[mythtv-users] Running Dual pcHDTV cards

[John Finlay]

On 2/8/11 9:09 AM, Ben Kamen wrote:
> I've been mostly running my system with one of the cards not 
> configured in the system for Myth.
>
> I recently added it in and now when the system records 2 shows, it 
> seems to record one card's channels just fine (I think) while the 
> other show is a blocky mess of broken audio. I wasn't watching TV 
> while these recorded.
>
> My System is a Pentium 4 HT (3GHz) with 2GB of memory.
> nVidia GeForce FX5200
> (3) HDisks, sda=300GB, sdb=250GB, sdc=250GB, sdd=dvd-rom
>
> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 
> 5200] (rev a1)
> 02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. 
> RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
> 02:04.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC15 
> MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
> 02:05.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. 
> CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05)
> 02:05.1 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 
> PCI Video and Audio Decoder [Audio Port] (rev 05)
> 02:05.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 
> PCI Video and Audio Decoder [MPEG Port] (rev 05)
> 02:05.4 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 
> PCI Video and Audio Decoder [IR Port] (rev 05)
> 02:06.0 Multimedia video controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. 
> CX23880/1/2/3 PCI Video and Audio Decoder (rev 05)
> 02:06.2 Multimedia controller: Conexant Systems, Inc. CX23880/1/2/3 
> PCI Video and Audio Decoder [MPEG Port] (rev 05)
>
> I do have UDEV set to assign the cards to the same /dev/ locations 
> every time.
>
> I'm wondering if this system is too slow to record 2 HDtv streams. 
> (they are OTA stations in HD over comcast cable)
> Hard disk bog? CPU Slog? Video Card Conflict?
>
> What's a good test besides just setting up to record two shows and 
> watching "top"?
>
>  -Ben
I used to run 2 pcHDTV cards (since swapped one out for a PVR-150) on my 
BE with an HDHR and all running at the same time without any problems. I 
have 2GB memory and 3 HDs and an Athlon 64 X2 5600. My recollection is 
that the CPU usage  for recording was low but the disk usage was high 
though nicely spread across the three disks.

Things to try: check that both recording channels inputs have  good 
signal, try swapping the card locations, try recording on just the 
"problem" card, check that the recordings are going to different HDs.

John