[mythtv-users] CPU Utilization for video decode with PVR-250

[Paul de Bruin]

> > I have a P2-350/PVR-350/G400/Audigy combo. Rough figures are:
> 
> Geez man, with all that money you spent on the PVR-350 you could've
> gotten a GHz computer!

:-) Yes and no. It is a matter of principle for me.

The p2-350 has served me well. It is a BX6 board, rock-solid, no
problems whatsoever.  It is also the server machine of my house and I
trust it to be switched on 24/7 (no heat problems).  Furthermore, this
machine with the PVR-350 is more than adequate for a mythbackend, which
it is right now.  The G400 and Audigy were leftovers from other
machines. In a way, I see it as an Amiga, as long as you can offload all
the intensive tasks to dedicated hardware the cpu can do what it is
ment to do.

I have another machine in the living room that is the mythfrontend
(Celeron 1100, i810, no agp/pci slots).  The celly has severe heat
problems (69C easily, small case, 1U cooler), and I would love to throw
it out and use the p2 instead. 

Anyway, my budget was about EUR200. So the choice was between a pvr350
or a new machine (cpu/mobo/ram/psu/wintv card). I chose the former.

Oops, sorry, I started to ramble :-) 

PdB