[mythtv-users] Hauppauge pvr-350 or pvr-500

[Robin Smith]

My next mythbox is going to be based on a PVR500 MCE with an nVidia
6600GT for video out. The 6600GT is fanless!!! (Its a Gigabyte) and
comes with DVI/Svideo and

Currently I am running a PVR250 with a FX5600. I simply removed the
fan from the video card on this one to keep the noise down.

If you are concerned about quality tradeoffs with the 350-based
solution wouldn't a 500 with fanles video address them (and still
allow for the dual tuners)?

Robin

On 7/3/05, Dewey Smolka <dsmolka at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >I think you may
> > >be a bit confused about your components. All of the
> > >x50 cards (and the 500) are hardware encoding. The difference is that
> > >the 350 does hardware decoding, which is completely irrelevant if your
> > >sending the signal out through DVI.
> >
> > Sorry if I was unclear. Was actually aware of that. The question is whether
> > I should forget both the 500 and dvi out and go for the 350 using the scart.
> > The picture quality will not be as good, but it may help keep noise levels
> > down.
> 
> Sorry about that. I actually noticed that in your post, but only after
> I had already sent mine.
> 
> > So, to rephrase:
> >
> > How much heat can I expect playback of high quality encoded film to generate
> > using software decoding?
> >
> > Also: The 350 only supports mpeg2 en/de-coding, right? So DivX, for example,
> > will be software only anyway?
> 
> I can't speak for the 350 as I've never used one. I do, however, have
> a number of films in DivX and Xvid that play without problem
> (currently through the fx5200, and previously though a gf2). I'd give
> you temperature and CPU data, but unfortunately, my wife is listening
> to Mythmusic right now.
> 
> I can say that I've never had any issues with temperature, and I'm
> only using the stock PSU, CPU and case fans on an old beige-box tower
> with a P3 700. I've removed the floppy drive, one of the 5 1/4 bay
> panels and a couple PCI covers and replaced them with screens to
> increase airflow through the unit. There's three 5 1/4" bays and three
> 3.5" bays that I have set up like this (from top to bottom):
> 5.25 -1 DVD RW
> 5.25-2 [empty] screen
> 5.25-3 HDD 20 GB (OS, MythTV, live buffer)
> 3.5-1 HDD 200 GB
> 3.5-2 [empty] screen
> 3.5-3 HDD 250 GB
> 
> At first I had the two large drives sitting next to each other, but
> that generated a lot of heat. When they're separated, they run much
> cooler.
> 
> I could make the case quieter if I wanted, but to be honest, it's
> never been loud enough to bother me.
> 
> >
> > >Some m>odels of the nvidia fx5200 have CRT, S-video, and DVI out with
> > >passive (heatsink) cooling. I picked one up in the bargain bin at
> > >Microcenter for around $50, but you should be able to find a new one
> > >for $65 or less.
> >
> > Thanks, will look for that. Would you all agree that picture quality is
> > better on Nvidia that on ATI with the ATI driver?? I have to say I was impressed
> > with how my old ATI coped with a 50Hz tv, but that is irrelevant now.
> 
> I've never used ATI, but it seems on this list that people have had
> problems with some ATI cards. It also seems like nvidia cards are
> cheaper, but that may jsut be because that's what I was looking for --
> i.e. I pretty much always skip over ATI cards when I look for hardware
> because I know the nvidia stuff works.
> 
> In all, it seems to me that the 250 + an fx5200 is a better deal than
> the 350, particularly because you can easily upgrade to a CRT- or
> DVI-compatible display.
> 
> The only issue I really had with TV-out (s-video to RCA conversion) on
> nvidia cards is fiddling with xorg.conf to get a resolution that fills
> the whole screen. The right settings are on this list, however.
> 
> One thing you'll want to look for is a utility called xvattr, which
> will allow you to remove a small blue border on the left and top of
> your screen when playing through nvidia's tv-out (it doesn't actually
> remove the border, but changes it from blue to black, which is the
> same thing as removing it in the end). The full command has been given
> numerous times on this list -- just search for xvattr.
> 
> Good luck
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