[mythtv-users] Re: Plextor PX-TV402U-NA

[Nathan Lutchansky]

On Mon, Feb 28, 2005 at 11:21:46AM -0700, Justin Gombos wrote:
> * Nathan Lutchansky <lutchann-mythtvusers at litech.org> [2005-02-28 10:45]:
> > > Why does the Mac version exclude DivX?  It's disturbing to find
> > > that Plextor would strip the DivX out of the Mac version, then
> > > charge more for it.
> > 
> > Are you referring to the fact that the EyeTV software bundle was
> > sold with only MPEG1 and MPEG2 support?  MPEG4 was made available
> > earlier this month with EyeTV 1.7.  The hardware sold in the PC and
> > Mac bundles is exactly the same.
> 
> I think you just cleared that up.. I did not consider the case that
> they would package it with software with reduced capability --
> especially when they're charging more for it.  This reinforces the
> meaning behind the term 'mac money'.

AIUI, it was released with only MPEG1 and MPEG2 because that's all EyeTV
supported at the time.  A limited software bundle was made available
initially with the intent of providing a free upgrade later, which was
done a couple weeks ago with EyeTV 1.7.  Seems reasonable to me.

> > Also, the TV402U has no audio encoder in hardware, so compressing
> > the sound is done on the host CPU.
> 
> Are you sure?  The specs (which are vague) suggest that it does MP2
> encoding.  I suppose that could be software doing the work.

Yeah, I'm sure.  The hardware sends raw PCM to the host.  Audio encoding
is definitely done by the main CPU.

> Again, I'm surprized, because historically Plextor doesn't compromise
> on quality like this.  Maybe they're starting to aim for a lower-end
> consumer market.

It's a more specialized device than the other hardware encoders out there,
I suppose.  I don't know that a lack of hardware-based audio encoding
really counts as compromising on quality in my book; it's more of a
feature trade-off.  Are there other hardware MPEG4 video encoders on the
market that have hardware audio encoding?  -Nathan
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