[mythtv-users] xawtv works - what's the next step?

[Michael Haan]

I had to turn-off XvMC because it was causing myth to error out.  I'd
like to enable and use it (I think), but not sure how to about it. 
Also, didn't I see somewhere that some of the de-interlacing routines
require XvMC to be disabled?


On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 14:46:34 -0500, Joseph Caputo <jcaputo1 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Justin Gombos wrote:
> > * Joseph Caputo <jcaputo1 at comcast.net> [2005-03-17 14:17]:
> >
> >>Please just try xawtv.  It's *so* much easier.  Also, you're going
> >>to have issues unless you can get Xv working on your video card.
> >
> >
> > Xawtv is the only thing that works for me, and I'm glad you suggested
> > it.  But the goal is to have MythTV work.  I want to take the next
> > baby step.
> >
> > I want to see live tv via MythTV next (which currently displays a
> > blank screen).  I'm sure there's a smaller step I can take to get
> > there.  What other tests and troubleshooting can I do, knowing that
> > Xawtv works, but mplayer doesn't, and I can't even cat from
> > /dev/video0?
> 
> Stop trying to 'cat' from /dev/video0.  You're not supposed to do that
> with a framegrabber card; that test is meant for hardware MPEG encoder
> cards like the PVR-250, that allow you to read an MPEG stream from the
> video device.  DON'T DO IT!!
> 
> > What exactly is Xv?  Is that something that MythTV
> > depends on?
> 
> Yes.  Xv is the X11 extension that enables 2D scaling of video to be
> done by your video card hardware.  Without it, your CPU must shoulder
> the load.  If you're recording at, say, 640x480, but your display
> resolution is 800x600, then to display full-screen the video must be
> scaled.  Doing the scaling in software is quite taxing on your CPU,
> hence the need for Xv, so you can let your video card do it.  Without
> Xv, I doubt you'll be able to watch LiveTV on a PII-400 or whatever it
> is you have.  That's a pretty lightweight box to try and serve as a
> combined backend/frontend IMHO, even *with* Xv.
> 
> -JAC
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