[mythtv-users] OT: A question on the HD-PVR and non-HD content

[john]

On Feb 19, 2009, at 12:01 AM, Yeechang Lee wrote:

> John P Poet <jppoet at gmail.com> says:
>> 1080i generally "works" now.  Recording, at least, works just fine.
>
> That's good to hear; while I know setting my cable boxes to emit 720p
> would have been fine qualitywise and VDPAU makes playing back the
> maximum bitrate a snap, it seemed a shame--as minor as it is--to
> "lose" any quality from the box when dealing with 1080i content.
>
> While on the subject, how stable would you say you and the other
> developers have gotten MythTV's HD-PVR support nowadays? The AVSForum
> Windows HD-PVR forum remains awash with tales of units that hang,
> units that need rebooting after every recording (!), etc., etc., but
> given the total lack of HD-PVR horror stories on the mythtv mailing
> lists I presume it's Windows at fault, not the HD-PVR.

I have been using two HD-PVRs to record off of a pair of Directv H20  
receivers since before the Olympics.  I probably average 2 or 3  
recordings per day using the HD-PVR.  I like tennis, so I have used  
them to record 8+ hours at a time.  During the Olympics they were  
probably recording even longer stretches.  In all that time, I have  
had to power-cycle the HD-PVR maybe a dozen times -- and most of those  
times where in the beginning to middle of summer 2008.  In the last  
six months, I have power-cycled them twice, that I can remember.

I don't use LiveTV, and that is likely where any problems would show  
up.  For recording, the HD-PVR combined with Myth is 99% solid --- for  
me.  A couple of people have complained about problems with Myth and  
the HD-PVR recently, but I have been unable to reproduce the problem.   
So, YMMV.

Myth trunk plays back the HD-PVR recordings fine, as long as you have  
a powerful enough machine.  I do have to compile myth with --disable- 
ssse3 to avoid playback segfaults.  Before 0.22 is released, Janne  
will probably do another ffmpeg re-sync with Myth, which may improve  
it even further.

When I got my first HD-PVR, I tried to use it under Windows and gave  
up pretty quickly.  I am sure the software has improved since then,  
but it was virtually unusable.  I am not surprised to hear that  
Windows users are having a hard time.  Ever since Janne finished the  
first version of the driver, it has worked very well under Linux.

I probably should mention that my HD-PVRs (first generation) are  
sensitive to the computers USB ports.  I did have some problems with  
my old 865 chipset motherboard, and had to make sure the USB port  
controller was not being used by any other device at the same time.   
All of the USB ports on my new P45 chipset motherboard seem to work  
just fine with the HD-PVRs.


John