> Hi, > I'm new to this PVR lark, although I have been using an EPIA > min-ITX box as > a Divx/DVD player using geexbox for a year or two. > > I hope this list is OK for asking relative newbie questions - > please point > me elsewhere if it's not the right spot. I would not count my self as an expert but never the less this list is for VDR specific topics. > I want to add DVB-T reception to my media box, and ideally > have it replace > the video recorder too, but it remains to be seen if it has > sufficient welly. > > A fair amount of net-wandering suggests that the Hauppage > winTV USB and USB2 > cards are both suported but they use different chipsets - is > that right? Any > pros and cons between them? My gut feeling is that the USB2 > should be better > as the interface to it is faster, but the hauppage specs say > that the older > card needs a 500Mhz host, whilst the newer one needs a 1Ghz > host. Does the > newer one really need more from its host, or this just an > effect of the > (windowsa) software they supply? Also I can find a lot more > docs for the > older device - is the new one a bad idea at this stage? > > My box is very slow (and thus silent) - it's an EPIA 800Mhz > box, too old to > have built in MPEG deconding. It plays divxs fine, but > glitches slightly > playing Full-res DVDs. I think adding a hollywood + PCI card > will help it do > playback with less load, and is the only chance of it being > able to play > something whilst recording something else. But that will fill > its only PCI > slot, which is why I am considering USB for the TV input. > Does this make > sense, or should I forget trying to play and record at the > same time and > just put in a PCI winTV card? > > I could upgrade the box to use an M10,000 motherboard and an > internal DVB-T > card instead but that's best part of 100 quid more expensive, > so I'm hoping > to get away with it. TV quality is not too important, so long > as it's not much > worse than a VCR, that's fine. My VDR box is a PIII 600MHz and can record several channels at the same time while I am watching some live channel or a previous recording. It is quite normal that 3 to 5 simultaneous recordings takes place. I have two DVB cards which is practically all I need because the channels I record from are on two muxes. > Also, is there a distro like geexbox which boots up quickly > to PVR mode, > with everything controlled through the OSD? I would recommend using google (or what ever search site) for more info on linux vdr. I.e. linvdr is a such distro you seek for. http://www.linvdr.org/ There is also english documentation (http://linvdr.org/projects/linvdr/index.en.php) VDR Home: http://www.cadsoft.de/vdr/ > > TIA > > Wookey \\Kartsa
