[mythtv] Ray - Questions about your setup

[mythtv-dev@snowman.net]

Any chance you wanna share yer homebrew script to pull local channels
for directv???
    tanx,
        Mark

Ray(maillists@sonictech.net)@2002.12.09 11:08:32 +0000:
> On Sun, Dec 08, 2002 at 11:11:42PM -0800, kevin thayer wrote:
> > 
> > My goal is to have as hi-res as possible without
> > losing the ability to pause/rewind/etc live tv. I
> > don't really need a tuner since I have digital cable
> > and i'll be controlling it from the mythtv box, using
> > direct out.
> 
> > 
> > Questions I have... (thanks in advance!)
> > 1) MythTV supports hardware MJPEG now, right? 
> > 1a) and works with the G200's hardware also, yes?
> 
> Yes & Yes.
> 
> > 2) Does the G200 decode and encode mjpeg at same time
> > (in hardware)?
> > 2a) If not, can the SMP celeron 500 playback MJPEG
> > without jitters whilst recording using hardware?
> > 2b) What is the max resolution you can play back MJPEG
> > in software (idle PC and while recording)
> 
> At the moment I'm using decimation 2 which basically equates to 352x240.  At
> dec 1 (720x480) my machine can't decode fast enough.  Actually decimation 2
> looks a LOT better than capturing at 352x240 with software encoding and
> looks as good or better than VHS on my TV.  I'm planning on swapping this
> box with a spare Duron 650 + MB that I have laying around and then upgrade
> the cpu later.  
> 
> > 3) Did you get your TV-out working with the better
> > solution (ie non-framebuffer?)
> 
> I am still using the matroxfb stuff but I'm not sure why it would be better
> if I didn't use it?  Remember the matroxfb is NOT the same as vesafb and
> takes better advantage of the hardware.  Thanks to one of the other posters
> here I now have a good modeline for TV-out at 800x600 resolution.  Getting
> TV-out working well was a PITA though so buying an external converter might
> not be a bad idea.  Also most of the matroxfb developers seem to have G400
> series cards so I think there would be less chance of the driver breaking
> for those.
> 
> > 4) Any comments on controlling external equipment for
> > recording? ie digital cable box. Tips/problems/etc...
> 
> I'm using directv with an older RCA reciever.  I'm planning on adding a
> second receiver+lnb+capture card eventually.  Since capture only takes maybe
> 10-20% cpu on this setup I shouldn't have any speed problems.  I'm using a
> slightly modified script found on the net (see the archives) to change
> channels and a homebrew script to grab the local/network channels since
> Zap2it/xmltv don't have these.
> 
> > 5) How watchable is the software/software record while
> > playing back? 352x240 sounds bad :)
> 
> It's really quite good.  With decimation it's not really just grabbing at
> 352x240.  If I understand correctly NTSC is really (almost) 60fps interlaced
> so each frame only contains every other vertical line.  What it's really
> doing is to grab at 352x480 on every other interlaced frame (called "time
> decimation").  I've been meaning to experiment with tweaking these settings
> a bit in the source so I could try 720x240 and 352x480 but it looks good
> enough (I only have a 19" TV right now) that I've had other priorities.
> 
> -- 
> Ray
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-- 
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Mark Ethan Trostler	mark@zzo.com
Computing Solutions	http://www.zzo.com
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