[mythtv-users] Nova-T USB2 or equivilant

[R. G. Newbury]

Matt Collins wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 20, 2006 at 05:59:12PM -0500, R. G. Newbury wrote:
>   
>> Via make a 2 slot PCI riser/extender card (intended for small desktop 
>> cases). This PCI extender is made to handle 2 PCI cards both physically 
>> and electronically. Most PCI riser cards have a small daughter card 
>> which fits into a second PCI slot and a cable to transfer that slot's 
>> IRQ etc. to the riser card. The VIA card gets around that, internally.
>>
>>     
>
> Sadly I'm using a (very nice) hoojum cubit mini-atx case - theres no room
> for anything else in there. I'm considering one of the dual decoder DVB
> cards around there and dumping the PVR-350 but I hear so much about the
> onboard EPIA display being inferior to the PVR350's I'm somewhat reluctant
> to lose it; hence the USB device.
>
> Of course, the USB device is only a single decoder, so no PiP... bleurgh!
>
> Life should be simpler ;)
>
> I want a PVR350 decoder on a board with 2 DVB tuners. Any suggestions? :) ;)
>
>   
>> So give some consideration to going that route. It is much easier to 
>> have the 2 cards installed internally. My total cost was about $50.00 US 
>> including 2 UPS shipments.
>>     
>
> I'd love to. But I like my current case too much, I think. Its pretty much
> a solid aliminium heatsink with a slow big fan at the back, and it works
> well enough I've replaced my M10k's CPU fan with a Zalman northbridge
> heatsink... alls well. So far. ;)

Yes I've seen that case. Very nice indeed and rather expensive too if 
memory serves.

As to the Via display I think you may be mixing up two different things. 
The Via does great output. I've had that box here, feeding this 
1280x1024 LCD display without any problems. And that was playing digital 
streams recorded by the HD3000 card.
The Via is apparently limited to 1024x1024 output through the S-video 
out. Since I have only tried it with my SD TV I have not noticed any 
problem.

The hardware mpeg decoder on the PVR350 duplicates the capabilities of 
the hardware decoder on the Via boards. The VT1623 video chipset on the 
recent Via boards does the video out and whether the PVR350 has any 
better capabilities is unclear. From comments made, it appears that it 
may do more than the Via.

But don't turn down the Via motherboard's output without checking it 
out. It sounds like you would be much better off with a PVR500 (as I 
have), so the question is whether you would feel there is a downgrade in 
quality from the PVR350. Given the nature of these systems, I really 
doubt that there is a noticeable difference:  the quality of the input 
is likely the dispositive factor.

And regarding load factors, I recorded 3 programs simultaneously on 
Monday night: one digital stream and 2 analog streams. No problem with 
the Via Sp13000 with a SATA hard drive.

Geoff






-- 
       R. Geoffrey Newbury			
     Barrister and Solicitor
 Suite 106, 150 Lakeshore Road West
    Mississauga, Ontario, L5H 3R2

  905-271-9600  Fax 905-271-1638
       newbury at mandamus.org