[mythtv-users] Anyone try a Kworld PlusTV hd pci 120?

[stuart]

Jeff Walther wrote:
...<cut>...
>>>> Anyone try a Kworld PlusTV hd pci 120?
...<cut>...
> I found this:
> <http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/KWorld_ATSC_120>
> but I thought I found it from a link you posted in an earlier message in
> this thread, so I would assume you've already seen it.

Nope, didn't dig far enough I guess.  I'm not a mercury SCM user, is 
there a way to tell if revision 7448 of the V4L/DVB staging development 
repository is part of the released V4L/DVB?

>>> However, at $35 each it is hard to
>>> beat the ATSC 115 right now, unless  you need hardware MPEG2 encoding.
>>
>> The 120 has hardware MPEG2 encoding?  Where does it say that on the box?
> 
> Whoaaaaaa.   Sorry for the unclear context.  I meant, that in a general
> sense, if one wants a TV Tuner card, it is hard to beat the ATSC 115 at
> Newegg, unless one needs hardware MPEG2 encoding in the tuner card.   I
> did not mean that the KWorld 120 includes that feature.

Agreed, thinking of returning my $40 120 now as the 115 might be better 
supported.

(Just to make it clear, I have an Kworld 110 and I don't believe it has 
hardware MPEG2 encoding for the NTSC tuner.  And, I'm guessing, but I 
don't think the Kworld 115 or 120 has MPEG2 encoding.  Anyone know 
differently?)

> But it would be cool to pay a bit more and have FM tuning too.  On the
> other hand, so many radio stations stream on the internet now, I'm not
> sure if an FM tuner really adds much real functionality.

Agreed, and don't forget about adding HD, XM & Sirus radio to the mix 
when you make a decision w.r.t. the above.

> I'm building my system for fun and to adapt to the new broadcast standards
> coming next Feb.  All our local stations are available in OTA digital now
> so the only need I could have for analog is to convert old VHS tapes to
> something that MythTV can store and play for us. (I assume the E7200 in
> the backend will have enough power to do that from the 115's frame grabber
> function.) We do not have cable or satellite.  So an (actually four) ATSC
> tuner card for $35 looks very nice compared to the other options out
> there.

I have a Kworld 110 and don't even bother w/the analog tuner.  I use a 
Happauge for that as it has hardware MPEG2 encoding built in. You might 
want to avoid software based MPEG2 encoding and HD playback at the same 
time on the same box.  I was trying to bring up a single core 3GHz 
system w/a Nvidia 6xxx video HW accelerated card and couldn't manage to 
stop the stuttering if HD play back coincided with other activities like 
commercial flagging.  I resorted to building a front end using a duel 
core AMD 5000 X2 (which can be done for less then $300 if you're frugal).

Also, I believe mythtv now supports recoding multiple programs from the 
same ATSC tuner.  Can anyone verify this?  That is, the tuner receives 
multiple feeds from a single TV station and mythtv records them.  So, if 
your recording schedule is recording 3 shows at once and 2 are from the 
same station you might be able to get away with 2 tuners.  Or, to put it 
another way, with your setup, you might be able to record 4, 5, 6 maybe 
8 shows at once if they all can be found on 4 TV stations.

> At first my sole purpose was to adapt to the change, but since I appear to
> be spending the cost of 2 years worth of cable on this system, I'm finding
> it hard to justify as an economical way of making time shifting more
> convenient under the new regime.  So it must be for fun.

Yes, you can't build a myth box to save money and time - that's just a 
given.  At best it's one or the other.

> The digital tuner boxes being sold through the government coupons include
> no timer function, so timed VCR operation becomes problematical.  Hence,
> the desire for MythTV.  I already had 1/2 mile of Cat5 and RP6 in the
> walls and attic...

Which brings up a topic for another day: Can any of these cheep boxes be 
"blasted" by a mythtv box IR transmitter autonomously for scheduling 
purposes?