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Thanks!<br>
<br>
Joseph A. Caputo wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid200406021040.08572.jcaputo1@comcast.net"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Tuesday 01 June 2004 17:16, Matt Morgan wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I'm starting to buy a system to set up mythtv on. I've been reading
docs and shopping all day, and some things still confuse me.
2) I'm very confused about the tuner cards. Obviously I'd like to buy
a cheap one, for example the Hauppauge WinTV-GO ($50 at compusa). But
maybe the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 (at eBay for roughly $100) is
important. What do I lose with the WinTV-GO, is it that it tunes, but
doesn't encode? In which case I'd need a faster computer (but I can
get a lot of processor-speed for the extra $50).
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Right. All (most?) of the cards being used with Myth can tune (though
that's not really important either if you're using an external tuner),
but the PVR-x50 series and their counterparts (AverMedia M-179, Yuan
MPG-xxx cards) encode to MPEG-2 in hardware, so your PC doesn't have to
do the work. The trade-off is that MPEG-2 results in larger files than
Myth's software-encoded MPEG-4; but you can save space by transcoding
from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 after the recording is finished (Myth will do
this for you, and it doesn't require as much CPU because it can take
its time doing it, rather than encoding in real-time as the video is
captured).
Also, the PVR-350 additionally has a hardware MPEG decoder with a
superior TV-out (though the driver stability is still an issue for
some). So, as long as you leave your recordings in MPEG-2 format (the
decoder won't help with MPEG-4 or RTjpeg), the -350 can take the
decoding load away from your main CPU.
So yes, you can get a lot of CPU power for the extra $$ that you would
spend on a PVR-250 or -350; it all depends upon your goals. Using a
less powerful CPU might go a long way to reducing noise, heat and power
consumption, if those things are important to you.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">3) In shopping for a computer, of course I'd like a small one in a
form factor something like what AV-type equipment uses. Or a shuttle
would be nice, but they're expensive compared to old Dell GX110's,
Compaq Deskpros in the SFF, Evos, etc. The problem is that all these
small ones have limited PCI/AGP slots. Generally these small
computers have up to 2 slots; either one agp plus one pci, or two
pcis. Into those slots I have to fit sound, video-in, and video-out.
Hopefully I can use the built-in sound; and if necessary I can use a
Hauppauge pvr-350, which gives me video-in and video-out in one card.
Is there anything I'm forgetting?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
With SFF systems, it's best to look for a board with most of what you
need already on-board. Sound, video, USB and Ethernet are pretty
standard these days. You'll probably want something that has dual
video-out (VGA + S-Video or DVI). Then you can use the 2 slots for 2
tuner cards, or a tuner card + an add-on video card (if the on-board
video isn't to your liking).
-JAC
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</pre>
</blockquote>
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