[mythtv] Matrox G400 + Rainbow Runner

Ray mythtv-dev@snowman.net
Thu, 21 Nov 2002 13:54:59 -0700


On Thu, Nov 21, 2002 at 01:22:42PM -0500, Russell Hatch wrote:
> I am working on setting up a box to run MythTV full time and I currently
> am planning on using a G400 and the addon Rainbow Runner card.  I have
> tried checking the supported drivers for Video4Linux and it did mention
> that the G400+RR did have support, but on the sourceforge page it said
> very limited support, but for all i know that could be out of date (which
> is likely).  I also tried searching the V4L mailing list for information
> but couldn't find anything terribly relevant.

Pretty much everything you need can be found at:

http://marvel.sf.net
http://mjpeg.sf.net

> 
> I would just like to know what state the drivers are in.  Has anyone on
> here successfully setup a Myth box using this combination?  I just wanna
> know if maybe i should scrap it before I start.  If it turns out that
> there is very minimal support, perhaps so minimal thaI can't even
> enjoyable use MythTV, what card offers the most support and would work
> best for this application; I am guessing the Hauppauge?  Anyways, please
> give me some ideas on what I can expect with this card combination,
> thanks.

I have a G200 marvel which is mostly the same as your setup.  Using the
mjpeg tools both capture and playback at full resolution work flawlessly
with the built in hardware mjpeg compression and use practically no cpu. 
Using any other V4L capture software (including Myth) the hardware
compression is not currently supported and I'm limited to around 352x200
captures (I havn't probed the exact limits).  AFAIK this is a limitation of
the hardware/drivers at the moment and may improve in the future.  Isaac is
working on support for the hardware mjpeg for Myth but I don't know how far
he's gotten yet (I'm planning on looking at cvs toinght).  The TV output of
these (at least the ones that have it) can work really well but is pretty
finicky (this should be slightly better on your G400) so if TV out is
important to you it might be better to grab an external scan converter.

If you do decide to scrap it let me know, I might be interested in getting
another.

-- 
Ray
 



>
 
> Russell Hatch