[mythtv-users] Re: pcHDTV and HDTV

[Jason Schloer]

I may be wrong on this, but for capture you shouldn't need too powerful
a machine. Since ATSC signals are already MPEG2 compressed to at most
19.2 mbps there's not a lot to do other than write the stream to disk.
So throughput will be the bigger issue for multiple hdtv cards. Where
you will need more horsepower is on the machines displaying the stream.
And once Myth is optimized for xvmc, even a 1.2 Ghz machine should be
enough. Anyway, I gues my point is that dual cpu Athlon-64  may be a bit
of overkill, especially if the "normal" cards you're considering are
hardware encoders. I'd love to hear other peoples take on this though,
especially Brandon.


Jason Schloer


-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Brian Foddy
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 12:19 PM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Re: pcHDTV and HDTV

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003, Jarod C. Wilson wrote:
> Unfortunate digital to analog conversion necessary, but hey. (If only 
> I'd waited a bit longer to get my HDTV, I woulda had one w/DVI in...
:)

I hear you.  I got a 43" Hitachi in Feb, no DVI inputs.  My parents
just a couple weeks ago picked up a 51" Sony with DVI for almost
the same price.  But hey, I've had 7 months of enjoyment :)

Thanks for all the feedback on my question of component inputs.
Seems like it won't be a major stumbling block (I didn't think it
would).
Now just need to collect some money, and get the hardware.

Personally, I waiting to see what the Athlon-64 and newer Xeons
look like before I make this jump.  I could realistically see
a dual cpu machine with 1-2 HD cards, perhaps another 1-2 normal
cards.  Since my current setup can already record 3 shows on one
machine, I doubt I'll want anything less.

Brian