Subject: Re: Hardware recommendations for MythTV/FreeBSD - msg#00007

I use a pvr-250 in a "remote" pvr solution. The pvr box is headless and stores recorded shows to my large array. I tried using Myth but it just would not work well for my needs, plus parts wouldnt compile. I was using a older build and did not try the latest. Instead I switched to Freevo. The web based interface is perfect for scheduling shows and I can do playback on my workstation or xbmc.

The biggest downside is I cannot get ffmpeg, mencoder nor transcode to work well enough with the pvr-250 so I wrote a dirty little shell script to cat the cxm device to the filesystem. It works but I wish I could alter the bit rate the pvr card outputs at, 10mbit resolution creates 4gig/hr files at full NTSC size.

For the most part the pvr-250 is plug and play. Most of the tuners are supported so you should be okay. I've not fiddled with source selection, from what I gather from reply's here it seems to be hit or miss, oddly. I would guess it would work. Unless it doesnt.







On Tue, 1 Feb 2005, Adam Maloney wrote:

I'm considering building a PVR setup at home, and I have some questions...

Ultimately, I'm after TiVo-like functionality...the ability to watch/pause/30-second-skip live TV, and record shows. I am leaning towards using MythTV (but have some questions about that too)

I apologize if not all of these are 100% freebsd-related, but I'm hoping others on this list have similar setups.

First, I'm looking for recommendations on TV capture and TV-out cards. I'm strongly leaning towards the Hauppage PVR-250, since it appears to be well-supported, and I may be doing capturing on a lower-end machine that couldn't handle software encoding. And I will probably run two cards so I can watch/record simultaneously.

If I go with the Hauppage - where to buy? And do I need to pay attention to a particular hardware revision or if I buy the "PVR-250" will it just work?

How about a source for remotes that will work with FreeBSD and MythTV?

I have a K6-2/350MHz machine laying around. Is it fast enough, with the right TV-out card, to be used as the feed for the TV? That is, reading and decoding the recorded video from the Hauppage? How about with MythTV's picture-in-picture feature (that is, decoding 2 streams, right?) If not, my workstation is an AMD Athlon XP 1700+, but I'd have to run coax upstairs...or buy another machine.

Does MythTV work well under FreeBSD? I like what I'm reading about it, but the documentation is very linux-centric. I haven't found a lot of information on running it under BSD. There was a similar project I was reading about the other day, but I forgot the name...is Myth the best option?

I have what I consider 3 "sources" that feed picture into my TV - an Apex DVD player, analog cable, and a Gamecube. The TV has an RF input for cable/antenna, and AV (RCA) inputs. With my PVR box in the picture, how would this all fit together? Can I tell the Apex to output on channel 3, and the TV-out card to output on channel 4, and then multiplex both signals onto the RF-in on the TV? (And then the GC on A/V)

Currently the cable plugs into RF-in (cable-ready TV, no cable box), and I (well, the wifey) manually switch the AV jacks between the GC and the DVD player.

If I connect the Apex into one of the PVR cards, can I feed through that way? I'm not interested in recording DVD's...I just want this to work. Will the tuner card not work because of Macrovision? (This isn't one of the "good" Apexes (Apexi?))

I appreciate any pointers!
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