[mythtv-users] Computer needed for myth using a PVR350

Steve Frank steve.frank at bevcore.com
Wed Jan 28 18:03:13 EST 2004


 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org 
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of André
> Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2004 2:36 AM
> To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> Subject: [mythtv-users] Computer needed for myth using a PVR350
> 
> Hey everyone, I am in the process of putting together my 
> first working PVR and I have settled on using myth for it. 
> But I have a few questions about what kind of hardware I need 
> besides my Haupaugge PVR350. What is the minimin CPU 
> rrequirements? Memory? and such...  Considering that the 350 
> will do all the heavy lifting with compressing and 
> decompressing video will it suffice with a low end PII och 
> perhaps a Celerin or will it require a PIII+ CPU?
> And one other thing, is the OSD displayed on the TV using the 
> 350s TV Out?
> 
> Thanks in advance for helping out a PVR newb.
> 


I'm using a PVR350 with a Celeron 850 on an Intel board and 256M of RAM.  It works fine, although the video/audio skips when bouncing around in the EPG.  Also, it crashes (which I believe is more of ivtv thing) if I leave live TV on overnight and let XMLTV do it's updates.  Day to day, it works fine. People are using 350's with EPIA boards with M10000 processors, and I'd say it's doable.

On an older P2, I cannot be sure because I haven't done it myself.

The OSD is displayed via your normal video card TVOut when decoding, unless you use the 350's TV out with the ivtv drivers. I got it to go for a while (as in, about an hour before hang), but there's still some immaturity in the drivers.  It will get there, believe me, just not quite there.  I would recommend as a newbie you start with standard video out and an Nvidia card--they are cheap, lots of experience out there to support you, and many have that sort of configuration going well.

I recommend, if you have something like a PII-450 or something lying about, get the 350, give it a whirl, and see. If it's not enough, upgrade your hardware then. This is how I get myself started in MythTV.  Next up for me is indeed a MB/CPU/Memory upgrade. It won't cost you much, and going through the process of installing more than once will help greatly in understanding this.  

Steve


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