Mailing List Archive

I have a Soyo KT400 Platinum Dragon Ultra motheboard and and amd xp 2400
plus athlon xp with 512 MB pc2700 ddr ram. I have an ati tv wonder (non
ve ) and an ati tv wonder ve. Also an nvidia geforce3ti200 and sound
blaster live. I actually built this system with Mythtv in mind. If you
want a two tuner system you will need a lot of pci slots or at least
have a motherboard where some of the cards you need will be built in
hence freeing pci slots. I went with the soyo because it has built in
lan, cmi8738 sound card, and an extra ide controller it calls raid (it
is really just software raid but an ide contreller nonetheless). Each
of the tuner must be connected to a sound card unless you use btaudio to
pull the sound off the tv card. This will only work on the non ve
version of ati tv wonder. You are going to need at least one sound
device then for playback on a two tuner system. It needs to be duplex
capable ( you can record from and playback to at the same time). The SB
Live does a good job at this. The turtle beach does not (at least not
when I was using it with the then alsa drivers). I have not checked
the duplex capability of the cmi8738 because I only used it for
recording sound from the ati tv wonder ve before I decided to try and
get btaudio working. The cmi8738 has very weak inputs so I had to use
the microphone input for usable sound when I did use it for mythtv. Now
I use it as a default sound device for all other multimedia in my pc by
mapping it to dev/dsp. My SBlive is mapped to /dev/dsp1 and exclusively
used by myth. My Hollywood plus to dev/dsp2 and btaudio takes /dev/dsp3
to /dev/dsp6. The onboard lan is important to me because I eventually
want to put together a video network. The onboard "raid controller" is
handy also because If you are going to build a 2 tuner system, you are
probably going to record a lot of videos and you will need a lot of
storage. I put a 100g , and a couple of 80g drives in the machine and
connected them to the raid controller and set them up as a single 260
gig drive using LVM and pointed mythtv to this. My main ide is
connected to a multipartition 80 g harddisk so I can dual boot several
linux distros and Windows XP. I am using Redhat 8 right now. A creative
infra receiver and remote. The only problem with the remote was during
install, it failed to create a symlink to the ttSx device which I had to
manually create. Also there are only a few buttons. I am using the
nvidia drivers (2 generations behind) but plan on switching to the
newest release. My XF86Config is configured for TV out to my 32 inch
TV. I see black at the edges as the output is a little smaller than the
dimensions of the tv screen. I think this is a hardware limitation.
Also using WindowMaker because it has very good window focus so the
remote works seamlessly with mythtv and I get a second workspace to do
other things and I can autologin and autostart WindowMaker with
irxevent & and call mythtv automatically. I am currently using the CVS
version of mythtv because of a bug in Mythtv .8 which caused a program
scheduled for recording to get handed to the encoder twice if the other
tuner is not busy. This resulted in 2 encoders trying to create one
video file which will error on seek. This is fixed in cvs. My RH8
system is stable when running myth except recently when I have
occasional sound looping and system crash. It coincided with my use of
btaudio so they could be related. Recording at 480x400 mpeg4 2300 bit
rate with mp3 quality at lowest setting. There are occasional frame
drops when the two tuners are busy and I am watching another recording.
This is acceptable quality to me though. The machine does serve as an
ip masquerading bridging firewall so that is eating cpu cycles. I wish
this very long post helps you decide what to put in your pc system.
Let me know if you want me to tell you more.


On Thu, 2003-04-03 at 15:10, Tom Howard wrote:
> Please sir, tell me more. I am about to start in on a 2 tuner system
> myself. What problems do you have? Using a remote? KDE? What flavor of
> linux? etc...
>
> Tom
>
> >Date: 02 Apr 2003 17:53:51 -0500
> >From: Chris <cisip@sprintmail.com>
> >Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Processor Recommendation
> >
> >
> >I have a 2400 XP 2 tuner system, 512 MB PC2700. Recording at 480x400.
> >Works pretty well.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

> I have a Soyo KT400 Platinum Dragon Ultra motheboard and and amd xp 2400
> plus athlon xp with 512 MB pc2700 ddr ram. I have an ati tv wonder (non

[snip]

Excellent post chris. Thanks for that I found it very helpful

I have a couple of questions myself:

a) What are you using the Hollywood plus for? (I have one, but only ever used it under windows)
b) Can I get a peek at the relevant lines in your XF86config file (I am wondering what's the best way to get TV out with dual head working. I got dual-head working last night, but windows kept popping up on the TV screen (which wasn't attached), and it was generally frustrating unless both screens were plugged in. I'm thinking that either nvtv or a simple duplication of the main screen to TV would be better for now)
c) Can I have a peek at your .lircrc file. I have got my X10 remote installed now, but I am just at the stage of trolling the archives to see how other people have setup their config and gleaning good ideas.

I think these success stories are very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

As far as windows popping up on the TV, you probably have Xinerama or
nVidia's Twinview set up.

What you want to do is to set up your XF86Config just like you would in
Xinerama (not the same as twinview), except you'd put something like
this in the serverlayout section:

Screen 1 "TV" rightOf "CRT" (replace TV/CRT with the names of your
screens)

What this will do is make two separate screens, 0.0 and 0.1. In this
case, 0.1 would be the TV. You can move the mouse between them, but
not applications. Some basic KDE stuff works (dragging icons across)
but most cross-display stuff won't work (this is good.)

To view an application on the TV, you have to launch it from the TV or
export DISPLAY=:0.1 when you launch the program.

I've found that this is the best way to do dual-head with a TV, since
you really don't want your applications to show up on the TV unless you
tell them to, and it's better then starting an x server JUST for the TV
since you can also use your CRT at the same time.

There's little caveats; on nVidia boards you can only do overlay on the
first screen, so you may want to try making the TV "screen 0" instead of
the CRT. As far as OpenGL, I can use it on either screen with no
problems with my nVidia board.

Your mileage may vary.

-----Original Message-----
From: Edward Wildgoose [mailto:Edward.Wildgoose@frmhedge.com]
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 3:24 AM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] Re: Processor Recommendation - 2 tuner
system



> I have a Soyo KT400 Platinum Dragon Ultra motheboard and and amd xp
2400
> plus athlon xp with 512 MB pc2700 ddr ram. I have an ati tv wonder
(non

[snip]

Excellent post chris. Thanks for that I found it very helpful

I have a couple of questions myself:

a) What are you using the Hollywood plus for? (I have one, but only ever
used it under windows)
b) Can I get a peek at the relevant lines in your XF86config file (I am
wondering what's the best way to get TV out with dual head working. I
got dual-head working last night, but windows kept popping up on the TV
screen (which wasn't attached), and it was generally frustrating unless
both screens were plugged in. I'm thinking that either nvtv or a simple
duplication of the main screen to TV would be better for now)
c) Can I have a peek at your .lircrc file. I have got my X10 remote
installed now, but I am just at the stage of trolling the archives to
see how other people have setup their config and gleaning good ideas.

I think these success stories are very helpful. Thanks for taking the
time to write it up.


_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users@snowman.net
http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

> As far as windows popping up on the TV, you probably have Xinerama or
> nVidia's Twinview set up.

Yep, that was what I did!

> What you want to do is to set up your XF86Config just like you would in
> Xinerama (not the same as twinview), except you'd put something like
> this in the serverlayout section:

> Screen 1 "TV" rightOf "CRT" (replace TV/CRT with the names of your
> screens)

I have this left over from the twin view setup (although I'm not sure that setup was ok...)

> What this will do is make two separate screens, 0.0 and 0.1. In this
> case, 0.1 would be the TV. You can move the mouse between them, but
> not applications. Some basic KDE stuff works (dragging icons across)
> but most cross-display stuff won't work (this is good.)

> To view an application on the TV, you have to launch it from the TV or
> export DISPLAY=:0.1 when you launch the program.

This sounds exactly like what I had hoped the twin view did! Brilliant

Hmm, I'm not clear on how to get the second screen started though? I'm guessing that I need some extra bits in XF86config to define Screen2? (Plus some modelines perhaps...?)

Just for completeness would you mind sending me your XF86Config (offlist?). If you think it is worth posting onlist, then by all means trim the keyboard/mouse stuff, it is the other bits which are interesting.

Thanks for the tips, this is a substantial step forward for me!

> Just for completeness would you mind sending me your XF86Config

Okay here's the guts of my XF86Config file for using the TV in a
dual-head config. In this config, screen 1 is the TV, so overlay
doesn't work; you can still do video and whatever, but you'll likely
experience lower performance and tearing. You can try swapping screen
1 and 0 to see if you like that better. Again, OpenGL works on both
screens fine for me, so that's not a problem. (of course, expect low
performance playing a game when Myth is running!)

> (Plus some modelines perhaps...?)

I don't really use any modelines, except the default resolution I use on
my CRT. The TV doesn't need any. I hate modelines. I think
modelines should perish. I don't know why you can't just say "Use 75Hz
on everything." Such a pain.

If you notice, I have the "TVOverscan" option in there, since the new
nvidia drivers support this option, but my encoder is not supported.
If yours is, be grateful! It's a great option to have, since nvtv
doesn't like a lot of dual-head configurations, and it's much easier to
do overscan in a little option in your XF86Config file.

# **********************************************************************
# Monitor section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of monitor sections may be present

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "Compaq P110"
HorizSync 30-107
VertRefresh 48-76
vendorname "Compaq"
modelname "P110"
ModeLine "1280x1024/76Hz" 135 1280 1312 1416 1664 1024 1027 1030
1064

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "Sony TV"
ModelName "NTSC TV"
Vendorname "SONY"
VertRefresh 60
HorizSync 30-50

EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

Section "Device"
Identifier "Geforce-CRT"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NvAGP" "3"
Vendorname "Aslyum"
Option "NoLogo" "1"
Option "CursorShadow" "1"
boardname "GeForce 4 Ti 4600"
Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Geforce-TV"
Driver "nvidia"
BusId "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "NvAGP" "3"
vendorname "Aslyum"
Option "NoLogo" "1"
boardname "GeForce 4 Ti 4600"
Screen 1
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Screen sections
# **********************************************************************

Section "Screen"
Identifier "CRT"
Device "Geforce-CRT"
Monitor "Compaq P110"
DefaultDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024/76Hz" "800x600" "1024x768" "1280x1024"
"640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
Virtual 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024/76Hz" "800x600" "1024x768" "1280x1024"
"640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
Virtual 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024/76Hz" "800x600" "1024x768" "1280x1024"
"640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
Virtual 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "TV"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "640x480"
EndSubsection
Device "Geforce-TV"
Monitor "Sony TV"
Option "TVOutFormat" "COMPOSITE"
Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "TV"
Option "TVOverScan" "1.0"
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# ServerLayout sections.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerLayout"

Identifier "Simple Layout"
Screen 0 "CRT"
Screen 1 "TV" rightOf "CRT"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

Hope this helps you.


-Joe

There is a driver for the hollywood plus in linux called dxr3. Try
searching for it with google. You can use mplayer or xine to playback
any mpeg file and direct audio and video via its analog/spdif and
S-video/composite out. Using this you might get some audio video sync
issues. That was a problem in the old releases of xine. To fix that I
just use the audio output of the hollywood plus and output the video to
the TV via the nvidia tv out instead. So basically it is an extra sound
card for me that is capable of playing only mpeg files.

I dont have NVIDIA dual head working. My GF3 has both vga and
svideo/composite output. I simply edited my XF86Config file and added
a section for a second monitor and second graphic device setting for the
tv out. When I want to use the tvout I simply change one character in
the xf86config ( "screen0" to "screen1) and press ctrl alt backspace.
There is probably a more elegant way to do this but this works for me.
I do have 2 workspaces in WindowMaker so that Mythfrontend is in
Workspace1 while I can use the second workspace for everything else.

I have an X10 remote as well but the last time I checked, it was not
supported in lirc. That is with lirc 0.6.6. If you have a hollywood
plus then you can use the remote that comes with that in lirc.

Here are my XF86Config and .lircrc files





On Fri, 2003-04-04 at 03:24, Edward Wildgoose wrote:
> > I have a Soyo KT400 Platinum Dragon Ultra motheboard and and amd xp 2400
> > plus athlon xp with 512 MB pc2700 ddr ram. I have an ati tv wonder (non
>
> [snip]
>
> Excellent post chris. Thanks for that I found it very helpful
>
> I have a couple of questions myself:
>
> a) What are you using the Hollywood plus for? (I have one, but only ever used it under windows)
> b) Can I get a peek at the relevant lines in your XF86config file (I am wondering what's the best way to get TV out with dual head working. I got dual-head working last night, but windows kept popping up on the TV screen (which wasn't attached), and it was generally frustrating unless both screens were plugged in. I'm thinking that either nvtv or a simple duplication of the main screen to TV would be better for now)
> c) Can I have a peek at your .lircrc file. I have got my X10 remote installed now, but I am just at the stage of trolling the archives to see how other people have setup their config and gleaning good ideas.
>
> I think these success stories are very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users