[mythtv-users] Tunner Suggestions

[Shawn]

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mythtv at worth-less.com wrote:

> Hi-
>
> We are trying to build a MythTV box. We're experienced enough with
> Linux in general, but we have zero experience with Myth, PVR,
> Linux Video, etc. Our first hurdle is buying the tuner. In any
> case we only want to deal with stuff that has a good compatiblity
> track record, so any recommendations are appreciated. We're
> extremely not set on particular cards. I'd also appreciate if you
> gave your best guess about price. (If you know of a good place to
> buy, say that too)
>
> We care about good quality video at 480x480 from an analog cable.
> For now we don't care about digital channels, HDTV or QAM. Our
> existing hardware is a PIII/866/1GB RAM/ 250G HD with an Nvidia
> Geforce2 GTS. I believe this Nvidia card supports some video
> output acceleration; if it doesn't we can get a newer one.

I have hardware of similar specifications (PIII 800mhz, 512mb ram,
Nvidia FX5500 S-Video Out).

>
> 1. We're considering buying a Hauppauge WinTV-GO. This seems to
> be $25 and very compatible. Is this a good card/good price? Are
> there better ones?

The WinTV-Go is not a bad choice, although with those machine
specifications you might have decreased performance
due to the software encoding it uses.

I'm using the Hauppage PVR-150 with an onboard hardware MPEG-2
encoder.  It's around $99 dollars at CompUSA.  The reason
for this choice was because the hardware encoder allows you to run
MythTV on a fairly mediocre system -- You don't have to spend
a ton on a fast processor with this card.  Another benefit to
purchasing this (or any hauppage PCI card) is the fact that the IVTV open
source drivers are excellent (http://ivtv.sourceforge.net).  I'm using
the 0.3.x unstable series and they work great.

>
> 2. Would we have to buy a faster computer to have simultaneous
> 480x480 playback with the GO? (Just a framegrabber, I think)?

Yes most likely you would, unless you took my suggestion from above
into consideration.

>
> 3. Would we have to buy a faster computer if we bought a card with
> an encoder?

No, I've proven that you don't have to.  My system specifications are:
- --
1 PIII 800MHZ MATX - $0.00 (Took out of an old compaq machine)
2 256 SD Ram chips - $0.00 (Came with the board)
1 Hauppage PVR-150 (Nicely supported by the IVTV Drivers
http://ivtv.sourceforge.net) ($99.99)
1 Belkin 802.11b Wireless card ($24.99) (Nicely supported by the
ADM8211 drivers, for running mythfilldatabase and mythbrowser).
1 Nvidia Geforce FX5500 with S-video out ($59.99)
- --
I'm running flawless live-tv, as well as beautiful recordings even
after transcoding down to a 3500 kbps stream.

>
> 4. If we need a card with an encoder, we're thinking of a
> Hauppauge PVR-250 or 350. These both seem to be $125, so we'd
> probably get the PVR350. Are these good choices/prices? Are
> there better ones?

The PVR-150 has the great hardware encoding benefits of the 250 and
350 (MPEG2) but comes at a cheaper cost.  It also comes with
the 40+ button remote which is auto-detected by the LIRC drivers
(www.lirc.org) as long as you don't buy the white box.  If you buy
the retail version (~$99) you'll get the remote with it.

Here's a great tutorial which helped me get everything running
perfectly (although I chose to run Slackware as opposed to Debian
because I like to have control over my system):

http://blog.eleith.com/eblog/?uid1=464&eblog1=1

Good luck, e-mail me if you have any questions or concerns.  Or if you
need help setting up your new system.

>
> Your help is greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks, Jonathan

- -Shawn

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