[mythtv-users] OT: A question on the HD-PVR and non-HD content

[jedi]

On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 11:01:26PM -0800, Yeechang Lee wrote:
> John P Poet <jppoet at gmail.com> says:
> > 1080i generally "works" now.  Recording, at least, works just fine.
> 
> That's good to hear; while I know setting my cable boxes to emit 720p
> would have been fine qualitywise and VDPAU makes playing back the
> maximum bitrate a snap, it seemed a shame--as minor as it is--to
> "lose" any quality from the box when dealing with 1080i content.
> 
> While on the subject, how stable would you say you and the other
> developers have gotten MythTV's HD-PVR support nowadays? The AVSForum
> Windows HD-PVR forum remains awash with tales of units that hang,
> units that need rebooting after every recording (!), etc., etc., but
> given the total lack of HD-PVR horror stories on the mythtv mailing
> lists I presume it's Windows at fault, not the HD-PVR.

     I find that the backend attached the the HD-PVR occasionally "hangs".
However, the HD-PVR doesn't. I can restart everything without the need
to touch the power button and I can do this in a fairly automated fashion.
It's still not as robust as something like a PVR-150 but it's fairly 
manageable. What I am running may be a bit behind. So others with newer
firmware, or kernel driver or mythtv may have more robust results.

     Even with my configuration, it's good enough to be useful and good
enough that you might not want to risk breaking it entirely. '-)
 
     Playing 720p does take a somewhat beefy box though.