[mythtv-users] OT: Hardware decoders (was Re: completely new and have questions before I buy hardware)

[Michael T. Dean]

On 09/08/2008 06:51 PM, Brad DerManouelian wrote:
> On Sep 8, 2008, at 3:46 PM, Nick Morrott wrote:
>   
>> On 08/09/2008, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>> The main point of my post, though, was that the PVR-350's hardware  
>>> SDTV decoder is a waste, and I firmly stand by that assertion.
>>>       
>> Back in 2004/05 when my PVR-350 was the only straightforward way to
>> connect my Asus Pundit-R machine to my CRT TV (the ATI fglrx driver
>> had broken PAL TV-Out) it was worth every penny of the premium over
>> the then-current PVR-250, even if it didn't support OpenGL or Xv. Now
>> I use it as a regular MPEG-2 capture card, but, for me at least, it
>> served - and serves - a useful purpose. The picture quality was pretty
>> amazing too - easily beating regular TV-Out over composite/S-Video.
>>     
> Enough said. ;)

Well, I'd say hardware SDTV decoder != TV out (sure, the only way to use 
the SDTV decoder is through the TV out, but the decoder is not the only 
way to use the TV out--if it were, there would be no MythTV GUI or 
MythTV OSD or ... on the PVR-350 TV out).

But, regardless, the Pundit R was one of those small/quiet MythTV 
frontends to which I was referring when I said, "but those who build 
small/quiet MythTV frontends are already making compromises and 
accepting limitations," so what's the problem with adding a few more 
limitations?  If you want a limited frontend, feel free to use a 
hardware decoder.  Otherwise, ...

And, yes, I've seen the PVR-350's TV out output (but, no, I wasn't 
really impressed).  And, yes, I own a PVR-350.  And, yes, I used its TV 
out for all of 2 weeks until I realized that the number of limitations 
far outweighed the "benefits" (of which I found none), after which I 
disabled the TV out and used it as a PVR-250 (at the time, or, put 
another way, as a less-efficient, more-power-hungry PVR-150).

Mike