[mythtv-users] Misc problems, ideas and general thoughts

[Jonny B]

> Thanks for yor advice,
>        The reason the system is installed on the 120gb is because the 80gb was
> a last minute addition to my server.  When the motherboard in my laptop
> fried, I didn't see the point of having an 80Gb hdd sitting there
> collecting dust so I wacked it in the Myth box.
>
>        I tried using the external 640Gb for recordings but the vfat system
> doesn't like files bigger than 4096mb. (about an hours worth of viewing)
> I suppose one way of getting around the 4096mb barrier is to format the
> ext drive in a ext3 format.  The only problem there is that the wife
> wants to be able to use it on her laptop (which runs windows... shudder)

That makes it difficult. I wouldn't use ext for recordings anyway. It
seems to work, but I prefer XFS. Also incompatible with winders. Might
be that you should just think about getting yourself a dedicated
internal 1TB drive, and forget about space issues altogether. Then the
80 gig can be repurposed to something else... I store all my internet
aquired videos on an 80 gig and a 200 gig drive in my system. (the 80
gig was great until I got broadband)

>        The only concern I have with using a PVR is compatibility with
> Australian (oy oy oy) tv.  Does anyone know if there are any issues
> getting these to work in the land downunder?

I can't say. NTSC broadcasts? That's what the PVR handles. There may
be a PAL version. Don't know. It's a legacy card now that almost
everywhere is going digital.

>        How does the PVR go using composite video in AND digital tv
> simultaniously?  The big draw back with the DVT1000/2000 is that you can
> only set it up to do 1 or the other, not both. Since i need to use
> composite video for Austar/Foxtel and digital TV for free-to-air my
> current setup needs the 2 cards to satisfy my needs.

The PVR doesn't do digital. There is another option there, the
Hauppauge HVR1600 does ATSC/QAM and NTSC on dual tuners, so
theoretically can record 2 streams at a time. I haven't actually
purchased one of these yet (though I may soon, so I can use 1 card to
do both ATSC and Cable at the same time) but it sounds very promising.

>        As far as linux goes, I have tried Mythtv on Suse and Fedora and while
> each has their own pros and cons, its currently setup on Fedora and
> unless I need to re-install the system, it wont be changing.  I suppose
> I prefer Fedora because of its distance to Mirco$oft compared to Suse.

Yea, like I said, used Fedora for years, and it works very well... I
was just tired of having to upgrade it all the time to keep my myth
rpms available and current. With SuSe, no such issues... yet. Still,
that, I believe to be a personal preference, and either way works
well.

~Jon