[mythtv-users] Taking the plunge - General questions about setup and PVR250

[Myth]

Hello all,

Been reading this list and the archives for a while and I'm taking the
plunge and ordering a PVR250 from compusa.com. I have a few questions though
that I have not seen addressed before and that I couldn't find doing a
search.

1. On the PVR250, does the tv out work?  I would imagine that the mythtv
overlays and stuff do NOT output via that connection and that is cool
because I'd like to use that for VCR recording/archiving.

2. I have an HDTV and would like to use a VGA to Component Progressive
transcoder with my mythtv box.  On windows I have to use a special program
to output custom resolutions and compensate for overscan.  Is that level of
control available under linx?  Can someome point me to docs that would
explain how to do that.  I have the appropriate timings and stuff for my
display.

Does anyone else have their mythtv box setup that way?  What do you do about
16x9 versus 4:3?  Do you have to leave the set in 4:3 mode or can it add
bars to 3. the side.  It would be nice to have 16x9 menus in myth (more
screen real estate) and have it scale 4:3 material with black bars on the
side.  That way I could also use the machine to play dvds and not have to
adjust the aspect ratio.

4. One thing that concers me is the response time of the remote and the
speed of navigating menus.  Is this an issue?  Some HTPC frontends on win
are very slow on a P4 just because they cannot respond to remote signals
fast enough. I will be using the PVR250's remote on this system.

5. I've noticed that the redhat setup seems to be tricky.  I am more of a
FreeBSD guy myself (no mythtv support dang it)  so can you recommend a
distro that will give me the least headaches.  I know this has been debated
before but I would like opinions from a BSD perspective.

6. And finally,  I need this to be pretty stable.  Do you recommend the
latest CVS or is there a version that seems to be rock solid but may be
missing the latest features that you could point me to.  (I know myth is in
devel and there are ongoing issues.)

Thanks.

Roby Adams