[pvrusb2] Any rumors on a new h/w version of HVR-1950 being released?

[Mike Isely]

On Tue, 5 May 2009, storkus at storkus.com wrote:

> I've been on the mailing list and haven't read much besides the subject
> line for a long time now (months), but this is something I just had to
> reply to!
> 
> On Mon, 04 May 2009 20:29:04 -0800, "Roger" <rogerx at sdf.lonestar.org>
> said:
> > Any rumors on a new hardware version of the HVR-1950 being released?
> 
> OMG I hope not, we just got this one working decent (although still w/o
> FM support AFAIK, but that's no big deal (again IMHO)).
> 
> > (... looks like I've waited long enough and may take the plunge on
> > getting one of these within the next week or so.)
> 
> Funny you say that, I'm debating selling mine--I'm finding the boob tube
> isn't holding my interest much anymore. :(
> 
> > And, does anybody know if mplayer can play the live stream on a Intel P3
> > CPU after using mplayer's hacks to resize the video before streaming?
> 
> Here's the main reason for responding here: I had a project (in limbo
> since I lost interest) of trying to get Myth* working on an old desktop
> computer.  The machine in question is a P4 1.4 GHz with (I think) 392 MB
> of RAM and an ATI RAGE 128 video card and a PCI USB 2.0 card (the
> machine came with USB 1.1 which of course isn't enough).  With those
> specs:
> 
> NTSC (analog) works great;
> ATSC (digital) standard definition is ok, though stumbles on occasion
> depending if there's HD on the stream;
> ATSC high definition does not work.
> 
> This is all through the internal video.  I never got Myth* working
> enough to get it to act like a server.

For server-side MythTV you need decent I/O.  Video rendering won't 
matter (that's a front end task of course).  If you are not using a 
hardware-encoding capture card, then you'll still need a lot of CPU to 
do the capture side.  If you're using a pvrusb2-driven device for the 
capture, then the CPU requirements for capture are negligible.  I'm sure 
none of that is news for you.

I have a backend system set up here which uses a pair of 1.4GHz Athlon 
processors dating from 2001 in a Tyan Tiger motherboard.  The capture 
side is all ATSC, and I have a Promise TX-4 SATA controller handling a 
RAID array for program storage.  The system never breaks a sweat.  The 
dual-processor rig was because it was essentially garbage picked (I 
wanted all the PCI slots which unfortunately is not that common these 
days).  I think a single 1.4GHz Athlon would have still worked fine.


> 
> ("Myth*" == MythTV and/or MythBUNTU; the latter is an even bigger
> headache than the former alone!)
> 
> > (I already know it requires a fast CPU for playing hi-def.)
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Roger
> > http://rogerx.freeshell.org
> 
> BTW Mike, sorry I never got back with you on or off list.  I really need
> to take the new drivers for a spin one of these days to see if those
> problems all those months ago are gone.  I think I speak for everyone
> when we say we really appreciate what driver guys do: too much work and
> not enough respect!

No problem with not getting back to me.  Given my own track record, how 
could I say otherwise? :-)

  -Mike

-- 

Mike Isely
isely @ isely (dot) net
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