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<br><br>> Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 13:31:56 -0800<br>> From: gull@gull.us<br>> To: mythtv-users@mythtv.org<br>> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] TV tuner cards - low cost recommendations?<br>> <br>> Rod Smith wrote:<br>> > Your initial system will almost certainly be fast enough to handle a single <br>> > frame grabber (software-encoding) card, although it might struggle to keep up <br>> > with simultaneous recording and playback, and I doubt if it could handle two <br>> > cards at once. (Somebody with more experience with hardware in that range may <br>> > be better able to comment than I.)<br>> <br>> As a point of reference, I found a 2.0 GHz Celeron could just barely<br>> record and play back at the same time using a frame grabber. It<br>> couldn't really do anything else at the same time, though.<br>> <br>> I elected to go with a hardware MPEG2 card for two reasons:<br>> - My target FE/BE system was a 1 GHz Nehemiah, and it was clear it<br>> wasn't going to be able to handle software encoding.<br>> - I didn't want other processes using the CPU to interfere with encoding.<br>> <br>> I've never regretted spending the extra bucks on a hardware encoder. My<br>> secondary backend does use a frame grabber, but it's a 3 GHz P4 desktop<br>> that's only occasionally called upon to record when there are scheduling<br>> conflicts. It can software encode an MPEG4 stream and play it back<br>> simultaneously with about 50% CPU usage, but loading up the CPU too<br>> heavily with other processes will cause stuttering. I had to disable<br>> SUSE's Zen automatic updater, for example, because it was messing up my<br>> recordings. The overall video quality on the hardware MPEG2 card also<br>> seems better than on the frame grabber, but that may be luck of the draw.<br>> _______________________________________________<br>> mythtv-users mailing list<br>> mythtv-users@mythtv.org<br>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users<br><br>IMHO if you are short on cash save up and get a hardware encoder. Frame grabbers are cheaper but you get what you pay for. The quality is much better with hardware, they are easier to install (mainly because of more support/scene support) I promise you wont ever regret the extra 30-40 you spend for a PVR-150.<br><br>Good luck,<br>Mitchell<br><br /><hr />Connect to the next generation of MSN Messenger <a href='http://imagine-msn.com/messenger/launch80/default.aspx?locale=en-us&source=wlmailtagline' target='_new'>Get it now!</a></body>
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