Re[2]: [mythtv] WinTV PVR-250 (hardware mpeg encoder)

[Bernard Johnson]

Just a FYI for those interested in the WinTV PVR-250 cards...

The retail price of these cards seems to be $149.

OfficeMax is currently running these cards for $149 - $20 instant rebate -
$30 mail in rebate = final price $99

I believe this special runs through Jan 11.

And my $.02 - basically I agree with the sentiments of Andrew below.

Also for those against sff pcs, they serve a purpose... Don't ignore the
space consideration.  I basically want the equivalent of a Tivo (at LEAST
those features, which Myth has a way to go yet), and then extra stuff (web
browse from the tv, email, etc... kinda like webtv).  Also, why would this
be worse than a Matrox Marvel G200/G400 card that is compressing to MJPEG?
MPEG2 would be better in my opinion.

Another topic:
The Weather module is a great idea....  I hope these guys keep working on
more information services as well.... Like I'd like to be able to flip over
to the equivalent of movies.yahoo.com and get what is showing tonight and
where/when.  Also stock quotes... hey, just keep piling it on.  Maybe we
need an Information module that you can plug in different information
services.   I wish I had time to write some code :)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Dacey" <frugal@tildefrugal.net>
To: "mythtv dev" <mythtv-dev@snowman.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 11:30 PM
Subject: Re: Re[2]: [mythtv] WinTV PVR-250 (hardware mpeg encoder)


> On 1/10/03 1:08 AM, "Wayne Johnson" <bigman1@alltel.net> wrote:
>
> > I think you miss the point of this project. Isaac wrote this for his
> > amusement. If you provide patches etc, he might consider it. I
> > personally don't see what the big deal is lately with the whole
> > sff/mini-itx movement.
> > On the topic of quieting a computer it doesn't have to be expensive at
> > all. rubber grommets found at hardware stores can be used for fan and
> > harddrive/cd/dvd mounting to cut down vibration. Also, quiet fans can
> > be found online at very reasonable prices.
> > My 0.02 cents
>
> I think it's really a case of what your needs are and what is available
for
> you. For myself, I can get a celeron 350 cpu and mobo for free from a
> friend. I also don't have the same availability locally for cheap new
> processors. An Athlon XP 1800+ locally is $156 CAD (roughly $100 US) after
> taxes, plus I'd need a motherboard for it still. To do mail order would
add
> shipping, taxes, and possibly duty so it's not a viable solution for me
when
> it comes to hardware I can acquire locally.
>
> Yes, for some people, the WinTV PVR cards don't make sense, if they are
able
> to acquire the other hardware at a reasonable price. For others, they may
be
> looking at what existing hardware they have that can be re-used. For
myself,
> I think I can get a WinTV PVR-250 and a Hardware MPEG-2 decoder card for
> less money than I'd spend on a new CPU and mobo. With those 2 pieces of
> hardware (encoder and decoder cards) I should be able to run a PVR quite
> capably on a celeron 350. If I want to add a 2nd tuner for PIP or 2 record
> operations I can just pop in another encoder card and go nuts (assuming
the
> drive is up to the task). For me, this is a better option. It allows me to
> create a fully working system right now that is still scalable without
> breaking the bank. Down the road, I might want to upgrade to a more
powerful
> system in order to handle other tasks. But, I can still take over a lot of
> the existing hardware. This would save me money in the long-term because
so
> much of the PVR cpu load is handled by the cards so I don't need to
upgrade
> to a newer CPU that's capable of handling those other tasks as well as all
> the PVR stuff I want to throw at it. Again, your mileage may vary.
>
> In terms of this being Isaac's project, that's true. I think it's great
that
> he's made it available for others to use, patch, customize, etc. I don't
> think it's fair for others to harass him, or any other developer, to
> implement features that they're not interested in. This would be
especially
> true of those users who are not contributing to the project because they
> either lack the knowledge (such as myself, don't know c) or are unwilling
to
> put in the time. I would love to see WinTV PVR-250 support in MythTV. If
> someone adds it, that would make me very happy but I'm not going to expect
> developers who aren't interested in this feature to work on it just to
> satisfy me. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, well then I'll have to
> either figure out how to hack it myself or look for another solution
(either
> through different hardware or a different project which does support it).
>
> --
> Andrew "Frugal" Dacey
> frugal@tildefrugal.net
> http://www.tildefrugal.net/
>
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