On 5/25/05, Michael T. Dean <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ben Bargabus wrote: > > ><snip> > > > > > >>1. I've not had trouble with the VIA DMA problem. I seem to recall > >>some talk that it could be an FC3 on VIA problem. Maybe I shouldn't > >>say that since I can't recall specifics of the conversation. YMMV > >> > >> > >FC3 as in Fedora? I'm a debian guy, I assume then that would be fine. > > > > > Although Fedora Core 3 may have its own set of DMA issues with Via's > (broken) DMA implementation, the one that gets most Myth'ers is the > massive amounts of DMA traffic required to run the PVR-x50 cards from > Hauppauge. The ivtv drivers tend to have more issues running with > (especially older) Via chipsets (the issues are usually hard locks which > require a hard reboot). > > Although some people have ivtv working with new Via chipsets, it's > probably worthwhile to go with the Intel chipset to start with and in > future backends, you can take your chances with a Via. The new ivtv > drivers tend to work around the problem as much as possible, and some of > the people using the most problematic Via chipsets brag about uptimes in > the 2-3 day range. I actually have to reboot my Dish network receivers > more often (about once a month) than my Myth box (which has had uptimes > in the 90+ day range--although I've never hit a max on it: I do way to > much hacking on it to get the uptime any higher). > > I had one of the Via chipsets that caused significant problems (the > KM133) in an old system I had lying around that I used to test out > MythTV, and the $40 I spent to get an SiS-based motherboard (for an > Athlon) was the best $40 I ever spent. For a computer whose sole > purpose it to take shows from other people's schedules and make them > available on your schedule, availability is an important consideration, > so IMHO, it's worth a little bit extra to make sure it will work when > you need it (so you don't miss that 2-hour Lost season finale). > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > mythtv-users mailing list > [email protected] > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users >
It is hard for me to comment on the DMA issue because I've never encountered it. I personally have 3 mythtv boxes in the room with me running on the VIA M10000, the ME6000 and the SP13000. All have either a PVR150, 250, or 500. I have one running as a backend for the ME6000. I rip dvd's to the backend, play videos from the backend, watch recordings, etc - all high bandwidth activities and never had a lockup. My main system's uptime is: 09:04:49 up 20 days, 1:47, 1 user, load average: 0.27, 0.06, 0.02 (I don't remember why I rebooted it three weeks ago but it wasn't a lockup. I think it lost keyboard focus when MythWeather couldn't connect to the Internet.) I'm not denying the difficulties other's have had. Only that the problems probably no longer exist. YMMV -- Tim www.magicitx.com _______________________________________________ mythtv-users mailing list [email protected] http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
