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| Do I need two capture cards? http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4135 |
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| Author: | weblinks [ Mon Apr 11, 2005 10:53 am ] |
| Post subject: | Do I need two capture cards? |
Hi All I would like to install MythTV soon and am just getting a few things ironed out. I have an Athlon 1600 512 ram FX 550 nvidia card. What will I need to record and watch TV at the same time? Seems on here some people can do this with just a pvr 250. Do I need two 250's to not hose the CPU? Many thanks for your help. Cheers Bob 
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| Author: | cesman [ Mon Apr 11, 2005 11:11 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
No matter what CPU you have, you need two tuner cards if you want to watch live tv and record a program at the same time. |
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| Author: | brendan [ Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Do I need two capture cards? |
Assuming you mean "record one program and watch a different program off the air at the same time", you'd need two tuners. That would be two of any of the three standard PVR cards (PVR-250, PVR-150 or PVR-350), or one PVR-500 (since the PVR-500 has two tuners built in). This also is the requirement if you wish to record two separate programs at the same time. If you, instead, mean "record one program and watch a different program you had recorded earlier" you'd only need one tuner, and of the cards above will do. Note that PVR-250/350 support is 'better' in the current knoppmyth release than PVR-150/500 support. The latter definitely requires updating your ivtv drivers manually. [Ralph did a good writeup of what's required for PVR-500 configuration here: http://www.bitbenderforums.com/~ralpha6 ... mythtv.htm (though I think the sidetracks on the SATA configuration could be clarified a bit...  )
] Some of the PVR-cards have a built in mpeg *decoder* chip with TV-out capability, which allows you to playback recordings w/o using much CPU as well. It looks like you were concerned about that as well, but the phrasing of the original post seemed to muddle the two questions together. -brendan |
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| Author: | weblinks [ Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Do I need two capture cards? |
brendan wrote: Assuming you mean "record one program and watch a different program off the air at the same time",
Note that PVR-250/350 support is 'better' in the current knoppmyth release than PVR-150/500 support. The latter definitely requires updating your ivtv drivers manually. Some of the PVR-cards have a built in mpeg *decoder* chip with TV-out capability, which allows you to playback recordings w/o using much CPU as well. It looks like you were concerned about that as well, but the phrasing of the original post seemed to muddle the two questions together. -brendan HI Brendan Thanks for the reply. yes I did mean the above but just didn't phrase it as I should have. I did see the PVR 500 and wondered about drivers and such. This sounds like the card I need. It would be worth me trying to get the card working and then I could send any ' gotchas ' to this forum. Would you think the average Linux user could get the drivers loaded? Again thanks for your time Bob
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| Author: | brendan [ Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Do I need two capture cards? |
Bob, Average linux user: maybe. My experience initially was that it was a pain in the butt. I took a week or so off, and came back to find that ralph had done a write up (based on the standard pamphlet, others' PVR-500/ivtv attempts and his own). While the write up failed to work for me the first time, even knowing a bit more about ivtv dev stuff due to keeping up on the progress of that mailing list, it turns out my approach was flawed (see later). For a standard one card PVR-500 approach, I think you can now classify it as 'easy but work'. I decided to restart simple, and pulled the HD3000 and PVR-350, leaving only the PVR-500. That seemed to do it. Got both tuners working using his docs. I'm going to add the PVR-350 tonight in a slot most likely to make ivtv recognize it *after* the PVR-500 and make adjustments to my copy of ralph's instructions based on my readings of here, the ivtv dev list and the mythtv dev/user lists. [The HD3000? Still not sure yet. Might try a similar approach for that. Alternately, I'm curious when/if knoppmyth will be switching to the dvb drivers for the HD3000. No hurry yet, still enjoying the 2 tuners/DVD/PVR/projector experience.] When I started, I mostly tripped myself up due to the original PCI card order leading to the following: HD3000 as /dev/video0, the PVR-350 as /dev/video1 and the PVR-500 as /dev/video2 and /dev/video3. That meant I never knew the real source of symptoms. Ralph's instructions made the PVR-500 'easy'. Adding the PVR-350 on top of that makes the PVR-350 somewhat less easy (in the record feature area) than on a system without an upgraded ivtv due to changes in the ivtv tree. And the HD3000 definitely isn't easy. So, trying the install, one at a time, in that order makes more sense for me. -brendan |
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| Author: | weblinks [ Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:28 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
Ralph's instructions made the PVR-500 'easy'. Adding the PVR-350 on top of that makes the PVR-350 somewhat less easy (in the record feature area) than on a system without an upgraded ivtv due to changes in the ivtv tree. And the HD3000 definitely isn't easy. So, trying the install, one at a time, in that order makes more sense for me. Hi Brendan Yeah I followed your links and did some reading!! It does seem to follow a logical path. I have been following the threads on HDTV and it does seem there are some issues with this. I'll be getting the card some time next week here in the UK ( they seem to mostly sell them in three's over here!) Good luck with the card Bob |
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