Nova-t usb2 + pvr 350 + mini itx tv out ??? (confused :-) ).

[fishslice]

Right,
So i'm building an Epia SP1300 (1.3gig) based PVR with gbpvr.
I plan to use the Nova-T usb2 to get the freeview channels as I see its supported. One question I can't find the answer to is whether it has an mpeg2 encoder on it, or whether I'd need one. Don't the freeview/sky digital channels stream in mpeg2 anyway ? If they don't would the usb2 have an encoder on it to cope with that ? (obviously I would prefer to have an encoder to it since its not an overly powerfull box), or should I just go with the Nova-T PCI version ?

Also, does anyone know how well the svidio out on the mini-itx's perform ? or would I be better going for something like the PVR350 (or AIW) etc to get a better tv-out ?

Obviously, since its mini-itx, I'm limited on PCI usage. So basically should I get either:
Option a) Nova-T USB2 + PVR350 thing for tv-out ?
or option b) Nova-T PCI and use onboard tv-out ?


Many Thanks
Si.

[sub]

The Nova-T doesnt need an MPEG2 encoder, as the DVB broadcasts are already encoded as MPEG2.

Be aware that the PVR350's TV out has stability problems for many people.

[hasso]

Also, does anyone know how well the svidio out on the mini-itx's perform ? or would I be better going for something like the PVR350 (or AIW) etc to get a better tv-out ?

Well,
I used to use an M10000, but I believe the video-out is still the same as the 13000. I did not like the video-out. The quality isn't that bad, but I was never able to get rid of the black border around the picture, and if you used overscan, it really overscanned, cutting off the picture around the edges. The picture was either too little or too big... never 'just right'. I also used the PVR350 with this box and the picture quality is excellent (MUCH better than the M10000 video-out), but as sub indicated, there is a stability problem with the card if used for watching live TV. Sooner (mostly) or later it would always freeze the computer when changing channels or exiting to the main menu. It's fine when used for recording or playback.

[fishslice]

Great, thanks for the help guys.

So, essentially, if all I want is to record from freeview and playback recorded mgp2s (or whatever else format I save them into, mg4 etc) shows then the mini-itx platform should be fine ?

I don't need multiple tuners, or liveTV etc etc. Thanks chaps.

Si.

[cameluk]

Used to use a M10000 with a PVR-350 and as stated stability left a lot to be desired and the M10000 was a little slow in the GBPVR menus. Changed my motherboard for a microATX with a non VIA chipset, and the PVR-350 has worked perfectly ever since, no lockups in live TV etc.

[angryant]

Hi Fishslice,

A word of warning, I have attempted this combination of running both a Nova-T-USB2 and a PVR-350 in the same box and had driver hell and eventually gave up, I tried a lot of sequences of installing and uninstalling devices and eventually settled on installing the Nova-T software/drivers first and then the PVR-350. However once installed, you can only have one of the WinTV programs, the other will crash on load. No big deal as you use GBPVR for everything, except that a bug in GBPVR (or the hauppauge drivers?) means that I need to load the WinTV software once after each reboot to make sure S-Video input source is correctly selected rather than composite otherwise I have a black and white picture in GB-PVR even though the S-video source is selected in the GB-PVR config.

Also, you will NOT be able to make the Nova-T-USB2 output via the PVR-350's TV out. The PVR-350 will only output it's own signal or a signal from the computer (not sure about LiveTV mode via gbpvr.. it didn't seem to be able to use both devices). The only way you're going to get TV output off that Nova-T is via your Graphics Card TV-Out. Personally I find the TV-Out performance of the PVR-350 to be terrible and much prefer using my ATI Radeon graphics card TV-Out. Shows recorded from the Nova-T are perfect and look fantastic played back through the TV out. Shows recorded via the analogue capture on the PVR-350 are pretty decent too as long as you use S-Video. I do get some ghosting (s-video signal feedback) on my PVR-350 which may well be due to many strong s-video and rgb signal bouncing around in the cable mess behind my TV.

Anyway, my 2 cents. I only spent a few days fiddling with this combination and gave up and moved the Nova-T-USB2 to a different machine.. perhaps I'm wrong and you can get the Nova-T-USB2 to use the PVR-350's output via Live TV mode.. maybe someone else has the definitive answer on that one..

[sub]

perhaps I'm wrong and you can get the Nova-T-USB2 to use the PVR-350's output via Live TV mode.. maybe someone else has the definitive answer on that one..

I'm fairly sure this works.