[mythtv-users] broken mpeg4 recordings with SD bt878/bttv tuners

[Jonny B]

On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 7:52 AM, Mark Boyum <mark at boyum.us> wrote:
>>> >> >>>
>>> >> >
>>> >> >    bttv? Isn't that a dinosaur? Why not use something like a PVR150?
>>> >>
>
> Bttv may be old technology, but that doesn't mean it is no longer
> viable.  Bttv can create much smaller files with out the need to
> transcode as the encoding happens in software.  Why replace it with
> another analog solution that may not be useful much longer depending
> on the OPs reception options?

While I somewhat agree with this angle, I think the question becomes
an issue of convenience. I, personally, used a pair of wintv go bttv
cards (on a pair of backends, a master and a combined) for years.
Never had a problem with corrupt recordings with either of them.
However, I have found the PVR150 works just as well, and frees up a
large portion of my CPU (which I needed freed up for playback of HD
when I added those pinnacle cards) and was WAY easier to configure. My
problems were of getting sound recording properly (alsa settings), and
my systems were all fedora (3, 4 and 6). I believe that it is more
than worth the cost (I've gotten 2 PVR150 cards on ebay, each for
[US]$25 or less, shipped) to upgrade hardware. I've given my extra
bttv cards (I have one in my frontend that's solely used for lirc) to
friends that I've helped setup their first mythtv systems.

That being said, I don't see any logical reason that the recordings
are failing.

Have you updated ffmpeg recently?

~Jon