[mythtv-users] Migrating my mythtv setup to HD

[Mary Strimel]

On 5/5/08, Emery Guevremont <emery.guevremont at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Kevin Kuphal wrote:
>
> On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:51 PM, Emery Guevremont <
> emery.guevremont at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >  Kevin Kuphal wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:28 PM, Emery Guevremont <
> > emery.guevremont at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Hello everyone,
> > >
> > > My problem:
> > > I've read through a lot of the emails in this mailing list that
> > > discusses HD and mythtv. But I'm still unsure how to migrate my
> > > current
> > > setup to be able to capture and display recording into HD.
> > >
> > > My current setup:
> > > I currently get my TV from OTA (analog and digital) and cable (analog
> > > and clear QAM only). Right now I only have 2 PVR-150 cards on my Myth
> > > BE
> > > to capture the cable's and OTA analog channels. I also have an HDTV
> > > now,
> > > with dual co-ax inputs (one is used for cable and the other for OTA).
> > > I
> > > don't use a FE for watching my recordings. Instead I use a combination
> > > of mythweb for programming and I have a job for transcoding to Xvid.
> > > After I either burn to DVD and watch on a DVD player or I use my
> > > Archos
> > > 605 to view my recording.
> > >
> > > My (potentially) next purchase:
> > > Now I've been thinking on getting an HDHomerun for capturing, but I
> > > still need a way to view my HD recording on my TV.
> > >
> > > My questions:
> > > What would be the cheapest way on doing this?
> > > Theoretically could the new HD-PVR be used to playback my recordings
> > > or
> > > does it just playback its own H.264 AVCHD video format?
> > > Is there a someone that makes an appliance like the MediaMVP but for
> > > HD?
> > > How would I go about transcoding HD recordings so that a regular DVD
> > > player or my Archos 605 be able to playback the recording? How
> > > powerful
> > > of a BE would I need to do something like that?
> > > Would a WinTV HVR-1950 from hauppauge be better then HDHomerun?
> > >
> > > Any other low cost suggestions are welcomed.
> >
> >
> > What cost is low cost to you?
> >
> >  In terms of cost I'm willing to spend the $170 needed for the HDHomerun
> > and another $200 for a frontend solution. But I'd be ready to only buy the
> > HDHomerun, and temporarily transcode my recordings so a DivX DVD player
> > could play it. And in like 6 months buy whatever I needed for my FE.
> >
> >  And what are the specs on your backend because with a decent enough
> > processor for transcoding/commflagging HD, you could just as easily add in a
> > relatively inexpensive video card that supports XvMC and do HD playback from
> > your backend as well.
> >
> >  CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1700+
> > RAM: 768MB SDRAM
> > VIDEO CARD: Asus V7700 AGP (nVidia Corporation NV15 [GeForce2 GTS/Pro])
> > But I also have a more powerful ATI Radeon 9600 SE.
> > DISTRO: Gentoo
> >
>
> Despite the power. the Radeon won't do you any good for Linux as it lacks
> any kind of hardware accelleration support.  You *might* be able to do XvMC
> with that processor if you were to try say an Nvidia FX5200 AGP.  That card
> has excellent XvMC support and you could find a DVI version and run DVI-HDMI
> to your TV.  I think that is most inexpensive route (assuming the XvMC works
> well enough with that processor.  I think I had HD running on my Athlon 1800
> with a 440MX at one point so I think it will work).   Otherwise, if you were
> to build a frontend, I would strongly recommend getting enough CPU to decode
> regardless of video card (Dual core, etc) so that you won't have to worry
> about all this stuff in the future.  I can't imagine spending all the cash
> on an HDTV and HDTV tuners only to transcode everything down to DVD to
> watch.  You're missing half the joy of MythTV.
>
> The transcoding would only be a temporary solution so that I can slowly
> built up to a full HD system without busting my family's budget. The HDTV I
> got from by using the points from my credit card's Aeroplan.
>
> I'll do some reading up on XvMC in the wiki before deciding on the Nvidia
> card, but it does sound like very low cost solution.
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Kevin
>
>
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You may have already looked at this, but I found the following chart helpful
in determining whether XVMC would be enough for me to watch HD:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/XvMC:Example_CPU_Savings

To my happy surprise, my 4 year old Athlon64 is playing back HDTV as of this
week using XVMC on a FX5200 with no stuttering, no sync problems, and only a
slightly longer prebuffering pause (like 8 secs or so).  I've been plotting
this move for years ... like you, I wanted to keep somewhat to a budget.
OTA seems to be working far better than QAM for me.
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