[mythtv-users] Re: How slow can we go, cpu wise? P2-333?

[Andrew Lynch]

mindfuq at fairfieldi.com wrote

> I am going to make a webpage documenting this
install
> as it was a lot of fun.

I think it's important to note that your capture card
has an MPEG-2
chip.  So are you using it to capture your content, or
are you using
your CPU to crunch video into MPEG-4?  I'm guessing
the ladder,
because I would expect you to be capable of capturing
at a higher
resolution if you used your hardware encoder.





Hi,
I am using just a plain frame grabber bttv bt878 card.
 Transcoding to MPEG4 has been almost silly its so
slow.  It started a transcode of a 30 minute show and
24 hours later it was STILL working on it.  

I think adding an MPEG2 encoder would definitely
increase performance as would an NVidia card but then
it wouldn't be practically free anymore.  A decent
PVR-250 on special dealnews is $100 and an NVidia card
is $40.  A PVR-350 is an easy $150.  Add any of those
to practically ANY computer and you'd get decent
performance.

I am setting up a webpage for the Low End MythTV users
I have already found 2 other webpages of really what I
would consider Low End MythTV machines.  Preferably, I
like to focus on machines that are rescued from the
trash and are essentially free.  I'd place the
practical upper limit at 400MHz CPU and anything above
that, especially with NVidia and/or ivtv cards is no
longer low end because it represents a significant
investment (over $100).

I think its a shame that a lot of computers now are
literally being thrown in the trash when some of those
could be reused as PVRs with a little TLC.  Maybe if
the "LowEnders" gathered up their experience it
wouldn't be so daunting to others.

I have another medium grade NTSC MythTV box at home I
use with 2 PVR-250's, NVidia, LVM and all that for
HTPC.  I just like experimenting with the old ones and
finding good uses for them.

(like www.freesco.org)

Thanks!

Andrew Lynch