[mythtv-users] Advice

Albert Santoni GameGod at sympatico.ca
Mon Jul 28 23:15:54 EDT 2003


Replies are inline below:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon" <jgregor at hotpop.com>
To: <mythtv-users at snowman.net>
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 5:22 PM
Subject: [mythtv-users] Advice

>
> 1.  The cheapest tv-out solution I could find would be the chaintech gf2
> 440mx for around 50$ from newegg.  which i've heard mentioned here a few
> times. is this card going to produce a decent tv-out signal? and is it
> naturally supported by xv?

All recent Nvidia cards give you good TV-out.

> 4.  I have not yet compiled myth at all, because I don't have the proper
> hardware and I didn't want to waste my time trying to set it up now.  But
> I've noticed that people can split the backend/frontend to different
> computers, is there an advantage, disadvantage?  (100mb wired network)  I
> was thinking i'd atleast be able to run mysql on my server to lighten my
> load on the myth box.  is that possible?

Yes, there is an obvious advantage to running the frontend and backend on
different computers, since the backend won't have to decode the video on the
fly. I also believe it's possible to put the mysql server on another machine
(on the machine running the backend for sure, but also another PC). I
believe the key to this one resides in the mystical mysql.txt file included
in your /usr/local/share/mythtv directory. (I'm aware you haven't installed
it yet, but search the archives for this one.)

> 5.  I've noticed some people saying they get mpeg2 glitches, or glitchy
> playback while using timeshifting via livetv.  I'll be buying a new
> harddrive from this box.  would it make sense to opt for one of the 8mb
> cache drives, is that necessary, would it even help?  which is quieter,
> seagate or wd?

I'm not sure if this would make a difference. I'm going to have to say it's
probably worth it to get a drive with an 8 MB cache... There's no point in
buying old hardware. Oh, and I have a 120 gig Western Digital drive w/ the 8
MB cache running on my main machine, and it's super quiet!

> 6. Would an athlon 800 running myth tv, with a wintv freestyle and a gf2
> produce quality anywhere near as close to the quality i'm getting directly
> from my cablebox now? assuming i'm using svideo in from the box, and
svideo
> back out.

I would reasonable doubt you'd get BETTER video quality.
A find a resolution of 480x480 just about matches my analog cable TV
quality. That's what I run it at.
You may have to try running at a higher resolution to match your digital
cable quality. For this, your Athlon will be able to do it because of your
PVR250 or Freestyle TV tuner. (I'm running an Athlon XP2000+... I can record
two shows at once with non hardware mpeg2 tuners.)

I hope you're able to work with your configuration to successfully create a
useable and enjoyable MythTV box.

Albert Santoni



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