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

Francesco Peeters francesco at fampeeters.com
Tue Apr 11 21:52:00 UTC 2006


R. G. Newbury schreef:
> 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
> 
I did not know VIA had a 2 slot PCI riser... Hmm... Thanks for the tip, 
I'll check that out!

-- 
Francesco Peeters
    Via EPIA V8000 - 256M RAM - 160GB Maxtor - PVR-250


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