Hi,

I've been researching Linux based PVRs for a couple of days and I'm leaning towards using KnoppMyth. Before I take the plunge into buying anything, I would like to know the answer to the following questions:

1. My understanding is that MythTV uses XMLTV to get TV schedules. How do I know if this will work for my area? I live in Toronto, Canada. If it matters, my postal code is M1T 2L3.

2. I am planning to build the machine from scratch. I may have to buy *all* the hardware since my only spare hardware is a Pentium 500 and I think it's not gonna cut it. Depending on total cost, I am planning to get the PVR-350 or maybe the PVR-250 if I can't afford the 350.

- My understanding is that the only difference between the 250 and 350 is the TVOUT and hardware decoder on the 350, is this correct?

- I want to do live tv. I think I read somewhere that the recommendation is 1GHz of CPU for each capture card but I am under the impression that this recommendation is for software-base encoding/decoding. Is that correct? If I use the 250, how much CPU power do I need? My understanding is that since the 250 only does hardware based encoding during recording, the main CPU will have to be the one to do the decoding during playback. Is that correct? The 350, on the other hand, does both the encoding and the decoding so I assume that one would need less CPU power with a 350. Is that correct? How much CPU power would I need with a 350 card?

- In the future, when I have spare cash , I plan to put in another capture card so I can record two shows at once. Will the CPU requirement change assuming that the 2nd capture card will be a 250 or similar? I just want to make sure that I won't have to upgrade the CPU just because I'm adding another capture card.


- How about memory? Does the memory recommendation/requirements change with the use of the 250 or 350?

- Motherboard. I saw mention of Asus A7N8X-VM and Chaintek 7nif2. Are these the only two that work "out of the box"? Or are there others?

TIA,

James

I am in same situation except that I live in Quebec City.

sorry can't help with this one, but I'm sure someone will pipe in.



that is correct.

that would sound about right. well for encoding only you wouldn't need much at all, but the pvr250's create mpeg2 files which require much more processing power to decode, so I would stick with the 1Ghz minimum. Yes see previous answer this is correct, however the pvr350 setup is not trivial at this time. With the 350 card since everything is handled in hardware I would imagine you could probably get away with 500-800 Mhz, but this is just speculation I have never used one, and this is assuming you can get the tvout with hardware decode working properly. I have a pvr250 with an athlon 1700+ and it takes about 2-3% processor utilization to encode.
assuming you go with pvr250/350 cards the cpu demand shouldn't go up much at all as you will still only be decoding one file at a time. See above answer for pvr250 encode cpu utilization.

I wouldn't think so.


no these are not the only two that work out of the box. these are mentioned often because they are uATX boards and it's easier to find a case that looks at home in an entertainment center with the smaller boards, plus they are both nforce2 based, and have most everything you need onboard, no need to buy seperate nic, sound card, video card.


James[/quote]

I tested your zip code and XMLTV did grab a list of various providers. So you should be good to go!

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

I live in Toronto as well and I can get listing for Rogers, Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice without a single problem.

Ns

xmltv pulls listing from www.zap2it.com for Canada/US. if you're in there you will be able to get listings. Most every part of Canada is in there I think.

I'm running my setup on a biostar m7ncg and it works quite nicely. I highly recommend the nforce2 based chipsets and the micro-atx form factor.

Chris

Hi! I'm living near Toronto myself and I'm wondering if anyone has set this up for bell expressvu successfully?

I found my tv listings on zap2it and it looks great... but I have 2 questions... where are the pay per view moive changes and must you always be hooked up to the internet to use it? I'm still on dialup

Thanks

yep yep im over here in Fredricton Newbrunswic
no problems at all with the xmltv listings
i get 2 duplicate challels tho but easy removed
so no problem im sure, tho theres windows versions of
xmltv and xmltvguide apps if you would like to test the channel listings your self to double check

_________________
Kaziya

HTPC:

Asus Motherboard A7V8X-X
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (333FSB)
256MB DDR PC2700
Nvidia Geforce 3 Ti 200
WinTV-PVR-250MCE
Logitech wireliss MXDuo (keyboard and mouse)
Ati Remote Wonder

Thanks!! Good to know. I've try the xlmtv listings and everything looks great but I can't find the PPV channels.... Do you know how to get them on the guide?

Also... what do you use to change the channels on your receiver with your pc?

humm seeing as im on cable and i dont have any ppv channels (maby 1 but i dont use it)
you can manualy add them with no info via myth-tvsetup i do beleave
and changeing channels on a revicver for satilite, i heard some things bout it possible, but i personaly dont know

_________________
Kaziya

HTPC:

Asus Motherboard A7V8X-X
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (333FSB)
256MB DDR PC2700
Nvidia Geforce 3 Ti 200
WinTV-PVR-250MCE
Logitech wireliss MXDuo (keyboard and mouse)
Ati Remote Wonder

Great! Thanks for the help!

If anyone else have info about Expressvu it would be great!

regarding the CPU speed needed...

i have a PVR350 in a compaq small form factor 866MHz box and there are no CPU speed related problems, even when recording from a source and watching a recording at the same time. load averages as reported by top are usually below .15 to .20 or so. with a PVR350 you could probably get away with a 500MHz box even. i don't see the need to get a 2GHz box if all you are going to do is use it as a Tivo. now then if you are going to transcode on the same box, that's a different story. on the rare occasion that i need to do it, i transcode on my desktop machine, not my settop box. 3.2GHz moves things along quite nicely.

my US$ 0.02 --> go for the PVR350 and get a cheap, small, cool, quiet, energy efficient sub 1GHz PC. not an expensive, big, hot, loud, power sucking 2.xGHz box.

you can get a P3 733MHz 2xPCI+AGP box for $125, eg
http://www.compusaauctions.com/cgi-bin/ ... r=42944218
or more better faster ones, eg
http://www.compusaauctions.com/cgi-bin/ ... r=32764874

jim

Great... Does anyone know what I can use to change the channels on my expressvu? I heard that myblaster might do the trick... has anyone set this up?