Mailing List Archive: MythTV: Users

Multiple Video Card Possible?

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svet-am at cableone

Sep 19, 2005, 2:35 PM

Post #1 of 9 (1091 views)
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Multiple Video Card Possible?

I've been researching MythTV for some time now. I've just come in to a
fair amount of money, so I think it's time to finally get off my duff and
build the MythTV box.

I have already decided that I'm going to use the Hauppauge PVR-350 for the
video encoding / decoding (nothing fancy, probably just 640x480 for
personal use on the TV).

However, I'd like to know if it's necessary to have an additional video
card for output. I've got plenty of plain-jane video cards with TV-out,
but if the Hauppauge card is doing my MPEG2 decoding, does the decoder also
handle the output of the stream to the TV-out port?

Also, what is the X Windows support like for the Hauppauge card? Since I
intend on hooking the MythTV box directly to a TV, can the hauppauge card
drive the TV?

thanks!
.tony

nhesson at gmail

Sep 19, 2005, 2:51 PM

Post #2 of 9 (1039 views)
Permalink

Re: Multiple Video Card Possible? [In reply to]

Yes,
The PVR-350 can do output via X and handle the decoding of video all through
the same port. Can be a bit tricky to setup but Jarod Wilson has his
excellent guide that walks through really nicely (
http://www.wilsonet.com/fcmyth.php)

paulrwheeler at gmail

Sep 19, 2005, 2:51 PM

Post #3 of 9 (1040 views)
Permalink

Re: Multiple Video Card Possible? [In reply to]

The PVR-350 has a great tvout ( comes with scart lead) X also works ok on
it(the tvout) it is fine for the menu and gui. I havent tried DVD playing
and didnt use it as a main computer. I have a PAL (UK) card for sale if you
want it, went digital and dont need an analog card anymore.

Paul

On 9/19/05, Tony McDowell <svet-am [at] cableone> wrote:
>
> I've been researching MythTV for some time now. I've just come in to a
> fair amount of money, so I think it's time to finally get off my duff and
> build the MythTV box.
>
> I have already decided that I'm going to use the Hauppauge PVR-350 for the
> video encoding / decoding (nothing fancy, probably just 640x480 for
> personal use on the TV).
>
> However, I'd like to know if it's necessary to have an additional video
> card for output. I've got plenty of plain-jane video cards with TV-out,
> but if the Hauppauge card is doing my MPEG2 decoding, does the decoder
> also
> handle the output of the stream to the TV-out port?
>
> Also, what is the X Windows support like for the Hauppauge card? Since I
> intend on hooking the MythTV box directly to a TV, can the hauppauge card
> drive the TV?
>
> thanks!
> .tony
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
>
>

nhesson at gmail

Sep 19, 2005, 3:03 PM

Post #4 of 9 (1031 views)
Permalink

Re: Multiple Video Card Possible? [In reply to]

I have a P4 1.9 w/ 256 Memory and it plays DVD back fine with some tweaking
in xine.

knowledgejunkie at gmail

Sep 19, 2005, 3:55 PM

Post #5 of 9 (1042 views)
Permalink

Re: Multiple Video Card Possible? [In reply to]

On 19/09/05, Tony McDowell <svet-am [at] cableone> wrote:
> I've been researching MythTV for some time now. I've just come in to a
> fair amount of money, so I think it's time to finally get off my duff and
> build the MythTV box.
>
> I have already decided that I'm going to use the Hauppauge PVR-350 for the
> video encoding / decoding (nothing fancy, probably just 640x480 for
> personal use on the TV).

A good choice. I use one in my main system. You may want to consider a
second card in the future to allow LiveTV and recordings to occur at
the same time (or 2 simultaneous recordings).

>
> However, I'd like to know if it's necessary to have an additional video
> card for output. I've got plenty of plain-jane video cards with TV-out,
> but if the Hauppauge card is doing my MPEG2 decoding, does the decoder also
> handle the output of the stream to the TV-out port?

As others will testify, the TV-out from the '350 is outstanding, but
only handles standard def TV and video (limited to 720x480 NTSC,
720x576 PAL).

The decoding aspect of the '350 dumps the feed out of the card (not to
the monitor) so by default it outputs from it's TV-out port. Compared
with my onboard ATI card, the output is much better. You don't need
your video card to have TV-Out, but if you decide the X performance on
the '350 is not good enough for non-recorded video, or want to upgrade
to HDTV, you'll need TV-Out on the video card.

>
> Also, what is the X Windows support like for the Hauppauge card? Since I
> intend on hooking the MythTV box directly to a TV, can the hauppauge card
> drive the TV?

Getting better all the time (and very good now). The accelerated X
driver for the 350 has come on in leaps and bounds and is now able to
play non-recorded content (such as DVD/XVID) very well (perhaps not
perfectly though). The X driver comes in the ivtv package with the
capture drivers. With the correct xorg configuration, the '350 will
happily run your X desktops with no trouble (although at NTSC/PAL
resolution)

Nick
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

webid at cfl

Sep 19, 2005, 4:06 PM

Post #6 of 9 (1034 views)
Permalink

Re: Multiple Video Card Possible? [In reply to]

On Mon, 2005-09-19 at 17:51, Nathan Hesson wrote:
> Yes,
> The PVR-350 can do output via X and handle the decoding of video all
> through the same port. Can be a bit tricky to setup but Jarod Wilson
> has his excellent guide that walks through really nicely
> (http://www.wilsonet.com/fcmyth.php)
>

I have been using a PVR-350 in this mode since February. The output is
very good.

cardboil at gmail

Sep 20, 2005, 9:21 PM

Post #7 of 9 (1031 views)
Permalink

Re: Multiple Video Card Possible? [In reply to]

Does that mean I don't need a video card at all when using PVR-350, assuming
I'm planning to build a dedicated Myth box connected only to the TV. Just
want to confirm that I can use the PVR 350 to use the TV as my monitor for
Myth as well as the usual linux apps. Thx.

------------------------------
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 22:51:52 +0100
From: Paul Wheeler
<paulrwheeler [at] gmail<http://www.stanfordmail.org/tpl/Message/323ANZNNE/Editor?ToRec=iTo=paulrwheeler [at] gmail>
>
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Multiple Video Card Possible?
To: Discussion about mythtv
<mythtv-users [at] mythtv<http://www.stanfordmail.org/tpl/Message/323ANZNNE/Editor?ToRec=iTo=mythtv-users [at] mythtv>
>
Message-ID: <2bfaa54f0509191451199a5f1c [at] mail<http://www.stanfordmail.org/tpl/Message/323ANZNNE/Editor?ToRec=iTo=2bfaa54f0509191451199a5f1c [at] mail>
>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

The PVR-350 has a great tvout ( comes with scart lead) X also works ok on
it(the tvout) it is fine for the menu and gui. I havent tried DVD playing
and didnt use it as a main computer. I have a PAL (UK) card for sale if you
want it, went digital and dont need an analog card anymore.

Paul

On 9/19/05, Tony McDowell
<svet-am [at] cableone<http://www.stanfordmail.org/tpl/Message/323ANZNNE/Editor?ToRec=iTo=svet-am [at] cableone>>
wrote:
>
> I've been researching MythTV for some time now. I've just come in to a
> fair amount of money, so I think it's time to finally get off my duff and
> build the MythTV box.
>
> I have already decided that I'm going to use the Hauppauge PVR-350 for the
> video encoding / decoding (nothing fancy, probably just 640x480 for
> personal use on the TV).
>
> However, I'd like to know if it's necessary to have an additional video
> card for output. I've got plenty of plain-jane video cards with TV-out,
> but if the Hauppauge card is doing my MPEG2 decoding, does the decoder
> also
> handle the output of the stream to the TV-out port?
>
> Also, what is the X Windows support like for the Hauppauge card? Since I
> intend on hooking the MythTV box directly to a TV, can the hauppauge card
> drive the TV?
>
> thanks!
> .tony
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv<http://www.stanfordmail.org/tpl/Message/323ANZNNE/Editor?ToRec=iTo=mythtv-users [at] mythtv>
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
>
>
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webid at cfl

Sep 21, 2005, 6:03 AM

Post #8 of 9 (1023 views)
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Re: Multiple Video Card Possible? [In reply to]

On Wed, 2005-09-21 at 00:21, cardboil wrote:
> Does that mean I don't need a video card at all when using PVR-350,
> assuming I'm planning to build a dedicated Myth box connected only to
> the TV. Just want to confirm that I can use the PVR 350 to use the TV
> as my monitor for Myth as well as the usual linux apps. Thx.

I have a dedicated mythtv box that is only connected to the TV. Using
it for just mythtv the PVR-350 output is very good. X is configured to
use the PVR-350. You might want to further define the "usual linux
apps.".

However, if you are planning on running other applications not related
to mythtv I think you will find the output to the TV will not be very
good. This was true back when C64s were around. It could be done but
it was better with a dedicated monitor. I don't know if an HDTV would
even make that much difference.

A video card is needed when setting up mythtv. Once you have it all set
you make the changes to use the PVR-350 for X.

Niels at Dybdahl

Sep 21, 2005, 6:17 AM

Post #9 of 9 (999 views)
Permalink

Re: Multiple Video Card Possible? [In reply to]

>
> I've been researching MythTV for some time now. I've just come in to a
> fair amount of money, so I think it's time to finally get off my duff and
> build the MythTV box.
>
> I have already decided that I'm going to use the Hauppauge PVR-350 for the
> video encoding / decoding (nothing fancy, probably just 640x480 for
> personal use on the TV).
>
> However, I'd like to know if it's necessary to have an additional video
> card for output. I've got plenty of plain-jane video cards with TV-out,
> but if the Hauppauge card is doing my MPEG2 decoding, does the decoder
> also
> handle the output of the stream to the TV-out port?
>
> Also, what is the X Windows support like for the Hauppauge card? Since I
> intend on hooking the MythTV box directly to a TV, can the hauppauge card
> drive the TV?

Some have succeeded in running X on the PVR-350. I tried (following Jarods
guide) but it did not work on my system. So I had to add a videoboard with
TV-Out (FX-5200).
The TV-Out of the PVR-350 is said to provide a very good quality, but I am
very satisfied with the quality of the FX5200 board.
The performance of the PVR-350 for X and playing MPEG4s is bad (most say too
bad), so if I were going to build a new MythTV, I would go for a
PVR-150/250/500 and a FX-5200 instead.

Niels Dybdahl

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