NOTE: I've done a lot of searching and reading before posting this question and did not find what I was looking for. If the answer is out there just point me to it...

Currently I have a system up and running with all the things I like working and configured. It has a single PVR-250 and I have had it up and running for almost a year and have gone through a few versions of KnoppMyth. I now have a PVR-500 I would like to add to the system and do a fresh install of R5D1.

My main question is; what is the role of dual capture cards and how to they interact with each other and/or impact each other?

I know that with dual cards you can record two shows at one time or watch live TV on one and record on the other.

But how do you select which card you want to schedule recordings on? I use the webGUI most of the time for scheduling, is there an option that shows up when the system has two cards?

I use the remote that came with the PVR-250. Will it work with the PVR-500 also? If so, how does the remote know which one to control?

With two cards can I do PiP on a standard TV?

Any other general information on how dual cards work would be great!

Thanks for the great support AND the awesome software!

First let me explain that the computer doesn't care that the pvr-500 has two tuners on one PCI card. The computer actually sees two seperate PCI devices. A PVR-500 works exactly the same as two PVR-150's. Just it only takes one PCI slot.

The two (or more) tuners in a knoppmyth box all work independently of each other. What one tuner is doing has no impact on any other tuner(s).

There is no reason to select which tuner to use. MythTV will automatically use which ever tuner is free at the time. Just continue to schedule recordings and MythTV will take care of the rest.

The PVR-250's remote controls MythTV and MythTV controls all the tuners in your system. Even though the remote is plugged into the pvr-250 it only controls that card through MythTV. Controling the pvr-500's tuners will work that same way. You don't have to worry about your remote.



yes.


Remember when you install your PVR-500 you have to setup mythtv-setup with two aditional devices. And you must assign the video source to each of them. MythTV doesn't know (or care) that the two tuners are on the same card. So you have to be smarter then the computer and tell it everything. MythTV will not take the settings for the first tuner and automatically use them for the second tuner.

Thanks ryanpatterson!

That pretty much clears up my questions. So, I guess with the PVR-250 and the PVR-500 I will have 3 capture sources? Cool...

and what happens in case of a dual standard card? I mean, one like Asus MyCinema P7131H Dual, which has both digital and analog receivers... can I control independently those ones, doing 2 registration at a time, or even see PIP (Picture in Picture)?

no answers?

It depends on the model of card as I understand. Some of them I heard you can only use one at a time, it's possible they are using the same front end circuitry, then having different circuits for the Analog and Digital receivers to reduce costs.
Looking at the manual there doesn't seem to be any mention of the both receivers in operation at the same time.
Anyway, it would be same procedure, In "Video Device", Create two tuners, 1 for Analog (probably using V4L) and 1 for Digital (DVB/ATSC). Assuming of course, your card components are supported by Linux.
In "Video Sources", for your analog channels create a Source for your analog channels as you would do normally, called something like Analog. Then create a Source for your digital channels, you may need to create a single dummy channel here to act as a placeholder, for the actual channels to be added later during channel scan.
Follow the instructions in the pamphlet for the rest.
You will probably have to go into the channel editor again, to modify your channel numbers after you have done the initial mythfilldatabase.

I've no idea whether your card can use both at the same time, but it will be worth experimenting. The any limitations of the card, may be due bad Windows software/drivers.

It would be worth reporting back if you manage to get both receivers working, if you can get both of them working at the same time.

Hope this helps

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