[mythtv] backend plus frontend (success!!!)

[Michael Stearne]

Jeff, thanks for the great reply. See below....

On Wed, 2003-02-05 at 13:18, Jeff_Mitchell at accessbusinessgroup.com
wrote:
> Michael-
> 
> I rarely use the live tv feature of Myth (It's mainly used to record
> Charmed for the wife (Don't ask me -- she seems to like it, and at least
> it's not soaps), as I've been extremely busy working on our house), but it
> seems to work pretty well.  

I would be using the TV function a lot as this would be my main TV.

> I hit the 'Live TV' button in mythfrontend, and after a slight pause, I get
> a screengrab of the channel.  Then I get a little stuttering (5-10 seconds
> at most), which I assume is due to the initial caching of recorded
> information, etc.  I get the same stuttering when I change channels (of
> course -- in my view, this is the same as restarting Live TV, with a
> different channel), 

Makes sense....

> but as long as I stay on the same channel, I don't get
> any skips.  Shuttling through the buffer takes a half second or so, but the
> audio's in sync, and things look good.
> 

But, I would be using this for my main TV, so I would be interested in
good response when changing channels.

> I'm not sure what you mean by "weaker machine."  If you mean mine is
> weaker, you're probably right.  I've seen a lot of people using much more
> powerful machines, which probably alleviate some of the (extremely minor)
> issues I mentioned above. 

Yes, it seems that to me too.  The specs say an older machine like yours
should function but people all the list seem to have these jacked
machines that for my (price) purposes are overkill. 

>  I certainly didn't do any tweaking to get Myth
> to perform this way, other than playing with settings.txt (copies available
> upon request.)  If you mean, "How can I get these results on a PIII-450", I
> have no idea.  These settings are what I'd consider the upper limit for
> this machine, although someone with more knowledge of how rtjpeg and MPEG4
> compare might be able to squeeze a bit more out of it.  Basically, if you
> have less grunt (by this I mean total grunt -- a hardware-based encoder
> definitely adds to total grunt, and you can probably get away with a much
> more lightweight processor) than this, you're going to have to expect lower
> quality.
> 

Machines in your speed range fit the pricepoint I am trying to do. 
Maybe if I can get a decent 800Mhz AMD or Intel used machine, it will
fit my price point.

> If you want more detailed information about my setup, let me know.  I'd be
> happy to answer any questions I can.
> 

Thanks.  
What is the video card you are using for TV out?  
What is the capture card?
How much RAM?
How much disk space?
Computer Manufacturer?

Thanks again,
Michael