[linux-dvb] about to buy a FusionHDTV5 Gold Plus card

[jignesh at jignesh.is-a-geek.net]

> I think you might be okay if all you were doing on this machine would be 
> recording.  However, the machine that you describe just wont have enough 
> power to decode and display a 1080i stream.
> 
> DViCO's windows driver allows for DxVA acceleration using the FusionHDTV 
> card in conjunction with an ATI Video board, and it claims to do the job 
> well on a pIII about the same speed as your machine.  Unfortunately, 
> there is no such animal as DxVA in linux, thus, your machine will not be 
> able to handle it.

Yeah, I was reading the specs on DViCO's website and they mentioned that 
having a P-III 800Mhz with only a 128MB of RAM would suffice if you happen 
to have a video card with DxVA.  (what's the story with DirectX Video 
acceleration?  Will it never be supported under linux due to closed 
Mickey$oft standards?)

> 
> Mac Michaels, the author of the frontend driver for the FusionHDTV ATSC 
> devices, has himself stated that he cannot watch a steady stream on his 
> pIV at 1080i resolution.  OTOH, he had good experiences with 720p and 480i.
> 
> I have been testing various DVB cards on my pIV box, Hyperthreading 3.06 
> GHz, with no problems...  But I am not sure what the minimum processor 
> is to be able to decode a steady 1080i ts in linux.
> 
> About interfacing with your television.... Just pick up a new video 
> board.  Get one with a DVI output.... They usually sell the newer cards 
> nowadays with both VGA and DVI outputs.  There are converters from DVI 
> to component video available at all sorts of stored... Radio Shack is 
> the first to come to mind.  MicroCenter is another good one.  (google 
> microcenter -- this is a great place for gadgets and connectors, etc)

Yeah, we have a microcenter around here.  I can take a look to see what my 
options are.  I may even be able to get my hands on an old AGP ATI Radeon, 
but again, the problem is that the system in question doesn't have an AGP 
port.   But now with Todd's suggestion of having a two tiered 
frontend/backend setup, I maybe able to get something going.  (However, of 
course, it still defeats my original intentions of not wanting to have two 
machines up and running 24x7.  Would like to conserve as much power as I 
can).


> 
> I hope this info helps.
> 

I sure does.  Thanks.


> -Michael Krufky
> 

-Jig