On Tue, 22 Apr 2003, Alan Cox wrote: > > Recording TV normally needs a hardware encoder I believe, > > I think you are looking at 250pounds for an analogue encoder > > Excessive. > EPIA-M has hardware mpeg2 engines for playback but not yet full Linux > support for them. If that is fixed my guess is that the ideal combination > becomes an EPIA-M with a WinTV PVR 250 or a free to air digital tv card. > That would give you hardware mpeg2 all around. OpenSource Linux driver for all PVR250/350 models that we know of: http://ivtv.sourceforge.net It's fairly stable, but probably needs a review. It'll compile for all 2.4 kernels >= 2.4.19 if you put a current copy of videodev2.h in the compilation directory or patch your kernel for V4L2 support. The PVR350 model support hardware decoding, but while the chips support 5.1, the Hauppauge boards are only wired for stereo sound, so you may wish to explore other decoding options. I've seen OEM em8300 boards for $12. RAW (YUV/PCM) video/audio support is now possible, but it'll take some coding work. The WinTV PVR 250 MSRP's in the US for US$150 although it can be had for US$100 on promotion from time to time. The PVR 350, which includes hardware decoding to its own TV-out is MSRP'd at US$250, but I've seen it regularly priced at about US$200. Note! Be careful where you buy these boards. There are regional differences! If you're very lucky the worst you'll need to do is swap the tuner can. More likely, the stereo processor will be incompatible. If you're interested in the EPIA option, you may wish to check out http://www.solarpc.com, it looks like he's got an EPIA/PVR250 bundle. John
