Simple HDTV viewer?

[Laura Conrad]

>>>>> "Scott" == Scott Ehrlich <scott-DPNOqEs/LNQ at public.gmane.org> writes:

    Scott> I have a 64-bit AMD system with USB2.0 and I just received my WinTV
    Scott> HVR 950 Hauppauge tuner.   I'd heard so much about MythTV, that I
    Scott> opted to try and configure it on my system.  I quickly came to the
    Scott> conclusion it is too much for what I want to do.

I don't think it's too many features; I just think it's too hard to
configure, at least on my current video card.

    Scott> I'd be very happy to have an Xterm-size application read
    Scott> the CATV info from the stick and let me channel-surf cable
    Scott> and/or HD channels in a simple app.

I think if somebody wrote "mplayer: The Missing Manual", it might turn
out to be exactly what you want.  I spent a good part of the weekend
trying to read what they have instead, and I can't write it for you.

    Scott> This will also give me a chance to see if a simple setup (Compaq
    Scott> Presario with ATI Radeon 200m video card) can work - with video and
    Scott> audio.   If so, I'd then try it on an older Compaq Armada M700 with
    Scott> USB 1 (I'd get a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card).

I got a pchdtv 3500 a for my desktop a couple of weeks ago.  I have
failed to install mythtv on the desktop.  The frontend seems to do its
thing on the laptop, but there's no way to either watch or record
shows without changing some options on the desktop, and I can't make
that interface work at the right screen resolution to let me get to
the options.

I have a theory that I might do better with freevo, which has a sane
configuration interface where you edit text files with the editor of
your choice.  But I haven't yet tested this theory in the real world.

However, watching hdtv with the command line options works pretty
well for the video.

But I have yet to see hdtv with the video and audio in sync on my
system with AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, ATI Technologies Inc
IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller, and ATI Technologies Inc RS480
[Radeon Xpress 200G Series], and a pchdtv 3500 video card.  I'm
willing to believe that some of the mplayer options I don't understand
might achieve that.

    Scott> What are people's insights/experiences with the above?  I'd
    Scott> like to not have to rely on Windows for my HD viewing, and
    Scott> I have no plans to replace any existing tvs.  This can also
    Scott> give me the chance to bring the stick to friends and family
    Scott> and maybe bring my laptop with me and show people what is
    Scott> capable - if I can get it to work at home!

I spent a lot of the weekend watching tennis with the sound and snowy
video from my 20 year old analog TV, and actually being able to see
the balls and the lines on my laptop, with the hdtv being streamed
from the desktop via azap, dvbstream, and mplayer.  The picture was
gorgeous, but the only video driver that really worked right for
showing tennis balls and tennis players on the laptop did the picture
sizing wrong, so I had to look at the snowy analog screen to see the
score that they put in the lower left corner.

And the hdtv video was always a few seconds behind the analog video
and sound, so you didn't get the satisfying bounce sounds in sync with
what the ball was doing.

(The good thing about this method was that instead of watching the
Mcenroe American Express commercial for the 700th time, you minimized
the tv window, and read more mplayer documentation, or tried out a
different -vo option.)

    Scott> I am running Ubuntu Feisty on the desktop - as my main
    Scott> system, I have no plans to reinstall it.

    Scott> But I can install any distro on the laptop - it is my
    Scott> testbed.

My experience is with Ubuntu Feisty; I don't see any reason to believe
that a different distribution would produce any different results.  I
too would be reluctant to reinstall the desktop, but could put
anything that would also run firefox and emacs on the laptop.

Anyway, I don't know how much better the Windows software for watching
TV is, but the Linux stuff has a ways to go to catch up with the
dedicated hardware with the buttons preprogrammed for you.

-- 
Laura (mailto:lconrad-O0WJhd4tT3hg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org , http://www.laymusic.org/ )
(617) 661-8097	fax: (501) 641-5011
233 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139

-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.