[mythtv-users] Newbie setup questions

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Sun Jul 9 01:38:14 UTC 2006


On Jul 8, 2006, at 6:39 PM, Phil wrote:

>
>>> Bummer.  Thanks for the info.  I must admit surprise considering  
>>> that
>>> NTSC-J and NTSC seem so darn close.
>>
>> I don't know why Plextor chose these particular Sony tuners.  They  
>> seem
>> quite limited, not to mention awkward to program.
>>
>>> I'm curious if you're speaking from personal experience.
>>
>> I maintain the GO7007 driver.  -Nathan
>
> Cool.  Sounds like I'm talking to the right guy.  :-)  Perhaps I can
> pepper you with two more questions.
>
> 1 - Assuming I decide on this Japanese Plextor, where might I find one
> in the US / Internet to begin messing around?
>
> 2 - Considering that I'm forced to use a USB / IEEE / or PCMCIA  
> solution
> on my laptop, can you think of any options I should consider beyond  
> this
> model?  [Your Sony comment wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement.]   
> Most
> of the supported hardware lists pertain to PCI options.

Pardon me jumping in with a personal opinion but:

The quality of Plextor gear in general and the Convert-X in  
particular is quite good. The comment about the tuner module is not  
really of direct interest to the user, except perhaps that it doesn't  
have the flexibility to do both market's channels in one unit. The  
difficulty of control is of no interest once a genius has worked out  
the driver.

The Plextor is certainly the best USB device of its type I've run  
across. It's a shame that Myth doesn't really come close to using all  
of its capabilities, as Myth only supports MPEG-4 output of the  
device. I'm not complaining mind you, Myth was quick to support the  
hardware and does so very well, and I think the unit is the only  
hardware MPEG-4 solution available with Myth.

Certainly when used with EyeTV on a Mac it has much more flexibility,  
and is one of the few units that can do hardware DiVX in multiple  
flavors (if that matters to you).

Well made, well supported and capable. The only complaint I could  
make is that, as most Plextor gear, it's a tad pricey, but I bought a  
couple of refurbed units and so negated that problem.

Price aside, you'd be hard put to find a better non-PCI solution IMHO.


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list