EPIA + Which PVR ?? Was [Re: [mythtv-users] VIA EPIA-M]

MagicITX magicitx at gmail.com
Tue Mar 29 14:57:57 UTC 2005


The PVR-150 uses a different chipset than the PVR-250/350.  The
PVR-500 is essentially two PVR-150's on a single card.

The maturity of the ivtv driver is not as great for the 150.  I
routinely use the PVR-250 or PVR-250 MCE with the EPIA motherboard.  I
haven't used the PVR-350 because the mpeg acceleration on the EPIA and
its tv-out work fine.  I see about 40% cpu utilization on an M10000
Nehemiah while watching live TV.

I've not been able to get a PVR-150/500 working on an EPIA system.  I
know some people have had success with it under PAL but not under
NTSC.  YMMV.


On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 09:41:45 -0500, Scot L. Harris <webid at cfl.rr.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-03-29 at 06:57, Ow Mun Heng wrote:
> > On Sun, 2005-03-20 at 15:52 -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > To bottom-line this thread:  An "1GHz EPIA-M with a PVR-150"
> > > should easily be able to watch live TV because...
> > >
> > > - the PVR-150 is H/W encoding to MPEG-2
> > > - a MythTV process is writing that encoded stream to disk
> > > - another process is pushing the encodes stream from disk to the
> > >   Unichrome MPEG-2 decoder.
> > > - the Unichrome driver is pumping the decoded data to the video
> > >   card.
> >
> > I just got to ask.. because I'm confused with all the different PVR-XXX
> > versions out there.
> >
> > PVR-150 = PVR-250 = Same Price - What gives??
> >
> > But having said that, I guess my main question is, which of the PVR
> > cards can I use for the most fundamental of uses.
> >
> > 1. Watch Live TV
> > 2. Record Live TV (Digital satellite Broadcast)
> > 3. Have a Remote to play with.
> >
> > What's the difference that you ppl are seeing?
> 
> Which Hauppauge card you get depends a little on what you want to do
> with the Mythtv system.
> 
> My first mythtv box has a PVR-350 and a PVR-250MCE.  I am using the
> PVR-350 output to the TV which works great for what I am using it for.
> 
> The PVR-250 is essentially a PVR-350 but does not have the TV output or
> the remote control input.  I use it as just another encoder card for
> recording shows.
> 
> The PVR-350 comes with a remote control and provides Svideo and
> composite outputs.  The caveat is that the output is good for things you
> record (the PVR-350 has a hardware decoder for mpeg2) but apparently
> getting a DVD to play using the PVR-350 output is not possible.
> 
> If you want the mythtv box to be able to play DVDs apparently you are
> better off using a standard video card output to the TV.  This means you
> will need more CPU.  And if you go that route the PVR-350 does not make
> as much sense.
> 
> I am not familiar with the PVR-150.  However the PVR-500 is interesting
> as it has two tuners on the one card.  I have found that having at least
> two tuners is required, otherwise there are many conflicts in
> scheduling.  Two tuners eliminate most of the conflicts.  Three tuners
> would be optimum, there should be very few conflicts if any with three
> tuners.
> 
> The TV output from the PVR-350 replicates the input signal so well that
> I doubt that I could tell the difference between a live broadcast from
> the cable company and what is being played back from the mythtv box.
> 
> In the next few months I plan on building a cheaper cooler quieter
> frontend box and may opt for using a video card output so I can get the
> DVD playback working.  I also like the live tv listings better over the
> video card.  With the PVR-350 the tv listings overlay the entire
> picture.  When I was testing it seems that the output to the monitor put
> the current channel in a small box in the upper right corner and
> provided the listings below that.  Much easier to view.  So if you are
> not going to use the PVR-350 output you may be better off getting a
> PVR-250 and some other remote control setup.
> 
> Not sure if there is much documentation describing these trade offs or
> not.  I found out during the build of my first box.
> 
> --
> Scot L. Harris
> webid at cfl.rr.com
> 
> Let us live!!!
> Let us love!!!
> Let us share the deepest secrets of our souls!!!
> 
> You first.
> 
> 
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> 
> 


-- 
Tim
www.magicitx.com


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