[mythtv-users] Advice on adding a second capture card
I've been wanting to add a second capture card almost since the moment of deploying my Mythtv box a couple of weeks ago. I held off because I wanted to stabilize things, but I'm now anxious to go ahead and shop for the second card. I'm still having a few problems, but feeling confident in my ability to work through them. Since I've been putting this off, I'm going to beg your indulgence and ask the list for some recommendations on a second capture card. Currently I have a PVR-150 that mostly works fine (my main complaint is some motion-blurring in fast-action sports) and an nVidia FX5200 TV-Out card, for a SD/analog cable setup. Running Ubuntu with an AMD64 3200+ CPU and 512MB RAM. I guess I've narrowed my choices to a second PVR-150 or a PVR-350. My basic questions are: 1. Will I likely be happier with a PVR-350 for watching livetv sports (and I'd move the 150 into a backup/recording role)? 2. If I get a 350, should I use its TV out, or continue using the FX5200 (i.e., is the 350 likely to give better output for fast-action sports)? 3. If I get a 350, do I have to handle sound differently than I do with the 150 (i.e., do I have to capture audio via line-in on my sound card)? Is all of this handled automagically by mythytv if I'm recording different shows on each card? (With questions 2 3, I'm trying to get at how much trouble I'm likely to run into going with a 350 instead of a second 150). 4. I seen a fairly steady low-level stream of issues popping up here when people add a second card to a system. Any cautions or things to look out for in advance of adding the second card would be appreciated. Cheers, john ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Advice on adding a second capture card
On 01/23/2006 07:53 PM, John Biundo wrote: I've been wanting to add a second capture card almost since the moment of deploying my Mythtv box a couple of weeks ago. I held off because I wanted to stabilize things, but I'm now anxious to go ahead and shop for the second card. I'm still having a few problems, but feeling confident in my ability to work through them. Since I've been putting this off, I'm going to beg your indulgence and ask the list for some recommendations on a second capture card. Currently I have a PVR-150 that mostly works fine (my main complaint is some motion-blurring in fast-action sports) and an nVidia FX5200 TV-Out card, for a SD/analog cable setup. Running Ubuntu with an AMD64 3200+ CPU and 512MB RAM. I guess I've narrowed my choices to a second PVR-150 or a PVR-350. My basic questions are: 1. Will I likely be happier with a PVR-350 for watching livetv sports (and I'd move the 150 into a backup/recording role)? 2. If I get a 350, should I use its TV out, or continue using the FX5200 (i.e., is the 350 likely to give better output for fast-action sports)? 3. If I get a 350, do I have to handle sound differently than I do with the 150 (i.e., do I have to capture audio via line-in on my sound card)? Is all of this handled automagically by mythytv if I'm recording different shows on each card? IMHO, there's no reason to go to a PVR-350--and I have a PVR-350 (that I use as a PVR-250 because I wasn't pleased with its TV out capability). Note that with a PVR-350, the encoder and decoder are completely independent of one another. Therefore, whether you do LiveTV with a PVR-350 encoding and a PVR-350 decoding or a PVR-150 encoding and a PVR-350 decoding makes /absolutely/ no difference. Neither is inherently more efficient than the other approach (remember, that even LiveTV is recorded to disk). So, it all boils down to, Is the PVR-350's TV out worth replacing my FX5200? I'll admit that the PVR-350 is generally easier to configure for good quality TV out, but if you properly configure the NVIDIA TV out, your quality should be just as good (basically, the weak link in the chain is the NTSC display, and if you have a better-than-NTSC TV, you shouldn't be using TV out, anyway). So, why wasn't I happy with the PVR-350's TV out? - No OpenGL acceleration (for Goom, Games, etc.) - Only outputs NTSC video (480i), so it won't allow you to see the benefits of a new better display (an HDTV) when you get one - No way to control overscan (and you get a *lot* of overscan with a PVR-350--the way NTSC was designed to work) So, I suggest you get a PVR-150 and use the money you save to buy more storage (or even a third/fourth PVR-150). :) Mike ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Advice on adding a second capture card
Thanks, great input! Cheers, john Michael T. Dean wrote: On 01/23/2006 07:53 PM, John Biundo wrote: I've been wanting to add a second capture card almost since the moment of deploying my Mythtv box a couple of weeks ago. I held off because I wanted to stabilize things, but I'm now anxious to go ahead and shop for the second card. I'm still having a few problems, but feeling confident in my ability to work through them. Since I've been putting this off, I'm going to beg your indulgence and ask the list for some recommendations on a second capture card. Currently I have a PVR-150 that mostly works fine (my main complaint is some motion-blurring in fast-action sports) and an nVidia FX5200 TV-Out card, for a SD/analog cable setup. Running Ubuntu with an AMD64 3200+ CPU and 512MB RAM. I guess I've narrowed my choices to a second PVR-150 or a PVR-350. My basic questions are: 1. Will I likely be happier with a PVR-350 for watching livetv sports (and I'd move the 150 into a backup/recording role)? 2. If I get a 350, should I use its TV out, or continue using the FX5200 (i.e., is the 350 likely to give better output for fast-action sports)? 3. If I get a 350, do I have to handle sound differently than I do with the 150 (i.e., do I have to capture audio via line-in on my sound card)? Is all of this handled automagically by mythytv if I'm recording different shows on each card? IMHO, there's no reason to go to a PVR-350--and I have a PVR-350 (that I use as a PVR-250 because I wasn't pleased with its TV out capability). Note that with a PVR-350, the encoder and decoder are completely independent of one another. Therefore, whether you do LiveTV with a PVR-350 encoding and a PVR-350 decoding or a PVR-150 encoding and a PVR-350 decoding makes /absolutely/ no difference. Neither is inherently more efficient than the other approach (remember, that even LiveTV is recorded to disk). So, it all boils down to, Is the PVR-350's TV out worth replacing my FX5200? I'll admit that the PVR-350 is generally easier to configure for good quality TV out, but if you properly configure the NVIDIA TV out, your quality should be just as good (basically, the weak link in the chain is the NTSC display, and if you have a better-than-NTSC TV, you shouldn't be using TV out, anyway). So, why wasn't I happy with the PVR-350's TV out? - No OpenGL acceleration (for Goom, Games, etc.) - Only outputs NTSC video (480i), so it won't allow you to see the benefits of a new better display (an HDTV) when you get one - No way to control overscan (and you get a *lot* of overscan with a PVR-350--the way NTSC was designed to work) So, I suggest you get a PVR-150 and use the money you save to buy more storage (or even a third/fourth PVR-150). :) Mike ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Advice on adding a second capture card
On 1/23/06, John Biundo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've been wanting to add a second capture card almost since the momentof deploying my Mythtv box a couple of weeks ago.I held off because Iwanted to stabilize things, but I'm now anxious to go ahead and shop for the second card.I'm still having a few problems, but feeling confident in my ability towork through them.Since I've been putting this off, I'm going to begyour indulgence and ask the list for some recommendations on a second capture card.Currently I have a PVR-150 that mostly works fine (my main complaint issome motion-blurring in fast-action sports) and an nVidia FX5200 TV-Outcard, for a SD/analog cable setup.Running Ubuntu with an AMD64 3200+ CPU and 512MB RAM.I guess I've narrowed my choices to a second PVR-150 or a PVR-350.Mybasic questions are:1. Will I likely be happier with a PVR-350 for watching livetv sports(and I'd move the 150 into a backup/recording role)? 2. If I get a 350, should I use its TV out, or continue using the FX5200(i.e., is the 350 likely to give better output for fast-action sports)?3. If I get a 350, do I have to handle sound differently than I do with the 150 (i.e., do I have to capture audio via line-in on my sound card)?Is all of this handled automagically by mythytv if I'm recordingdifferent shows on each card?(With questions 2 3, I'm trying to get at how much trouble I'm likely to run into going with a 350 instead of a second 150).4. I seen a fairly steady low-level stream of issues popping up herewhen people add a second card to a system.Any cautions or things tolook out for in advance of adding the second card would be appreciated. The blurring you are referring to is deinterlacing artifacts and has nothing to do with the capture card- rather the video card/display. I recall reading on the list when the PVR-150 and PVR-500 came out that these new cards should in theory offer slightly higher quality capture than that of the PVR-350 or PVR-250, but to tell you the truth, I cannot tell the difference between my 500 and 350 as far as capture goes- they are the same to me. You will probably hear more to the contrary from this list as this question has been asked before, but in my hands, the TV-out of the PVR-350 cannot be beat for SD tv viewing... When I ran the TV-out of my PVR-350 I saw no deinterlacing artifacts and no stutter on the CNN ticker. My machine is an XP2900+ and since adding an HDTV tuner I've switched to a FX5200 via DVI to a 1280x768 LCD panel running at native resolution. While HDTV looks great, running at about 65% CPU without XvMC for a 1080i stream, in my opinion the TV-out of the PVR-350 offers better SD picture without deinterlacing artifacts than the DVI out of my FX5200. SD programming displayed via DVI of the 5200 shows some stutter on tickers and deinterlacing artifacts. Fortunately for me, much of the action/sports I record is broadcast in HDTV and 720p doesn't need deinterlacing. Playing around with the different deinterlacing options within mythtv can help some, but If I did not have an HDTV tuner, I'd still be using the PVR-350 tv-out... As far as issues when adding another card, if you're staying within the Hauppauge PVR-XXX world of IVTV, it should be pretty straightforward. I had via KT400 mobo that didn't like a PVR-350 and PVR-500 in the same box, but that was with 0.2 series drivers and I've not gone back to see if they'd cooperate with the more mature ivtv drivers and that motherboard. The nforce2 motherboard I currently use has no problems with the 3 analog tuners of the PVR-350 and PVR-500 and DViCO HDTVFusion 5 lite. ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Advice on adding a second capture card
mrwester wrote: The blurring you are referring to is deinterlacing artifacts and has nothing to do with the capture card- rather the video card/display. Thanks for that diagnosis. I've complained about this before, and I've certainly heard of deinterlacing artifacts, but I wasn't sure whether tha'ts what I was seeing. By the way, I think the implication from your statemet is that some video cards might do better than others w.r.t. deinterlacing artifacts, no? Is there a better alternative to the FX5200 w.r.t. eliminating deinterlacing artifacts. Perhaps the 350? I've tried playing with a bunch of different settings, but none have made much of an improvement. I would categorize the sports as barely watchable, which is prompting me to have a pass-through mode (an a/b switch) so that I can watch football raw from the cable instead of through the PVR. I was hoping the 350 (mainly via the TV out) might provide a little better picture. You will probably hear more to the contrary from this list as this question has been asked before, but in my hands, the TV-out of the PVR-350 cannot be beat for SD tv viewing... When I ran the TV-out of my PVR-350 I saw no deinterlacing artifacts and no stutter on the CNN ticker. Ahhh... that's what I'm hoping for. This is exactly what I was asking above. My machine is an XP2900+ and since adding an HDTV tuner I've switched to a FX5200 via DVI to a 1280x768 LCD panel running at native resolution. While HDTV looks great, running at about 65% CPU without XvMC for a 1080i stream, in my opinion the TV-out of the PVR-350 offers better SD picture without deinterlacing artifacts than the DVI out of my FX5200. Sounds good. My TV is, of course, SD. As far as issues when adding another card, if you're staying within the Hauppauge PVR-XXX world of IVTV, it should be pretty straightforward. I would think so. But I seem to see lots of stuff along the lines of I added a second card and my machine went belly up Thanks for the reply. Cheers, john ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Advice on adding a second capture card
On 1/23/06, John Biundo [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: mrwester wrote: The blurring you are referring to is deinterlacing artifacts and has nothing to do with the capture card- rather the video card/display.Thanks for that diagnosis.I've complained about this before, and I've certainly heard of deinterlacing artifacts, but I wasn't sure whethertha'ts what I was seeing.By the way, I think the implication from yourstatemet is that some video cards might do better than others w.r.t. deinterlacing artifacts, no?Is there a better alternative to theFX5200 w.r.t. eliminating deinterlacing artifacts.Perhaps the 350?I've tried playing with a bunch of different settings, but none have made much of an improvement.I would categorize the sports as barelywatchable, which is prompting me to have a pass-through mode (an a/bswitch) so that I can watch football raw from the cable instead of through the PVR.I was hoping the 350 (mainly via the TV out) mightprovide a little better picture. You will probably hear more to the contrary from this list as this question has been asked before, but in my hands, the TV-out of the PVR-350 cannot be beat forSDtv viewing...When I ran the TV-out of my PVR-350 I saw no deinterlacing artifacts and no stutter on the CNN ticker.Ahhh... that's what I'm hoping for.This is exactly what I was asking above.My machine is an XP2900+ and since adding an HDTV tuner I've switched to a FX5200 via DVI to a 1280x768 LCD panel running at native resolution.While HDTV looks great, running at about 65% CPU without XvMC for a 1080i stream, in my opinion the TV-out of the PVR-350 offers better SD picture without deinterlacing artifacts than the DVI out of my FX5200.Sounds good.My TV is, of course, SD. As far as issues when adding another card, if you're staying within the Hauppauge PVR-XXXworld of IVTV, it should be pretty straightforward.I would think so.But I seem to see lots of stuff along the lines of Iadded a second card and my machine went belly up I will say that Michael Dean did remind me of the overscan issue and mythgame/DVD watching issues-I'd kinda forgotten about that Not really a problem watching TV and using mythtv once you get everything setup properly, but it makes the the tv-out somewhat useless for other tasks- because you can't see the whole desktop. If it's a dedicated mythtv system this isn't an issue. And I do believe that the X-driver for the PVR-350 has improved to the point that people are reporting success watching DVDs nowadays... All of Michael Dean's points are very true, but for me the video quality on tv playback for SD tv justifies the PVR-350 tv out. Good luck Mike ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
