I unfortunately can't answer your question but I can say that I've got an HVR4000 and an HVR1200. Both receive their drivers/firmwares like they should _but_ the 1200 isn't automatically added as a device. I haven't added it manually yet either as it still works (might be due to the 4000 being installed, I'm not sure). So assuming that you're using MythTV get into the MythTV-setup (under Computing) and see if the device is actually there configurable.
As you may know the drivers seem to be added in 2.6.32 however Mandingo has done some hard work to get many cards to be PnP with 8.10 (i.e. the card might work, just not get added as a device automatically)
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Capture_CardsHopefully someone who is more than just a noob can help you a bit better