Mailing List Archive

The Sigma Designs X-Card (not sure about others) DOES display overlay
graphics on the tv out. It will not do overlay in a window on the PC.
There is an On Screen Display that is seperate from the mpeg stream that can
display a menu, subtitles, what have you. It can even display the windows
desktop instead of an video file. (Sigma said it couldn't been done with
the overlay but a third party developer has already managed to do it without
encoding it as an mpeg).

I really only brought up the X-card because I have one and I am familiar
with the overlay funtionality and mentioned it as an example. There are
currently no linux drivers or an SDK for that matter so it is not really
worth discussing.

Roby Adams

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph H. Fry" <joe@thefrys.com>
To: "'Discussion about mythtv'" <mythtv-users@snowman.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 12:39 AM
Subject: [mythtv-users] Taking the plunge - General questions about
setupandPVR250


> It is my understanding that the Sigma cards do not do overlay... they
> merely display an mpeg stream... which means that you would need to
> encode the myth display and the video together to get the display on the
> screen. I cant imagine that it would be difficult to do so however, and
> considering that the sigma cards are only $100 it would be worth it for
> the developers to look into I'd say.
>
> Can you say "Finally, a use for that damn Pentium 233 sitting in my
> closet"
>
> Actually my local store has stacks of old Dell Pentium Desktops that are
> just about perfect for an entertainment center if only they could handle
> the output!... only $20 and with an integrated nic and no processor
> heatsink needed, and virtually silent PS... God what a dream front end
> that would be!
>
> Joe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net] On Behalf Of Joseph A. Caputo
> Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 1:48 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] Taking the plunge - General questions about
> setupand PVR250
>
> But how are the overlays formatted? Can you just set your X display to
> the
> decoder board and have that work, or do you need to format each screen
> as a
> static image? If the former, no problem; if the latter, this raises the
> same issues as pure MPEG; namely, how to take an interactive X (Qt)
> interface and convert it to static images. I don't know anything about
> decoders w/overlay, so maybe it's simpler than that, though.
>
> -JAC
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
> > [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Roby Adams
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 12:28 PM
> > To: Discussion about mythtv
> > Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Taking the plunge - General questions
> about
> > setupand PVR250
> >
> >
> > Well you guys are right the PVR-250 does not have outputs and the
> > 350 does.
> > I know that the 350 would not be able to output the myth display
> > IF it does
> > not support overlay on the output.
> >
> > Some decoders do like the Sigma Designs X-card. It can insert
> overlays on
> > the video out. Of course that is a decoder board and is not a
> Encoder/PVR
> > card.
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

It may or may not be worth mentioning.... someday a windows frontend
could be written for myth... I can't imagine it would be all that
impossible... of course we would need to find a developer who is
comfortable in both environments and willing to develop for windows
(rare, I know).

In fact... is there any chance that a driver could be written to stream
the output to a network port instead of a video output... IE a logical
"Video Out" that encodes the output and broadcasts it to the network
(not just the tv/video, but the osd's ect too)? You could then have a
combination Frontend/Backend device in your closet and a different
machine that only displays whatever the other machine generated.
Control could be done via telnet or something?

I don't really know where I'm going with this... but hell can't hurt to
ask, never know someone might see a reason for this. I remember seeing
a settop device that would display mpeg data fed from a remote source...
Perhaps if that source were a mythtv frontend/backend solution that
output to a TCP port these boxes could display it... of course
controlling a frontend machine in another room would require a long
serial connection (UTP) or an RF remote solution...

Oh well... just ignore this message... it's probably just pipe dreams
anyway.

Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net] On Behalf Of Roby Adams
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 7:11 AM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Taking the plunge - General questions
aboutsetupandPVR250

The Sigma Designs X-Card (not sure about others) DOES display overlay
graphics on the tv out. It will not do overlay in a window on the PC.
There is an On Screen Display that is seperate from the mpeg stream that
can
display a menu, subtitles, what have you. It can even display the
windows
desktop instead of an video file. (Sigma said it couldn't been done
with
the overlay but a third party developer has already managed to do it
without
encoding it as an mpeg).

I really only brought up the X-card because I have one and I am familiar
with the overlay funtionality and mentioned it as an example. There are
currently no linux drivers or an SDK for that matter so it is not really
worth discussing.

Roby Adams

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph H. Fry" <joe@thefrys.com>
To: "'Discussion about mythtv'" <mythtv-users@snowman.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 12:39 AM
Subject: [mythtv-users] Taking the plunge - General questions about
setupandPVR250


> It is my understanding that the Sigma cards do not do overlay... they
> merely display an mpeg stream... which means that you would need to
> encode the myth display and the video together to get the display on
the
> screen. I cant imagine that it would be difficult to do so however,
and
> considering that the sigma cards are only $100 it would be worth it
for
> the developers to look into I'd say.
>
> Can you say "Finally, a use for that damn Pentium 233 sitting in my
> closet"
>
> Actually my local store has stacks of old Dell Pentium Desktops that
are
> just about perfect for an entertainment center if only they could
handle
> the output!... only $20 and with an integrated nic and no processor
> heatsink needed, and virtually silent PS... God what a dream front end
> that would be!
>
> Joe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net] On Behalf Of Joseph A.
Caputo
> Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 1:48 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] Taking the plunge - General questions
about
> setupand PVR250
>
> But how are the overlays formatted? Can you just set your X display
to
> the
> decoder board and have that work, or do you need to format each screen
> as a
> static image? If the former, no problem; if the latter, this raises
the
> same issues as pure MPEG; namely, how to take an interactive X (Qt)
> interface and convert it to static images. I don't know anything
about
> decoders w/overlay, so maybe it's simpler than that, though.
>
> -JAC
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
> > [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Roby Adams
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 12:28 PM
> > To: Discussion about mythtv
> > Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Taking the plunge - General questions
> about
> > setupand PVR250
> >
> >
> > Well you guys are right the PVR-250 does not have outputs and the
> > 350 does.
> > I know that the 350 would not be able to output the myth display
> > IF it does
> > not support overlay on the output.
> >
> > Some decoders do like the Sigma Designs X-card. It can insert
> overlays on
> > the video out. Of course that is a decoder board and is not a
> Encoder/PVR
> > card.
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

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