 onto a WinXP laptop. The WinTV Radio program is 
stereo. A red STEREO 'led' lights up, and there's a MONO toggle button 
that does what it says. My original package just says "FM radio 
receiver". It doesn't mention stereo (but their web site does).

I thought I've seen on the web where other devices such as my PVR-150 
explicitly state FM mono, but in most places it doesn't say either way. 
Rather than search again I think I'll boot up WinXP and see what 
happens. Not that the PVR-150 is of much interest to this list, but if 
it is also stereo under WinXP then the problem could be in low-level 
code shared by pvrusb2 and ivtv (or wherever it is).

...RickM...