[mythtv-users] RE: does the PVR-350 have issues?

[Jay Goldberg]

Tim - DZ writes:
 >
 > The only real different is that the 350 has an output.  This means the card
 > is doing decoding in the hardware (and your CPU isn't).  Generally speaking
 > this should yield a smooth picture and a low CPU usage computer.
 >
 > The biggest problems I've seen are that the FM Tuner you're paying for with
 > the 350 is not supported under linux at all, and getting X (and therefore
 > mythfrontend) to display on the 350 output, for example I've got all the
 > menus working fine on the monitor and TV / Playback working on the 350 TV
 > output, but can't get the menus to work on the 350 output.

Hi all

This has been a fairly disconcerting thread for me to read; it seems
that some folks have been representing troubles they've been having
as "issues" with the PVR-350.  I own a PVR-350, and I bought it some
months ago knowing full well that the folks working on the drivers
(http://ivtv.sourceforge.net) still have some way to go.

That said, the drivers are quite good and getting better all the time.
You can indeed get X to display on the TV-Out of the PVR-350.  And you
can of course then get MythTV to run on this X display.  I have done
this with great success.

For X, it's a braindead frame-buffer only, so don't expect OpenGL
applications to do well (say goodbye to the nice OpenGL visualizations
in MythMusic).  However, the TV-Out of the PVR-350 excels at playing
MPEG2 streams because of the hardware decoder.  The video quality for
watching recorded and live TV is stunning on the TV-Out of this card!

What can't you do yet?  You can't play a DVD without a patch to mplayer
which is discussed here:

   http://www.poptix.net/ivtv/Dec-2003/msg00421.html

You can't really play a DIVX or MPEG4 file through the TV-Out unless
you transcode it to MPEG2 on the way, since the hardware decoder doesn't
support this.

You can't play FM radio yet, because the developers prioritize their work,
and the video functionality is clearly more important at the moment.
That's not to say that this won't be done some day.

While I'm waiting until I can play all video formats on the TV-Out of
my PVR-350 (soon!), I do have to keep my setup working in a way that my
wife can operate it with the remote.  So I have a $55 nVidia video card
that's currently my only X display, and does a capable job of everything
MythTV has to offer (although the video playback quality is mediocre
compared to the TV-Out of the PVR-350).

I don't regret buying the 350, and I do recommend it highly.  It takes
a little reading and attention to get everything working, and my vote
is that it's worth your effort.  For anyone having troubles with this
card, I recommend the searchable ivtv mailing list archive at
http://www.poptix.net/ivtv

         Cheers
                 Jay