[mythtv-users] Question about PVR-350 and Myth...

Scot L. Harris webid at cfl.rr.com
Fri Mar 25 14:22:28 UTC 2005


On Fri, 2005-03-25 at 09:07, Drifter wrote:
> I am building a Myth box.  I have:
>  
> 3Ghz Intel Prescott CPU
> Intel D865PERL Motherboard (Integrated optical SPDIF, Hyperthreading)
> Hauppauge PVR-350
> 2 200Gig SATA hard drives
> 512 M RAM
> FX5200 GeForce Card
> 2 HD3000 cards (not installed yet).
> Fedore Core 3, 2.6.10
>  
> My question is in regard to the hardware encoding / decoding
> capabilities of the PVR-350.  Am I required to use the TV Out of the
> PVR-350 to enjoy the MPEG decoding capabilities of the card?  Can the
> card encode and decode at the same time (live TV)?
>  
> I had problems with Myth getting video to initialize, and finally was
> able to get live TV to display.  It was very choppy, stuttery, and
> ultimately just locked up.  I am not using the TV out of the card, and
> am presently just using the PC monitor.  I have a long ways to go on
> this, but I need to start with a better understanding of how the
> PVR350 works with the system.
>  

I setup my first box in the last month using a PVR-350.  As far as I can
tell the decoder is only used if you use the PVR-350 output.  If you use
the graphics card as the output the work load is on your CPU.  With 3GHz
that should not be a problem.

If you do use the PVR-350 output make sure you enable it in the
mythfrontend setup screens.  I missed this the first time around.  Make
sure to expand all the PVR-350 sections in Jarod's guide to get the
details on this.

I used the monitor display for a week or two while testing things and
making sure everything worked.  Finally set it all up to use the PVR-350
output and moved it to the family room.  Last night I installed a second
encoder card (PVR-250).  Was a little tricky but now it seems to work
just fine.

I have to say I have been impressed with the output from the PVR-350. 
It is as good as the broadcast signals and much better than VHS taped
shows.


-- 
Scot L. Harris
webid at cfl.rr.com

Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.
		-- William Shakespeare, "Julius Caesar" 



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