[mythtv-users] Just built MythTV, beginner questions

[Maarten van den Berg]

On Sunday 14 March 2004 08:49, Dirk Aust wrote:
> Am Sonntag, 14. März 2004 05:02 schrieb maarten:

> > During testing I had some troubles, and they relate to the fact that this
> > old hardware seems severely underpowered.  So much so that when I select
> > "watch TV" to check my card's output for a preview, the picture lags at
> > least several seconds (upto 10 seconds) to what I'm feeding it.
>
> That's normal, because the capture module writes the video to the disk and
> afterwards the playback module plays it. Imagine, if you press "STOP" in
> LiveTV the lag will become even greater.

:-)  Okay.

> > The hardware is:  Celeron 500 MHz, 256MB, 8G hdd. Two Miro PCTV cards.
> > Is the slowness, as described, to be expected with this hardware ?
> > (yes, DMA is on)
>
> 8G seems to be very limited, only depending on the resolution I would guess
> you only have a few hours.

Of course.  But this is just hardware for a short evaluation period. I will 
certainly buy a 80G or 160G disk soon.

> > I have not had the cards' tuner set to the channels yet, since I don't
> > know how to go about that in a smart manner.  Do you have to do that with
> > Xawtv and record the settings used there for mythtv ?
> > I have an old but okay listing somewhere but it's Kwintv format, I have
> > to figure out how to translate.  Is there a quicker way than either of
> > these ? (I'm in holland, so xmltv doesn't take care of this, I reckon)
>
> Try to use http://nxtvepg.sourceforge.net, it works fine for Germany.

I'll look into that, thanks.

> > What is 'better' to use, rtjpeg or mpeg4 ? I also notice mpeg2 in some
> > menus, but there is no option to select mpeg2 in the other [encoding]
> > menus ? Does it matter whether I leave the resolution at 480x480
> > (default) or better at 1/2 PAL 384x288 (current setting) for my system ?
> > Where do you select what resolution settings
> > (default,live-tv,low-q,high-q) gets used when recording ? I did not see
> > (or read) that anywhere.
>
> You should use rtjpeg, because your CPU is quite slow and rtjpeg consumes
> less CPU power.

Ok, thanks

> > Onto some hardware questions again,
> > Do you reckon I should buy a PVR250, or it an AMD 2600+ well capable of
> > using the two plain old PCTV cards ? (see also next question)
>
> Your CPU will hardly manage ONE capture but never 2, I would guess buying a
> PVR-250, it works well for me, but should try if you can playback at least
> MPEG1 on your machine.

??  I believe you're talking about my current celeron ?  But I referred to an 
"AMD Athlon 2600+" which is what I have planned for this mythtv box.

Thanks,

Maarten