[mythtv-users] A noob question regarding hardware req. andhardwarecodecs

[John Wells]

Joseph:

Joseph A. Caputo said:
> Probably not with your current hardware.  Possibly with a hardware encoder
> (see below).
> General rule of thumb: ~1GHz per encoding stream, + at ~500MHz for
> playback.
> I've got an Athlon XP 1600+ handling a single V4L tuner, which is just
> about
> enough power.  It'd be nice to have a little more breathing room, though.
> I
> definitely couldn't handle 2 V4L tuners without *really* sacrificing
> quality.
>
>> 2.  If I buy a hardware encoder like the Haupauge 250 or 350, what sort
>> of
>> effect will that have on CPU requirements?  Assuming a purchase of one
>> of
>> those cards, what CPU could I get buy with?
>
> A hardware MPEG encoder reduces the encoding load on your processor to
> virtually nothing.  Thus, with such a setup you really only need a system
> that can handle full screen MPEG-2 decoding & playback.  A PIII-500 might
> be
> OK there.

Based on your above comments, and based on what I have now, if I buy a
Hauppauge PVR-250 or 350 and use the current ATI TV wonder as my second
tuner, am I correct in assuming that having only one PVR-250/350 will
force me to still have at least a 1 GHZ processor for recording and
watching live tv at the same time?

Thanks for your input!

John