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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I just finished my <span class=SpellE>mythTV</span> system. Hopefully
some people will find this useful. And also, hopefully some people will be able
to give me pointers on some open issues.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Observation #1: The <span class=SpellE>linux</span> video
drivers for the built-in video of the sk41g don’t have <span
class=SpellE>overscan</span> support. This means that the <span class=SpellE>tv</span>-out
isn’t able to fill the <span class=SpellE><span class=GramE>tv</span></span>
screen properly. At 640x480, I my image <span class=GramE>is</span> a box in
the middle of my television, filling up maybe 60% of the available screen area.
At 800x600, the best resolution to run it at, most of the screen is filled, but
there are black stripes on either side of the image (and smaller, less
noticeable stripes on top and on the bottom). Also, there is a slight
pincushion effect and the right side of the display is truncated slightly. And
at 1024x768 I only get like three-quarters of my display to fit on the screen
and the rest is truncated. The upshot is that by running at 800x600, all TV
images will look “taller” than they are supposed to, and there will
be some conspicuous stripes on either side of the screen. I’ve seen other
posts confirming this.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Observation #2: I can’t watch live TV or watch and
record the same time for more than 20 minutes before the system chokes and the
pvr-350 stops capturing. Sometimes, but not always, I see an error message that
says: ‘Backend stuffed up in <span class=SpellE>RequestRingBufferBlock</span>’
(Isaac, couldn’t you have thought of a less disgusting error message than
backend stuffed up? <span class=SpellE><span class=GramE>Hehe</span></span><span
class=GramE>, just kidding.).</span> However, I’ve done ‘<span
class=SpellE>mplayer</span> /dev/video0’ and it’s worked overnight.
If anyone out there is also using an sk41g with a pvr-<span class=GramE>?50</span>
card and they’re NOT getting this error, please enlighten me! From what I’ve
seen in other posts, this is a problem with via-chipset <span class=SpellE>mobos</span>
used in conjunction with <span class=SpellE>pvr</span> capture cards, and
people have been blaming the <span class=SpellE>ivtv</span> drivers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Conclusion: My overall conclusion is that, due to the
unfinished nature of the savage video card and <span class=SpellE>ivtv</span>
drivers, you will 1) get crappy <span class=SpellE>tv</span>-out if you use the
Shuttle sk41g and 2) not be able to capture and play simultaneously if you use <span
class=GramE>an</span> sk41g/pvr combo. Perhaps in the future the drivers will
have improved a bit, but right now, <span class=SpellE>imho</span> sk41g with <span
class=SpellE>pvr</span> is NOT a winning combo. If I could do this all over
again, I would get either an <span class=SpellE>epia</span> <span class=SpellE>mobo</span>
or a Shuttle <span class=SpellE>xpc</span> not based on <span class=GramE>a via</span>
chipset. Though this kind of makes me feel like a sellout, at this point, I’m
saying fuck it and I’m looking into windows alternatives, because I don’t
feel like replacing my hardware.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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