Mailing List Archive

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf Of
> kameleon@netdoor.com
> Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 8:03 AM
> To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
> Subject: [mythtv-users] requirements?
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I was wondering if a 2.0Ghz celeron with about 256MB ram would be
> enough to watch live TV and record another channel at the same time
> while using 2 win-tv pvr-250's. And where is the best place to get
> these cards cheaper? My local compUSA has them for $150 each. Is this
> a good going rate?

That should be plenty fast enough; with 2 250's you could probably even get
away with half that (1.0GHz). However, search the archives & the ivtv
mailing list for whether you can use 2 PVR-250's simultaneously; I don't
know if the ivtv driver supports that yet.

Some recent deals at CompUSA, OfficeMax, etc. have had the PVR-250 for $99
(after rebates). Check around.

> And does the remote that comes with it work with MythTV?

Check the mailing list archives; there was a recent thread about what you
had to do to get this working; but I believe the answer is 'yes'.

-JAC

Now that the 250 is so cheap, does it really make any sense to buy a
WIN-GO card for $50 bucks? (aside from saving $50)? That is really a
small amount. You can more than make up for the difference in lower
processor / memory requirement.

I am still debating whether to buy a WIN-GO for $50 or a PVR-250 for $99


--


Scott Blomfield said:
>
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: kameleon@netdoor.com [mailto:kameleon@netdoor.com]
>>Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 7:03 AM
>>To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
>>Subject: [mythtv-users] requirements?
>>
>>Hello,
>>
>> I was wondering if a 2.0Ghz celeron with about 256MB ram would be
>>enough to watch live TV and record another channel at the same time
>>while using 2 win-tv pvr-250's. And where is the best place to get
>
> A word of warning, last I heard it was not possible to run two
> PVR-(2|3)50 cards in the same machine. You will probably want to search
> the mailing list archive at
> http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=33341 for more
> information with regards to this.
>
>>these cards cheaper? My local compUSA has them for $150 each. Is this
>>a good going rate?
>
> Some people claim to have seen them at OfficeMax/OfficeDepot for $100
> ... I personally have not. PROVANTAGE have them for $129 right now.
> Delivery from them to the OK is around $7 I think, YMMV. Link:
> http://www.provantage.com/fp_71998.htm
>
>>
>>And does the remote that comes with it work with MythTV?
>>
>>D.
>>_______________________________________________
>>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
>

>-----Original Message-----
>From: kameleon@netdoor.com [mailto:kameleon@netdoor.com]
>Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 7:03 AM
>To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
>Subject: [mythtv-users] requirements?
>
>Hello,
>
> I was wondering if a 2.0Ghz celeron with about 256MB ram would be
>enough to watch live TV and record another channel at the same time
>while using 2 win-tv pvr-250's. And where is the best place to get

A word of warning, last I heard it was not possible to run two
PVR-(2|3)50 cards in the same machine. You will probably want to search
the mailing list archive at
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_id=33341 for more
information with regards to this.

>these cards cheaper? My local compUSA has them for $150 each. Is this
>a good going rate?

Some people claim to have seen them at OfficeMax/OfficeDepot for $100
... I personally have not. PROVANTAGE have them for $129 right now.
Delivery from them to the OK is around $7 I think, YMMV. Link:
http://www.provantage.com/fp_71998.htm

>
>And does the remote that comes with it work with MythTV?
>
>D.
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-users mailing list
>mythtv-users@snowman.net
>http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

> I am still debating whether to buy a WIN-GO for $50 or a PVR-250 for $99

I was debating the same thing yesterday.... I think even though I'm
getting a fast CPU, I'd rather just spend another $50 on a hardware based
card (and not have to worry about other uses of my linux box being
interfered with or vice versa --web server stuff particularly?). More over,
I could always expand the system later ...

Theres only one small quirk to my decision making that I'm still not sure
of... . there seems to be a lot of discussion of problems w/ PVR 250... I'm
thinking that there are two reasons for this 1) people don't rush to
complain about things that work, and 2) its newly supported... Is it the
general consensus that this is a good card, a good card once you get the
caveats worked out, or just troublesome? I'd guess that there wouldn't be
so many people using it if it were "bad" ... ?

The only thing that might sway me on the side of a software-based card is
finding a good surround sound card. are there any good ones? (i know there
*are* some...but what are people's experiences with them?)... Do they work
well in Linux, and is a SBLive the likely paired sound card? I looked in
the hardware database and it doesn't seem like a lot of people are
concerning themselves over surround sound... many aren't even doing stereo
apparently?

-Dane

BTW, i really like the fairly new "comments" section on the database... it
does no good to rate a system good or bad without explaining what you think
works...everyone go do it if you haven't ;)

At 11:21 AM 6/5/2003 -0400, Matt wrote:
>Now that the 250 is so cheap, does it really make any sense to buy a
>WIN-GO card for $50 bucks? (aside from saving $50)? That is really a
>small amount. You can more than make up for the difference in lower
>processor / memory requirement.
>
>I am still debating whether to buy a WIN-GO for $50 or a PVR-250 for $99


I cannot speak to the merits of the PCR-250 ... but please DO NOT buy a
"WIN-GO" (actual name: WinTV Go). At least not unless you can find one of
the older ones, the ones that use a bt878 chip.

Newer WinTV Go cards use a different chip that is not yet supported by any
v4l driver. Because the change was slipstreamed by Hauppauge, it is easy to
make a mistake here. Consult the list archives for the details.

Dane Kantner wrote:

>>I am still debating whether to buy a WIN-GO for $50 or a PVR-250 for $99
>>
>>
>there seems to be a lot of discussion of problems w/ PVR 250... I'm
>thinking that there are two reasons for this 1) people don't rush to
>complain about things that work, and 2) its newly supported... Is it the
>general consensus that this is a good card, a good card once you get the
>caveats worked out, or just troublesome? I'd guess that there wouldn't be
>so many people using it if it were "bad" ... ?
>
well, it is a pretty good card. i had not much trouble getting it
going, except for the remote. overall, here are my impressions:

1) it does fail from time to time, requiring a removal of the module
(and the lirc_i2c module) to fix it. this is a bit of a pain, and has
bit me once or twice. i'm sure this will get better, but for the time
being it is a concern.
2) i don't think you can deinterlace in the same way as you can with a
bttv based driver, at least i don't notice it change anything, and some
of my recordings definitely show interlacing artifacts that are annoying.
3) the file sizes are relatively huge, compared to mpeg-4. if you get a
pvr card, get a bigger hd also. again, you can adjust the bitrate, some
people have problems with that though (i can't go lower than about 7Mbps)
4) there are strange video and audio artifcats from time to time
(ghosting, lines, high pitched whine) that i've seen reported. i only
ever noticed the video ones, the ghosting has a work-around but the
lines require a rm/modprobe to resolve.
5) you can't adjust the colour/contrast/brightness yet.

all the issues i've had so far are going to be resolved. some of them
almost are (colour,etc is now settable, just need to update myth). so,
for a long term thing, i wouldn't decide _against_ getting another pvr
card, but i would take that into account. also, i heard someone else say
that the bttv card produced a better looking capture, but i have nothing
to compare my pvr captures with. then again though, once i can change
colour/contrast, i think i could improve my picture quality a bit.

hope this helps.

CraigL->Thx();

> while using 2 win-tv pvr-250's. And where is the best place to get

its my understanding that you can't use two pvr250s in the same system right
now... (something about the driver--probably will be fixed?--do some
research at past posts and see if you can find info on that)
> these cards cheaper? My local compUSA has them for $150 each. Is this
> a good going rate?

you can get them on ebay w/out remote for $100... if you go to mysimon.com
theres a company selling it for $137 w/ remote...so i guess 150 isn't bad
for retail depending on what the shipping charge/tax situation is w/ that
place

Robert: Since you have two PVRs working (I assume), did you find it
easier to install the PVRs with one OS over another OS (e.g., Redhat vs
Mandrake?)


--


Robert Kulagowski said:
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
>> its my understanding that you can't use two pvr250s in the
>> same system right now...
>
> You can, and I have. OfficeMax and CompUSA have been selling these
> for $99 after rebate lately. It's a crapshoot whether you get a card
> with the older black remote or the newer grey remote.
>
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>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

> its my understanding that you can't use two pvr250s in the
> same system right now...

You can, and I have. OfficeMax and CompUSA have been selling these
for $99 after rebate lately. It's a crapshoot whether you get a card
with the older black remote or the newer grey remote.

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Hash: SHA1

> Robert: Since you have two PVRs working (I assume), did you find
> it easier to install the PVRs with one OS over another OS (e.g.,
> Redhat vs Mandrake?)

I have only installed it on Mandrake 9.1, and the installation that's
detailed in the HOWTO shows that I really didn't have any problems
with it. That's why the RH9 installation battles that I read on the
message list are interesting, but I certainly wouldn't dissuade
anyone from trying to install on Red Hat.

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Pick up a WinTV DBX card on ebay for about $35. Try this link to a search
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2F
ws%2F&krd=1&from=R8&MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&
query=wintv+dbx

If it does not work just search for "wintv dbx". I picked up a card for
about $36 with the bt878 chip. It did not come with a remote but it was a
good price.

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Ray Olszewski
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 12:58
To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] requirements?


At 11:21 AM 6/5/2003 -0400, Matt wrote:
>Now that the 250 is so cheap, does it really make any sense to buy a
>WIN-GO card for $50 bucks? (aside from saving $50)? That is really a
>small amount. You can more than make up for the difference in lower
>processor / memory requirement.
>
>I am still debating whether to buy a WIN-GO for $50 or a PVR-250 for $99


I cannot speak to the merits of the PCR-250 ... but please DO NOT buy a
"WIN-GO" (actual name: WinTV Go). At least not unless you can find one of
the older ones, the ones that use a bt878 chip.

Newer WinTV Go cards use a different chip that is not yet supported by any
v4l driver. Because the change was slipstreamed by Hauppauge, it is easy to
make a mistake here. Consult the list archives for the details.



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