[mythtv-users] living room myth pvr

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Mon Apr 3 19:57:44 UTC 2006


On Apr 3, 2006, at 12:46 PM, Jeff Simpson wrote:

>
> Hi Timothy,
>
> I'm new to Myth too.  Just set one up completely, and with  
> invaluable help from the kind folks on this list.
>
> I'm also contemplating expanding my MythTV setup across the house,  
> and here are my preliminary (untested) thoughts that I'd share with  
> the folks here for commentary:
>
> * old PIII-based system, 512MB RAM, large USB Lacie HDD
> * a Hauppauge WinTV PVR-350 w/ TV-Out (to a regular TV via S-video)
> or
> * a Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 (no TV-Out) to a 21" monitor + a decent  
> graphics card
>
> Steve
>
> I would suggest against getting a PVR-350, for various reasons. The  
> MPEG output on the PVR-350 does look nice, but the problems with  
> support more than overshadow any quality advantage it might have.  
> Menus are slow, fast forward, rewind, time stretch, etc don't (and  
> probably will never) work with the PVR-350. DVD and other video  
> playing won't work well with the PVR-350. OpenGL is not going to  
> work on the PVR-350, and MythTV is moving to all OpenGL for the  
> menu systems.
>
> So my suggestion is to get a recording card and a decent NVidia  
> card with TV-Out.
>
> For a recording card:
> PVR-150 PVR-250: These cards are basically the same, but the PVR150  
> is newer and cheaper. Depending on the package, some come with a  
> remote
> PVR-500: This is basically two PVR-150 tuners on one board. If you  
> have analog cable, this is a good way to get two tuners. If you  
> have digital cable or satellite, you would need to get two set-top  
> boxes to use both tuner inputs, and you might need to buy a  
> breakout card to get the inputs you need for the 500, so you may  
> want to just start with a 150.

PVR-250s are getting hard to find. The one advantage they have right  
now over the 150 is that the CC works, but I am sure that CC support  
for the 150 will be happening soon.

The newer retail versions of the 150s also now come with an IR  
blaster, handy if you have a STB. They can be made to work now with  
patched sources but I'd think that support will be "out of the box"  
soon.

I've read someplace that the video processing is better on the 150,  
but that may well have been HogPaws propaganda, I haven't noticed any  
difference, but they are newer chips.
>
> Graphics card:
> Anything nvidia with Tv-Out.

As long as it is a model since the MX-4.
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