Mailing List Archive: WinTV Stereo--Recommended?

WinTV Stereo--Recommended?

joddo at apixels

Oct 26, 2002, 11:18 PM

Post #1 of 9 (2864 views)

OK, I think I'm going to give mythTV a shot...I mean, what do I have to
lose except time and money ;) Seriously, looks like Isaac is doing some
amazing things (as a side note, Isaac, you should put up a
ThinkGeek/CD/DVD/etc wishlist. Those of us that don't have time to
contribute to the code would still like to contribute *some* way!)

It looks like I'm going to (I need to) get the WinTV-Stereo card. Here's
why I'm going with this card: (1) I need to have stereo outs, (2) my
cheap mobo has a built-in graphics card with *no* AGP slot, so I have to
go PCI, and (3) seems like a lot of people are using the WinTV cards.

Does this seem like a wise choice? Does anyone want to push me into
another direction?

I poked around a bit on-line and several pages say that the card does:
- VIDEO INPUTS: CABLE COAX RCA AND S-VIDEO
- VIDEO OUTPUTS: NONE
- AUDIO CAPTURE: YES
- VIDEO STANDARDS SUPPORTED: NTSC
- RESOLUTIONS SUPPORTED: 160 X 120
- COLORS SUPPORTED: 256

This doesn't seem right...a resolution of 160x120 and 256 colors?! Is
that the software that's causing that limitation? I'd like to do 640x480.
Is it possible with the WinTV-Stereo?

Yeah, I know, a lot of questions, but I'd kinda like to get some straight
answers before making a purchase.

Thanks all,
Jeremy

Re: WinTV Stereo--Recommended? [ In reply to ]

Oct 27, 2002, 11:13 AM

Post #2 of 9 (2845 views)

I do not know for sure about the WinTV Stereo, but my experiences can
help you extrapolate..

I have a WinTV Go, which is a step down from the Stereo.. I suspect the
only true difference between the two is the mono/stereo, to be honest,
which is why I got it (my sound comes in through my sound card from an
external tuner, so it remains stereo)..

So, what do I think? The WinTV Go is amazing.. If I run xawtv, and am
outputting through my nvidia at 640x480 to my TV, you cannot tell that
there is a computer in the middle (on my admittedly not so demanding
sanyo 30ish inch).. For me, that is a good thing : ) Of course, output on
the TV is a little different when MythTV is involved, but that is to be
expected..

I got the WinTV because of the very well-supported chipset, and there's a
reason it's well-supported.. it seems it's pretty good quality..

My system:

signal input: DirecTV Tuner sending through composite
card input: WinTV Go
video card output: NVidia GeForce 2 MX 400
Distro: Mandrake 9
CPUs used: P2-333 (great quality there) and Athlon 1.2 (great quality
there too)

Hope it helps : )

tarek : )

> OK, I think I'm going to give mythTV a shot...I mean, what do I have to
> lose except time and money ;) Seriously, looks like Isaac is doing some
> amazing things (as a side note, Isaac, you should put up a
> ThinkGeek/CD/DVD/etc wishlist. Those of us that don't have time to
> contribute to the code would still like to contribute *some* way!)
>
> It looks like I'm going to (I need to) get the WinTV-Stereo card. Here's
> why I'm going with this card: (1) I need to have stereo outs, (2) my
> cheap mobo has a built-in graphics card with *no* AGP slot, so I have to
> go PCI, and (3) seems like a lot of people are using the WinTV cards.
>
> Does this seem like a wise choice? Does anyone want to push me into
> another direction?
>
> I poked around a bit on-line and several pages say that the card does:
> - VIDEO INPUTS: CABLE COAX RCA AND S-VIDEO
> - VIDEO OUTPUTS: NONE
> - AUDIO CAPTURE: YES
> - VIDEO STANDARDS SUPPORTED: NTSC
> - RESOLUTIONS SUPPORTED: 160 X 120
> - COLORS SUPPORTED: 256
>
> This doesn't seem right...a resolution of 160x120 and 256 colors?! Is
> that the software that's causing that limitation? I'd like to do 640x480.
> Is it possible with the WinTV-Stereo?
>
> Yeah, I know, a lot of questions, but I'd kinda like to get some straight
> answers before making a purchase.
>
> Thanks all,
> Jeremy
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-dev mailing list
> mythtv-dev@snowman.net
> http://www.snowman.net/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev
>

Re: WinTV Stereo--Recommended? [ In reply to ]

joddo at apixels

Oct 27, 2002, 1:39 PM

Post #3 of 9 (2843 views)

> I have a WinTV Go, which is a step down from the Stereo.. I suspect the
> only true difference between the two is the mono/stereo, to be honest,
> which is why I got it (my sound comes in through my sound card from an
> external tuner, so it remains stereo)..
>
> So, what do I think? The WinTV Go is amazing.. If I run xawtv, and am
> outputting through my nvidia at 640x480 to my TV
>
DOH! Sure I'm a bit daft with this TV capture stuff, but I thought that
the WinTV had an "out to the TV". I guess the card only has an IN for
capturing, and then you need to go OUT via your graphics card. Is this
correct? That said, I'll have to get a new mobo as I don't have an AGP
slot. Grrr. That just means I have to throw down more cash to test this
bugger out!

Yet another stumbling block. Back to the drawing board to try and justify
another purchase ;)

Thanks,
Jeremy

Re: WinTV Stereo--Recommended? [ In reply to ]

Oct 27, 2002, 2:43 PM

Post #4 of 9 (2823 views)

On 27 Oct 2002 at 13:13, tarek Lubani wrote:

> CPUs used: P2-333 (great quality there) and Athlon 1.2 (great quality
> there too)
I'm surprised about the p2-333, my duron750 does 352x240 fine, but 480x480 is
jerky and I haven't tried 640x480 yet for fear of it melting down :-(

Did you do any optimization on that system to pull this off? What resolution
are you running at on each machine? Also what codec are you using, the
default?
--
Harondel J. Sibble
Sibble Computer Consulting
Creating solutions for the small business and home computer user.
help@pdscc.com (use pgp keyid 0x3AD5C11D) http://www.pdscc.com
(604) 739-3709 (voice/fax) (604) 686-2253 (pager)

Re: WinTV Stereo--Recommended? [ In reply to ]

Oct 27, 2002, 3:10 PM

Post #5 of 9 (2826 views)

Depending on what you are doing with your system, you can find all-in-one
PCI solutions.. The ATI All-In-Wonders are one such example.. Obviously,
you'll have to get cards that are a few years old, which means that if
you're into the game scene, you can pretty much forget about this solution
working.. Another option, however, if you are happy with your current
built in solution is to get another video card (i.e., all in wonder) that
is PCI, and then just use that as a second video card.. I think it should
be easy enough.. maybe have an X-Server outputting just to it? I have
never tried this, so I don't now..

Some specific information about the AIW is that I have heard of problems
with it and Linux when talking about capture.. I would go and explore to
make sure it is compatible with everybody's favourite OS..

As for spending more cash, I'm not sure what country you live in, but
if it's a "first" world country, you can probably find some interesting
tax loopholes to offset the cost of your card.. For example, to get mine,
all I needed was to have 3 kids.. the government subsidies paid for this
and many future upgrades..

tarek : )

> DOH! Sure I'm a bit daft with this TV capture stuff, but I thought that
> the WinTV had an "out to the TV". I guess the card only has an IN for
> capturing, and then you need to go OUT via your graphics card. Is this
> correct? That said, I'll have to get a new mobo as I don't have an AGP
> slot. Grrr. That just means I have to throw down more cash to test this
> bugger out!

Re: WinTV Stereo--Recommended? [ In reply to ]

Oct 27, 2002, 3:23 PM

Post #6 of 9 (2823 views)

This was using XAWTV

If you don't care about pausing live TV, and are not likely to be watching
when a recording happens, you can do 400x400 OK, so long as MP3
compression is not on.. and deinterlacing off also helps.. Also, I use
rtjpeg.. mpeg4 seems to be more CPU intensive..

That's on my P2-333..

On my AMD Athlon 1.2, I use 400 x 400 with mpeg4 and no mpeg encoding..

No non-standard optimization.. Just playing with settings

hope it helps : )

tarek

> I'm surprised about the p2-333, my duron750 does 352x240 fine, but 480x480 is
> jerky and I haven't tried 640x480 yet for fear of it melting down :-(
>
> Did you do any optimization on that system to pull this off? What resolution
> are you running at on each machine? Also what codec are you using, the
> default?

Re: WinTV Stereo--Recommended? [ In reply to ]

Oct 27, 2002, 3:29 PM

Post #7 of 9 (2836 views)

On 27 Oct 2002 at 17:10, tarek Lubani wrote:

> it and Linux when talking about capture.. I would go and explore to make sure
> it is compatible with everybody's favourite OS..
It is compatible and is video4linux compliant. You can read all the details
here:

http://gatos.sourceforge.net/

notably

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=119215

I'm currently compiling for an ATI AIW Radeon based machine.

> As for spending more cash, I'm not sure what country you live in, but
> if it's a "first" world country, you can probably find some interesting
Ebay is another good place to try too.

--
Harondel J. Sibble
Sibble Computer Consulting
Creating solutions for the small business and home computer user.
help@pdscc.com (use pgp keyid 0x3AD5C11D) http://www.pdscc.com
(604) 739-3709 (voice/fax) (604) 686-2253 (pager)

Re: WinTV Stereo--Recommended? [ In reply to ]

Oct 27, 2002, 3:39 PM

Post #8 of 9 (2848 views)

On Sunday 27 October 2002 05:29 pm, Harondel J. Sibble wrote:
> On 27 Oct 2002 at 17:10, tarek Lubani wrote:
> > it and Linux when talking about capture.. I would go and explore to make
> > sure it is compatible with everybody's favourite OS..
>
> It is compatible and is video4linux compliant. You can read all the details
> here:
>
> http://gatos.sourceforge.net/
>
> notably
>
> http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=119215
>
> I'm currently compiling for an ATI AIW Radeon based machine.

Probably not going to work:

See
http://www.snowman.net/pipermail/mythtv-dev/2002-October/000588.html

Isaac

Re: WinTV Stereo--Recommended? [ In reply to ]

joddo at apixels

Oct 27, 2002, 4:01 PM

Post #9 of 9 (2870 views)

> As for spending more cash, I'm not sure what country you live in, but
> if it's a "first" world country, you can probably find some interesting
> tax loopholes to offset the cost of your card.. For example, to get
> mine, all I needed was to have 3 kids.. the government subsidies paid
> for this and many future upgrades..
>
Three kids!? That ain't worth it! <evil grin> :)

I do, however, own my own business. And seeing how I'm in the "TV and
Motion Picture Visual Effects" business, I write-off is easy enough. I
mean, all kidding aside, being able to record TV, pause it, analyse the
effects, etc. is a real benefit.

But still, I have to buy ANOTHER machine...and I just had to rebuild my
server a month ago!

Jeremy