<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=UTF-8">
<META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="GtkHTML/3.3.2">
</HEAD>
<BODY>
On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 14:20 -0400, Jesse Guardiani wrote:
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>
<PRE>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">Michael Bochynski wrote:</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> On Mon, 2005-10-24 at 13:41 -0400, Michael T. Dean wrote:</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">>> </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">[...]</FONT>
</PRE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
[....]
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>
<PRE>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> However, honestly, the advantages of NVIDIA card you presented are not </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> overwhelming. The MythTV box will be used for MythTV only, nothing </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> else, hence OpenGL does not matter, am I right? I don't even have, and </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> don't plan to have, a regular monitor/LCD at home which I could use :) </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> Signal (MythTV) goes to TV out only.</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">It matters. MythGame and MythMusic will make use of OpenGL.</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">Also, something he didn't mention is that the PVR 350 will not display </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">your kernel boot, BIOS POST, or lilo/grub menus. The nvidia card WILL. </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">That's a serious advantage, IMO.</FONT>
</PRE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BR>
If my MythTV is set up to be used as DVR, always-on, and VNC starts automatically, can always get logs for a system boot. And, as a DVR, I will not use lilo/grub menus. BIOS POSTs? Yes worth having, however only if-something-happens. The if something happens, I can switch to using TV_OUT from ATi for debugging purposes, if really it cannot be done with VNC and console access. Note, that as I mentioned earlier, I do not have, nor I plan to have, a regular monitor and do anything else but MythTV.<BR>
<BR>
So the advantage, while nice to have, is not too serious for my personal configuration.<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>
<PRE>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> Right now I output TV to my receiver and then to TV. While HDTV is a </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> nice-to-have, i do not expect to have it in the next 6 - 12 month, </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> while I will watch TV in the next 6 - 12 months :) Hence having DVI, </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> HDTV and so on is not the highest priority. I will probably want to </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> add it,</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> I am going solely after the picture (TV) quality.</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">350 is the best, but I have a 350 and an nvidia FX 5200 too, and I use </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">the 5200 for tv-out. I'm starting to think the 350s are a waste of money </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">too.</FONT>
</PRE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BR>
Waste of money, because of... ? Do you suggest using a regular, chip, software-based, tuner card instead?<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>
<PRE>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> I do not mind proprietary drivers, since I hope I have my </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> compile-from-source times behind me, starting with the (very) early </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> Linux times.</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">Good quality on the 350 will require the 0.4.0 ivtv driver. You may or </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">may not have to compile that from source depending on your distro.</FONT>
</PRE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BR>
FC4. Please tell me that I don;t have to compile the drivers :) Not that I am afraid or don't know how to, just can't wait for everything to be pre-compiled. but let's not start this topic :)
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>
<PRE>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> I know, however, that ATI (proprietary) drivers are worse than NVIDIA </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">> ones. BTW, which NVIIDA card is worth looking at?</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">FX 5200 128M AGP is nice.</FONT>
</PRE>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BR>
Hmm.. quick search on NewEgg revealed several OEM versions of this card. Could you suggest the particular OEM version? They all use the same chipset(s)?<BR>
<BR>
Michael
</BODY>
</HTML>