pcHDTV 5500 card - Connector comes loose?

[Ben Scott]

On 3/5/07, Jon 'maddog' Hall <maddog at li.org> wrote:
> If, in the meantime, you would like to return the board and get your
> money back on the card, please do not "modify" it.

  Understood.  If I break it, I get to keep the pieces.

  FWIW, the "modification" I was describing is easily reversible: Just
unscrew the hypothetical new connector-extender, and slide the OEM
connector-extender back on.  But I understand that after-market
modifications may still void the warranty.

> I have not cashed your check, and would be happy to return the check
> to you if you are genuinely unhappy with the board ...

  Happiness is a continuum.  I'm happier than I would be if I had
bought one of those Hauppauge HVR-1600-in-a-PVR-150-box units.  I'm
not as happy as I would be if the connector was secured to the
mounting bracket.  I'm not so unhappy as to want to return the board.
:)

>> Why the manufacturer didn't do something like this
>> themselves, I have no idea.
>
> Greater cost in manufacturing.

  :-P

> o one is that the barrel sleeve slid off, which could be a defect in
> manufacturing and not design.

  Based on the pictures on their website, it appears the slide-on
barrel is by design.  A Google search for "HDPCTV 5500 connector"
finds others complaining about the same issue.  Perhaps, as Neil
Joseph Schelly suggests, this is an intentional break-away mechanism,
but Occam's and Hanlon's razors (not to mention "economics") suggest
not.

  I have had other things not secured to the mounting bracket (RJ-45
jacks on most Ethernet cards come to mind) break loose from the solder
joints, which certainly sucks.  But I've also had plenty of other
things which secured to the card mounting bracket and which held up
under strain -- for example, big, thick video cables hanging off VGA
cards.  So I believe that to be the better option.

> ... since I would consider this a premium board, and
> would be willing to pay a dollar or two more for something ruggedly
> constructed.

  Yah.  That.  :)

-- Ben