[mythtv-users] Running Dual pcHDTV cards

[Ben Kamen]

I've been mostly running my system with one of the cards not configured in the system for Myth.

I recently added it in and now when the system records 2 shows, it seems to record one card's channels just fine (I think) while the other show is a blocky mess of broken audio. I wasn't watching TV while these recorded.

My System is a Pentium 4 HT (3GHz) with 2GB of memory.
nVidia GeForce FX5200
(3) HDisks, sda=300GB, sdb=250GB, sdc=250GB, sdd=dvd-rom

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)
02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
02:04.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC15 MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
02:05.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05)
02:05.1 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [Audio Port] (rev 05)
02:05.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [MPEG Port] (rev 05)
02:05.4 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [IR Port] (rev 05)
02:06.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05)
02:06.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder [MPEG Port] (rev 05)

I do have UDEV set to assign the cards to the same /dev/ locations every time.

I'm wondering if this system is too slow to record 2 HDtv streams. (they are OTA stations in HD over comcast cable)
Hard disk bog? CPU Slog? Video Card Conflict?

What's a good test besides just setting up to record two shows and watching "top"?

  -Ben