$40 difference spread over a year isn't really much, especially when you're looking at the difference in functionality.
HTPC is all together, (pics added in first post!)
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$40 difference spread over a year isn't really much, especially when you're looking at the difference in functionality.
Sabz5150
FALCON PUNCH!!!
man i wish i could pick up two. but i have a hauppage 150 now. and since i only have 1 front end for now, i really only need more than 1 card. i still dont understand how you can get HD without paying the cable company though. i mean what HD channels are free and unscrambled?
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Sabz5150
FALCON PUNCH!!!
The tuner does good ol NTSC analog (apparently sans an MPEG encoder
), plus ATSC over the air HD channels and QAM, which is digital cable which you almost always need a cable box to get. This tuner allows you to record those high up channels without needing a cable box. Since both ATSC and QAM are for the most part MPEG2 streams, the decoder isn't needed.What I intend to do for the moment is put these alongside the 150's and have them only tune in the ATSC channels (no digicable yet) and leave the analog stuff to the Haup's since they have mpeg encoding. So a single Haup and this will be a nice combination. for your needs
Sabz5150
FALCON PUNCH!!!
Let me also put out there that these do not allow you to steal cable in any fashion. If your order digital cable, these will let you Myth 'em without needing umpteen cable boxes, which is a whole 'nother can of worms to get working. ATSC channels are all free, these are broadcast like normal terrestrial channels, but you will have odd channel numbers... if you have a channel 6 out there, then you will probably have channels 6-1, 6-2, and maybe 6-3. Those are all ATSC and usually in high def, depending on the show.
If your cable company offers HD programming, these tuners should be able to handle it as well, given that your cable co doesn't encrypt the QAM stream.
If your cable company offers HD programming, these tuners should be able to handle it as well, given that your cable co doesn't encrypt the QAM stream.
so to get the ATSC channels you HAVE to have an antenna? or do those come through the coax? see, my apartment is pre hooked up with cable (i have everything included in my rent, cable, internet, water, elect etc) but i believe its direct TV satellite. but it acts just like cable, in that i dont have a box for every room, just a coax hookup in the wall. do you think there would be any other channels i could access?
well id assume that they have some kind of "satellite box" behind the scenes somewhere. as you can hook a TV straight into the wall and it works just like cable. only the signal will go out if the weather is bad and a direct TV screen comes up. but i flip through the channels with the TV not a box.
the Hauppage card works on it, and pretty much sees just lik cable, so id assume this card will work too. im not going to use it for regular cable channels because of the lack of an MPEG-2 encoder like you mentioned, but i may keep it for later when i have some digital channels that i can use. if anything else i could resell it
but im still confused about QAM. thats digital cable right? but dont all companies encrypt the stream? so what use is having the ability to watch unencrypted QAM if you still have to pay more money for digital service (and a box to decrypt it)?
the Hauppage card works on it, and pretty much sees just lik cable, so id assume this card will work too. im not going to use it for regular cable channels because of the lack of an MPEG-2 encoder like you mentioned, but i may keep it for later when i have some digital channels that i can use. if anything else i could resell it
but im still confused about QAM. thats digital cable right? but dont all companies encrypt the stream? so what use is having the ability to watch unencrypted QAM if you still have to pay more money for digital service (and a box to decrypt it)?
ok well the MB and the BTX module came in so i could finally get it all put together. holy HELL is it all a tight fit. and the thermal module is way bigger than i thought it would be. (ill get pics to show) but im having a little problem. sometimes when i start up the computer, it wont display anything on the screen. it turns on and then nothing happens. but sometimes i turn it on and it boots up fine. well my vid card says it requires a 300W PSU min. but my PSU is only 275. i took the vid card out and it seemed to start up fine, but then i put it back in and it started up fine again. does this sound like the PSU is the issue? ive been looking to see if i can find a higher watt PSU for this case but i cant find anything.
any google search gurus want to try their luck at finding one? needs to be 300W +, and has to fit the Aopen b200 case. some sites claim it has a 300W, but they are wrong, cause in the description it will say 275 even if the title says 300.
personally i really dont see why the vid card is giving me problems. its not THAT powerful of a card. its the EVGA 7300GT. and im running bare min peripherals on my system. only things with power are the following: 1x 40 GB WD HDD via Legacy power connector, 1x Samsung DVD-R via SATA power connector, and the 24 pin MB power with 4 pin CPU connector). the vid card isnt even pulling any extra power, should it be maxed out?
any google search gurus want to try their luck at finding one? needs to be 300W +, and has to fit the Aopen b200 case. some sites claim it has a 300W, but they are wrong, cause in the description it will say 275 even if the title says 300.
personally i really dont see why the vid card is giving me problems. its not THAT powerful of a card. its the EVGA 7300GT. and im running bare min peripherals on my system. only things with power are the following: 1x 40 GB WD HDD via Legacy power connector, 1x Samsung DVD-R via SATA power connector, and the 24 pin MB power with 4 pin CPU connector). the vid card isnt even pulling any extra power, should it be maxed out?
well, mythtv is setup via mythbuntu 7.10. backend/frontend combo with all the disk space etc.
im having a few issues right now though.
1. setting a static IP on the backend is not working. the backend is wireless. and using anything other than the DHCP doesnt work. i dont know why. i setup manual network configuration and have all the settings correct, but somehow it just doesnt take.
2. i have 4 or 5 full DVD rips (Video_TS folder/files) on my windows HD in the backend (its dual boot for now with seperate hard drives for windows and mythtv. how do i go about getting the files from the windows HD onto the linux HD in the proper directory?
im having a few issues right now though.
1. setting a static IP on the backend is not working. the backend is wireless. and using anything other than the DHCP doesnt work. i dont know why. i setup manual network configuration and have all the settings correct, but somehow it just doesnt take.
2. i have 4 or 5 full DVD rips (Video_TS folder/files) on my windows HD in the backend (its dual boot for now with seperate hard drives for windows and mythtv. how do i go about getting the files from the windows HD onto the linux HD in the proper directory?
Sabz5150
FALCON PUNCH!!!
Are they ISOs? If so, just drop them in a directory like /share/movies (something easy to samba and also use as a mountpoint) and point your video settings to it. You'll need MythDVD installed for this, of course.
Actually *getting* them there...
mount /dev/yourwindowspartition /mnt/floppy
cd '/mnt/floppy/Video_TS folder/files'
cp * /yourdirectoryofchoice
Thereya go.
well they arent in ISO. they are video_TS folder which contains .VOB files. do i have to have one ISO? when browsing through myth if i do
Veiw media-> view videos -> i can see the folders and browse them to see the vob files. but i dont get nice artwork and movie info like i would like. can i do this with the movie in its current format? or will i have to have them in ISO format?
i have all the plugins. so i do have mythdvd, what do i have to do with that?
and i coppied the files over using knoppix. i just mounted drives for both windows and myth and copied them from windows into my /var/lib/mythtv/videos directory. but with the files in the current format im not getting any movie info, just a boring folder with files in it.
Veiw media-> view videos -> i can see the folders and browse them to see the vob files. but i dont get nice artwork and movie info like i would like. can i do this with the movie in its current format? or will i have to have them in ISO format?
i have all the plugins. so i do have mythdvd, what do i have to do with that?
and i coppied the files over using knoppix. i just mounted drives for both windows and myth and copied them from windows into my /var/lib/mythtv/videos directory. but with the files in the current format im not getting any movie info, just a boring folder with files in it.
ok, so i kind of fixed the video issue. i turned all my saved DVD's from VIDEO_TS directories to .iso files. mythtv now recognizes them and plays them fine on the backend/frontend machine. however i cant seem to get anything to play on the remote frontend. if i go to
Media Library -> watch video
i can see my movies, but the covers from IMDB are gone, info is still there. but when i try to play them, it says that the file does not exist. does the frontend have to mount the backends /var/lib/ partition (thats where all the recordings and movie files are) to be able to watch them? on the remote frontend i have the video directory set to the default /var/lib/mythtv/videos (same as the backend/frontend) but it doesnt work on the frontend only box. if i have to mount the partition, how do i do that? and how do i make it so that the front end does that automatically?
im also having a problem where if i try to watch live tv on the frontend only box, i just get a black screen. it worked yesterday but doesnt work now. any clue?
Media Library -> watch video
i can see my movies, but the covers from IMDB are gone, info is still there. but when i try to play them, it says that the file does not exist. does the frontend have to mount the backends /var/lib/ partition (thats where all the recordings and movie files are) to be able to watch them? on the remote frontend i have the video directory set to the default /var/lib/mythtv/videos (same as the backend/frontend) but it doesnt work on the frontend only box. if i have to mount the partition, how do i do that? and how do i make it so that the front end does that automatically?
im also having a problem where if i try to watch live tv on the frontend only box, i just get a black screen. it worked yesterday but doesnt work now. any clue?
Sabz5150
FALCON PUNCH!!!
Correct. If you want to play movies on a remote frontend, the directories where the videos are stored *AND* the directory where the posters are stored must be shared.
You can do this through Samba, and for boot time mounting, set it up in your /etc/fstab.
Also, be sure to use CIFS, not SMB (i.e. mount -t cifs //server/share /mount/point') because SMB can't see files over 4GB.
Sabz5150
FALCON PUNCH!!!
ok so i want to make sure i do this right.
/media/sda3/ is the /var/lib partition
so to do what i want to do i would just add the following line to the /etc/fstab file? (is it a file? a directory? where exactly do i place this code?)
can i write the "Mythbackend"? or do i put the actual IP?
im also having trouble making the IP static. if i go under manual config, and set it up, it wont connect, even though all the info is correct. it will only work on DHCP mode (the backend is wireless)
/media/sda3/ is the /var/lib partition
so to do what i want to do i would just add the following line to the /etc/fstab file? (is it a file? a directory? where exactly do i place this code?)
Code:
mount -t cifs //MythTVBackend/share /var/libcan i write the "Mythbackend"? or do i put the actual IP?
im also having trouble making the IP static. if i go under manual config, and set it up, it wont connect, even though all the info is correct. it will only work on DHCP mode (the backend is wireless)
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