[mythtv-users] Personal Choices

[Preston Crow]

> > Someone else will have to chime in here for a definitive answer, but
> > I'm about 99% certain the PVR-350 can't do a lick with an ATSC
stream, 
> > and probably never will. One of the issues is that to use the 350's 
> > decoder, you have to use its video out, which is limited to
NTSC/PAL, 
> > so you wouldn't ever be able to output a High-Def resolution anyhow.

The specs on the 350 clearly indicate limits to the MPEGs it will
handle, and those limits are well below an ATSC signal.  (Do the cards
have anything better than SVideo out anyway?  You can't get HDTV
resolutions with SVideo.)

> Perhaps one of the ATI/NVidia boards can do this? Anyone have
experience here?
> 
> Hardware MPEG2 decoding w/high res output? Preferably YPbPr at
480p/720p/1080i standard?

The GeForce4 MX440 is supposed to be able to do full hardware MPEG-2
decoding, but the Linux drivers only support the motion compensation,
not the full MPEG, so it's still CPU-intensive.  Or at least that's my
summary of a bunch of stuff I've read here.

Even with full hardware MPEG decoding in the video card, you would have
to use the CPU to do the audio.  My guess is that in theory, you could
build an EPIA-based system and it would have enough power to do that,
but not without the non-existant drivers.

Please correct me if I'm wrong; most of this information is at best
second hand.

My guess is that we'll see an EPIA motherboard in about a year's time
that has on-board HDTV video.  (Just a guess based on my perceptions of
the demand for the product and the technical feasibility.)

--PC