[mythtv-users] Luck with PVR-350 card and video out?

[MalcolmMythtv]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <darren.richards at cox.net>


>
> > From: Andy Long <aslong at uark.edu>
> > Date: 2004/05/27 Thu AM 09:08:07 EDT
> > To: Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> > Subject: [mythtv-users] Luck with PVR-350 card and video out?
> >
> > I'm a linux newbie about to build my first mythbox.  I've read mixed
reviews
> > on the success of getting the PVR-350 to work for video out.  Can anyone
> > relate their experiences or reccomendations on this?  Does it work well?
Is
> > the video-out quality good when compared to, say, an Nvidia Geforce 4?
I'm
> > planning on using either Fedora Core 1 or Core 2 (no great affinity to
> > either right now, so if one would be better than the other for this
card,
> > i'd be happy to use it).
> >
> > Thanks.
>
>
> The video-out quality from the pvr-350 was very good, but I had numerous
stability problems.  I put my system together a few months ago, and after a
month of crashes, reboots, partial recordings, s-l-o-w channel changes and a
very low WAF, I bought a geforce4 mx440 with tv-out.  The tv-out quality is
*almost* as good, and now my system is rock-solid.  I'm using the 350 for
capture only right now.
>
> That being said, I don't know how much the ivtv drivers have improved in
the past 3 or 4 months, so maybe some of the problems I was seeing have been
resolved...
>
> -darren

Darren pretty much just described my setup too.  Quality was very good.  I
also had everything working (with various patches).  Dvd and video play back
were good.  Reliablity was a HUGE issue though.  I used to reboot my box
daily and even that didn't guarentee we wouldn't have a lockup at each night
while watching something.

In the end I got an MX440 nvidia and it's much more stable.  I've gone as
long as 30 days without a reboot.  Although I did notice watching live TV
seems to drop that closer to 15 days before a reboot is required so we
pretty much just watch recordings on it and forget about live TV.

Malcolm