[mythtv-users] Should a Via Epia V8000 (PLE, no CLE!) be able to do livetv?

[R. G. Newbury]

Francesco Peeters wrote:
> R. G. Newbury schreef:
> 
>>Francesco Peeters wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Before I put any more time in this, I was wondering:
>>>
>>>Will an Epia V8000 (800MHz C3, 256 MB RAM, PLE VGA (So no CLE H/W MPEG), 
>>>Hauppage PVR250) be able to playback recordings and livetv?
>>>
>>>I have 2 big issues right now:
>>>1)No Audio (might be drivers, haven't put any time in that yet)
>>>2)Stuttering video.
>>>
>>>As to #2:
>>>About every second a few frames are dropped. This happens irrespective 
>>>of the MPEG2 source: both livetv and playback of a recording do the same.
>>>Processor seems to be at a staggering 86% usage when playing either 
>>>livetv or recording, which seems to be a bit high to me, even for a 
>>>'meagre' 800MHz processor
>>>
>>>The VGA driver being used is the Trident XFree driver included in KnoppMyth
>>
>>
>>1) Go to the alsa-driver site, download and compile the via82xx driver. 
>>Should work for your board.
>>
> 
> 
> The KnoppMyth distro contains via82xx drivers, and those are loaded, but 
> I still do not have audio...  :-(
> 
> I'll try with the drivers from Via themselves as well, but like I said, 
> I haven't put too much time in that yet..
> 
> 
>>2) Possibly you can use the xvmc enabled video driver, if your chipset 
>>is described as 'unichrome'. If so the easiest method would be to 
>>upgrade to a recent kernel 2.6.16 where the unichrome driver is included 
>>with the kernel. Note that the unichrome pro extensions are not covered 
>>by that module. For that you need the upgraded xorg from openchrome (an 
>>rpm is available from kelkoo.net.
>>
> 
> AFAIK the unichrome drivers are only for the CLE266 and above... Anyway, 
> the VIA and other sites clearly state that the PLE does not have H/W 
> MPEG, so I am afraid that's a no go...
> 
> I tried using the VIA driver for X11, and then XFree wouldn't even 
> start, so I reverted to the Trident driver, which is slightly (but 
> really only marginally so) faster than the VESA driver...
> 
> As the Via EPIA V8000 doesn't have an AGP slot, and only 1 PCI slot, I 
> may be looking at getting a PVR350 instead...  :-/
> 
> If this really doesn't work out, I'll have to see what is cheaper... A 
> new EPIA board or a 350...  :-o
> 

Via make a 2 slot PCI riser extension card, which will allow you to have 
2 PCI cards installed. Quite cheap. Mine cost about $25US and another 
$10 for shipping from LogicSupply in Waterbury, Vermont. THere are 
sources for this in Europe. (If your case gives you problems, the answer 
is flexible PCI extension cable, also cheap considering the problems it 
can fix.)

If you go that route you can install an NVidia chip based video card and 
get the hardware enhancements for output (xvmc) and a PVR500 and get the 
MPEG encoder in hardware as well.


Geoff