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Date:      Sat, 25 Mar 2006 15:49:34 -0500
From:      Nicolas Blais <nb_root@videotron.ca>
To:        Joe Auty <joe@netmusician.org>
Cc:        freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: homemade PVR questions
Message-ID:  <200603251549.34278.nb_root@videotron.ca>
In-Reply-To: <B9D5D438-06CD-470F-8FC1-53A9179C3E0F@netmusician.org>
References:  <063104E3-F7FA-4260-92F9-9A75D3B9C874@netmusician.org> <200603251533.54375.nb_root@videotron.ca> <B9D5D438-06CD-470F-8FC1-53A9179C3E0F@netmusician.org>

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On Saturday 25 March 2006 15:41, Joe Auty wrote:
> On Mar 25, 2006, at 3:33 PM, Nicolas Blais wrote:
> > On Saturday 25 March 2006 15:07, Joe Auty wrote:
> >> Hello,
> >>
> >>
> >> I'm just getting ready to setup a PVR for myself on my FreeBSD
> >> machine, but I thought I would run by my plans with you guys first
> >> just to ensure that this will work.
> >>
> >> I have a satellite signal (Bell ExpressVu), it comes with a set-top
> >> box that inputs and outputs a coax signal. I'm looking at the
> >> Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250 and using the driver for this provided in the
> >> ports tree with MythTV.
> >>
> >> Really, all I need this for is recording TV shows just like we used
> >> to use a VCR for. If I can schedule, record, save to a directory,
> >> I'll pick up this Hauppauge card.
> >>
> >> Are there minimal requirements for the video and sound cards, or is
> >> all of this handled by the Hauppauge card? Any experiences doing
> >> something similar to what I'm doing? Any general advice?
> >>
> >>
> >> Thanks!
> >
> > Hi, what you wish to attempt is possible, here's my experience:
> >
> > I have a WinTV card and I can record with transcode (also possible
> > with
> > mencoder) but the problem is that whenever bktr (the wintv driver)
> > is opened
> > for read, the TV audio that is fed from my WinTV to my sound card thru
> > the "line in" port is heard.
> >
> > That means that I can record a show (audio/video) correctly, but at
> > the cost
> > of hearing the audio while it is recording. Obviously annoying
> > unless I turn
> > off my speakers, and I haven't found a way around (playing with
> > mixer to turn
> > down the volume obviously turns down the recorded volume too).
> >
> > Playing with the WinTV in FreeBSD is tricky, but usually one can
> > fiddle around
> > to make it work. Post your experiences in the FreeBSD-Multimedia
> > list if you
> > ever attempt your project.
>
> Well, I won't be using this setup to do any live recording at all,
> just recording stuff overnight on a machine that I usually just
> access over SSH. Sounds like your issue won't be an issue for me =3D)
>
> Do I need to have a minimal sound/video card configuration for this
> to work, or is everything handled on the card already? Would you
> recommend using transcode, mencoder, or MythTV to schedule recordings
> like I plan to do?
>

There isn't really a minimum sound/video configuration. Also, if you're onl=
y=20
recording the output of the wintv and not displaying it, the video card won=
't=20
even care you're recording a show. Your sound card usually must have a=20
line-in port (or internal line-in).

Like I said, I use transcode or mencoder, but never tried MythTV. I schedul=
e=20
my recording using the 'at' command (see 'man at') and let cron do its stuf=
f.=20
Note that the 'atrun' command which is run by cron, is set to check jobs=20
every 5 minutes, see /etc/crontab to change this. I wouldn't suggest gettin=
g=20
below 5 minutes as this could slowdown your system, but instead start and e=
nd=20
your recording job 5 minutes earlier and later.

Hope this is of use to you,

Nicolas.

=2D-=20
=46reeBSD 7.0-CURRENT #13: Sat Mar 25 09:45:35 EST 2006    =20
root@clk01a:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/CLK01A=20
PGP? : http://www.clkroot.net/security/nb_root.asc

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