[mythtv-users] Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick

[Brian Wood]

Bryan Mayland wrote:
> Florin Andrei wrote:
>> Anybody using Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick with MythTV?
>>
>> http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/PCTV+Tuners/PCTV+Analog_Digital+PVR/PCTV+HD+Pro+Stick.htm
>>
>> The product looks great on paper. Analog TV, HDTV, record direct to 
>> MPEG1/2/4 and DivX, capture from external analog sources, it's a USB 
>> device, etc. And it's not too expensive.
>>   
> This looked really cool until I did a little research and found this on 
> the Hauppauge web site:
> "/Record analog TV shows to your PC's hard disk using our SoftPVR 
> MPEG-2 encoder./"
> 
> As the Hauppauge device uses the same chip, you're going to be no joy on 
> getting analog TV. It appears to be an analog capture card and a ATSC 
> passthrough. The poster at the link below said he could not get analog 
> capture to work under Linux
> http://lunapark6.com/usb-hdtv-tuner-stick-for-windows-linux-hauppauge-wintv-hvr-950.html

Wouldn't that just mean that it is a simple frame-grabber? The Hauppauge
stuff (blue boxes) that use "SoftPVR" are generally such, while the gear
with the Orange boxes have on-board MPEG encoders. (retail box color

Like anything a frame-grabber has pros and cons, the main con being it
takes CPU to do the encoding, the main pro being more flexibility in the
codec used, and possibly the ability to use something not even invented yet.

But, if building a new system, it's probably better to stick with stuff
known to work with Myth, unless you have money and time to spend.

Unless you have a really compelling reason to need NTSC and ATSC in one
device, why not just use two units?