[mythtv-users] New to Myth - Capture Card Question

[Johnny Russ]

On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 2:18 PM, Todd Davis <toddhd at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi -
>
> I am VERY new to Myth and PVR in general. I have a DVR at home that Comcast
> supplies, but I'm not really happy with it, and want something a little more
> functional.
>
> I've been reading, reading, reading about Myth TV in order to prepare for
> what hardware to order. The most confusing issue for me however is the
> question of Tuner Cards. I really like the cards that have the hardware
> based encoding, and the PVR-350 seems to be mentioned over and over again. I
> also like that the PVR-350 has two input tuners. But I have two problems
> with this:
>
> 1) It's no longer in production. I can find them just fine on EBay, but it
> doesn't bode well for support.
> 2) It doesn't support OpenGL, and the Myth-TV page says the newer builds of
> MythTV will be using OpenGL for the menus, as well as stuff like MythGames.
>
> I am assuming that there is a newer, shinier card which would be a good
> replacement for the PVR-350, but looking at myriad of tuners on say
> NewEgg.com, I have no idea which ones work with Linux/MythTV, and which have
> caveats that I, as a newb, would be unaware of.
>

Cards that do analog only are being discontinued because of pressure from
the FCC over the switch from analog to digital for over the air broadcast.
If you want an analog hardware encoder they are being included in dual tuner
cards that do both analog and digital. I don't know what is best supported
now. Others on the list may be able to speak to that.

 The question of a tuner card is difficult to find answers for because it is
a rather dynamic situation right now and it is very dependent on what want
to record. If you could give more information about about where you live
(things vary from country to country), and what you would like to record
(OTA broadcast, SD or HD, digital cable, analog cable, etc). The ideal tuner
will vary depending on all of these factors.

Question 2) is a separate issue from the tuner card question. True the
PVR-350 has a video output, but it is general seen as a bad solution for
modern systems. It was nice back when it was introduced but it has limits
now and it provides little benefit. The general consensis is to use an
nvidia card with s-video out, or something better if you TV allows it.
Others have had success with integrated graphics too. You can find more info
about video cards on the wiki.
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