[mythtv-users] PCIe analog capture card recommendations

[Larry Finger]

On 02/11/2015 12:31 PM, Karl Newman wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 11, 2015 at 9:57 AM, Daryl McDonald <darylangela at gmail.com
> <mailto:darylangela at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>     On Wed, Feb 11, 2015 at 12:32 PM, Larry Finger <Larry.Finger at lwfinger.net
>     <mailto:Larry.Finger at lwfinger.net>> wrote:
>
>         On 02/11/2015 12:35 AM, Karl Newman wrote:
>
>             On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 11:00 AM, Karl Newman
>             <siliconfiend at gmail.com <mailto:siliconfiend at gmail.com>
>             <mailto:siliconfiend at gmail.com <mailto:siliconfiend at gmail.com>__>>
>             wrote:
>
>                  Hi all,
>
>                  It appears that one of the tuners/encoders of my (9 year old!)
>             PVR-500 has
>                  given up the ghost (recordings are all 0 byte). I could replace
>             it with an
>                  eBay version, but given that those are going to be a similar
>             vintage, and
>                  the fact that I had to search around for a MB with PCI slots
>             last time I
>                  upgraded, I want to go to PCIe for better compatibility. I only
>             need analog
>                  SD capture. I can't use digital at all--cable has been
>             encrypted for years
>                  and I'd probably need about a 300 foot mast to pick up any ATSC
>             broadcasts.
>                  I don't need any IR support. I noticed the HVR-2250 was listed
>             on the Wiki,
>                  and it looks like this supports dual analog capture which
>             appeals to me as a
>                  complete replacement for my PVR-500 (who knows how much longer
>             the other
>                  tuner/encoder will last). So, anybody using this card for
>             analog? Or any
>                  other suggestions for cards (stability is the utmost concern).
>             Ideally it
>                  will support tuning RF NTSC that my DTA box is putting out,
>             because I don't
>                  know if that part is still working on the PVR-500 (the
>             functional tuner is
>                  using composite+stereo). I could use a single tuner card as
>             long as I can
>                  continue to use my PVR-500 as well (I know about stable device
>             naming with
>                  udev).
>
>                  On a related note, I'll need to get a new case to accommodate
>             this card. I'm
>                  currently using a low profile Silverstone LC-11M with a PCI
>             riser card that
>                  turns the cards sideways. I no longer have the height
>             constraints that I did
>                  when I bought that case, so my options are a lot broader.
>             Silverstone or
>                  Antec or ??? Just looking for something black/dark that will
>             blend in to the
>                  living room. Doesn't necessarily need a LCD display--I hardly
>             look at it
>                  now--but it would be nice I guess. Needs to accommodate a
>             microATX board, 3x
>                  3.5 inch HDDs and a BluRay drive. My current case is relatively
>             noisy with
>                  fans but it doesn't really bother us much, however quieter is
>             always better.
>
>                  This failure is actually not all bad--it was overdue for a
>             replacement, it's
>                  still partly functional (I was surprised I didn't have more
>             conflicts when I
>                  removed the bad tuner) and this will get me on a path to my
>             planned future
>                  setup with a single analog card tied to the STB so we can
>             record the premium
>                  channels and eventually a CableCard Ethernet tuner (*still*
>             waiting on the
>                  transcoding model SiliconDust...)
>
>                  Thanks,
>
>                  Karl
>
>
>             Ha! Well, it looks like my wallet will be staying closed for now. It
>             appeared
>             that my remaining single tuner recorded programs successfully today,
>             but when we
>             went to watch them it had recorded the wrong channel. A quick check
>             of LiveTV
>             showed my IR blaster was not firing. Further investigation showed a
>             failure in
>             my channel change script--running it on the command line revealed
>             that suddenly
>             .5 was not a valid real number for a delay and I had to change it to
>             0.5. I
>             traced it back to a "routine" package upgrade Sunday evening that
>             upgraded perl
>             from 5.18 to 5.20 which was suddenly more picky about argument
>             format. I use the
>             same script (with different config files) for both inputs, but the
>             reason it
>             only caused one of them to fail is that one was calling the script
>             directly,
>             which returned the failure to mythbackend (No error mentioned in the
>             log at all,
>             by the way...) whereas the one that was still "working" had its
>             error swallowed
>             up by the wrapper script I use with it to work around an audio bug.
>
>             Thanks to all for your input. Maybe if/when a reliable HVR 2255
>             driver comes out
>             I might make the leap.
>
>             Karl
>
>
>         Karl,
>
>         I have a functional PVR-500 that I am willing to give to you for the
>         price of postage. That will keep your wallet nearly closed. I just got
>         the inevitable letter from Time-Warner that they are shutting down
>         analog TV in my neighborhood next month. That caused me to stop running
>         a slave backend that contained the card.
>
>     Larry, my provider (cogeco) gave the same notice effective last month, but
>     since I record from a STB I'm still using my PVR150. I tried,
>     unsuccessfully, to use a digital card with the STB but reverted to getting
>     QAM stations from the cable, with no STB, where analog has indeed disappeared.
>
>
> That's a good point, Daryl. Larry, have you considered using the PVR-500 with a
> STB or DTA box(es)? (would require an IR blaster or some other method to change
> the channel on the box). Not that I wouldn't appreciate having a backup device,
> but it would be better for you to use it if it was still useful to you.

No, it is extraneous. In addition, I have a second PVR-500 in the drawer that 
could be used if I needed one.

Larry