[mythtv-users] 350 Tv Out vs. Nvidia 5200

David Wallace dwallace at landsouth.net
Wed Nov 2 11:39:34 EST 2005


I got a fanless 5200 8x AGP w/256 MEG RAM (Pine MFG) at Sam's Club for
$58.00 USD. The TV out to a 36" Sony Vega is wonderful.

David


On Mon, 2005-10-31 at 18:12 +0000, mythtv-users at fastdruid.co.uk wrote:
> Jesse wrote:
> > Jesse Guardiani wrote:
> > > Dave wrote:
> > >> On 8/23/05, Mark Gardner <markgard at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>> Can anyone comment on the quality comparison between the two 
> > >>> abovementioned chipsets?
> 
> Well just to add my 2p, I've had a PVR-350 running for about a year with
> TV/X out,
> I've just swapped to a nvidia Geforce4 MX440/128Mb/AGP 8x
> 
> PVR-350: 
> Advantages:
> Picture quality - Supposedly better[0]
> Hardware en/decoding - low processor usage, ideal for low spec 'silent'
> frontends[1]
> 
> Disadvantages:
> It's physically fscking huge - wont for example fit in a pundit-R without
> case modifications
> Not 100% stable - crashes under ff/rew sometimes (ivtv v0.3.8/mythtv 18.1
> fwiw. May be better with later versions)
> No games
> No boot msg's - If you care (I don't and have a serial console if I want
> boot msgs)
> Problems with DVD's (much better with XV support)
> Not pretty on bootup (pops and different colours->distorted image/last image
> before shutdown->kde splash->kde->mythtv), can have driver loaded earlier)
> No hauppauge driver support
> some mythtv functions don't work (vol control etc)
> No VGA/DVI
> Cost
> 
> 
> MX440 (5200 or similar should be better)
> Advantages:
> Cheap
> Stable 
> nvidia driver support
> Games
> DVD'S
> DVI/VGA
> Prettier on bootup (blank screen->nvidia splash(if turned on)->suse late
> splash->(kde but for a split second and don't see it)->mythtv), depending on
> card/setup can have entire bootup from bios splash into mythtv.
> Easily replaceable/upgradeable hardware with _no_ config changes (new nvidia
> card, just pop it in, single driver means 		config and driver
> won't change)
> 
> Disadvantages:
> Picture quality - supposedly worse[0]
> Uses processing power[1]
> Might be tricky to find a fanless one (I don't recommend it but if you're
> not playing taxing games you _might_ be safe
> to just unplug the fan, mine's died and the card works fine [and at
> 20-30quid for a 'upgrade' replacement I won't worry _too_ much if it dies])
> 
> FWIW IMHO unless you want a silent low powered machine or don't have an AGP
> slot I'd say save the pennies 
> (or cents) and just get a cheap nvidia card.
> 
> Anyone want to buy a PVR-350?
> 
> Druid
> 
> [0] TBH I can't see it but then again I've not got that nice a TV[2], on a
> BFO projector you might.
> [1] On a very unscientific test I got the following on playback:
> SuSE 9.1/2.6.11-rc2-bk3-20050125153357-default
> PVR-350
> P4/3GHz/800Mhz (HT DISABLED)
> 0.0-0.7% cpu
> 
> SuSE 10.0/2.6.13-15-smp
> MX440
> P4/2.8GHz/533Mhz (HT ENABLED)
> 6.5-8.5%
> 
> [2] Currently shopping for one though :-)
> 
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