[mythtv-users] Tips on getting FE working completely

[Chuck Olson]

Hi all,

I'm trying to get a Myth setup working and I'm almost there, but need a little help. I have a backend (Mythbuntu w/Myth 0.25) up and running and recording. I can watch live TV and recorded TV on the backend machine fine on the monitor I have attached. I am recording shows off my antenna only (no cable, satellite, etc.) and I'm in Illinois.

I'm working on a frontend (also Mythbuntu w/Myth 0.25). It's an ancient Dell 8200 (1.2GHz, 512MB I believe) and I put an old GeForce fx5200 card in it. I will never watch HD content with this FE, only SD using the S-video output on the card. I installed the latest 173 nvidia driver for the fx5200 and mythfrontend comes up just fine. I can watch "old" shows on the FE-attached monitor (I have not tackled TV-out yet), but not "new" shows. By "old", I mean shows that were originally broadcast years ago (like Barney Miller, Mary Tyler Moore, etc.), presumably in much lower definition. By "new", I mean any recently produced show like sports and modern sitcoms. 

When I try to watch the newer shows, the video is very choppy along with the sound. With this in mind, I have a couple questions:

1. Even though my FE setup is ancient, should it still have enough horsepower to be able to display SD content as I wish?
2. If the answer to 1. is Yes, what should I start looking at to fix the stuttering? I have held off on messing with the xorg.conf, but is it time to bite into that?
3. Reading through many earlier posts leads me to believe the fx5200 is a stinker to configure properly in xorg.conf. Does anyone have a working xorg.conf that works with this card that does SD and TV-out?

Thanks for any help you could provide,

Chuck
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