[mythtv-users] widescreen from pvr-350

[Michael T. Dean]

On 01/19/2006 02:08 PM, Gabe Rubin wrote:
> Thanks for all these suggestions, and it confirms what I was thinking:
> widescreen will require new hardware.
>
> Currently, I only use my myth for dvr functionality.  I have a dvd
> player, so I play dvds through that, I am not a big fan of mythmusic
> and use my windows computer to play music, and other functions are
> handled elsewhere.  My setup is an old VIA cpu at 800 mhz.  I dont
> really want to fuss with HD as I dont really watch much OTA
> programming, and really would only like it for ESPN and HBO which
> seems to be impossible now (or at least can be accomplished for the
> time being with firewire, but that may be downgraded by the cable
> companies).  So it seems a little pointless to spend a coupld hundred
> to upgrade my whole system.
>
> Can I do widescreen, just for the themes, via s-video?  If so, I can
> play around with that, but otherwise, I can be satisfied with
> "antiquated" technology.
>   
When I suggested you get rid of NTSC I didn't mean you stop recording 
it.  I meant you'll get a *much* better picture out of your HDTV--even 
for NTSC recordings--if you use a VGA/DVI/HDMI/Component connection.  If 
you use a VGA connection, you can output a signal using the highest 
resolution your TV supports (i.e. 1280x720 or 1920x1080) and it will 
definitely be wide screen and should be *much* better quality than a 
480i NTSC signal.  And, since Myth knows that you have a widescreen 
display, it will properly pillarbox 4:3 content (although you can 
override this globally or during playback) and not letterbox 16:9 
content.  And, if you use MythDVD for playing DVD's, the player 
(Internal, xine, MPlayer, Ogle) will pillarbox 4:3 content, not 
letterbox 16:9 content, and letterbox 2.35:1 content--all without having 
to use the stupid menu your TV gives you to change the scaling...

VGA shouldn't require any new hardware because your TV should have a VGA 
connection and your Myth box should have a video card.  You can still 
use your PVR-350 for recording and not for display (and, you won't even 
need to load the framebuffer module that way)--I've been doing that 
since about a week after I bought my PVR-350 and realized I just wasted 
a bunch of money on a PVR-350 instead of a PVR-250 (the 150's weren't 
even announced back then)...

Mike