[mythtv-users] Newbie question: Best HDTV capture device to minimize load?

[William Munson]

Brian Wood wrote:

>On Feb 18, 2007, at 2:49 PM, William Munson wrote:
>
>  
>
>>I am a former Mythtv user who has been away for a while and want to
>>purchase some new hardware to let me capture HDTV. I have a nVidia  
>>based
>>video card (5200) and want to know which capture device is going to
>>minimize the cpu load. I have been looking at the HDhomerun and it  
>>seems
>>to be a good choice. Is there a better one?
>>
>>Here is my current hardware:
>>AthlonXP 2800
>>nVidia 5200 driving the GRBHV input of the hd monitor
>>2 PVR-250 capture cards.
>>
>>Planning on setting up Fedora Core (Maybe Mythdora to start)
>>    
>>
>
>
>The question is how are you planning to get your HD content?  
>Capturing HD is not very CPU-Intensive as it is an MPEG stream to  
>start with, you just have to have to I/O to store it.
>
>Playing it back is another story. Without H/W help that CPU won't cut  
>it, see:
>
>http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/XvMC
>
>  
>
The computer has a pair of 7200 rpm eide (non sata) drives that will be 
configured as a LVM. My mind is drawing a blank for the format I was 
using but its not EXT2/3 as that was too slow. Its the one that was 
recommended for large files in the wiki last time around.  The playback 
card is a recent FX5200 so that should not be an issue. I remember that 
the cpu usage was about 15% on sdtv last time.