card and monitor recommendations

cmac

Hello All,
I've been running mythtv boxes for years now but have been out of the IT loop for a while and have not had time to keep up with all the discussions about digital tv.
It seems like it's time to build the latest mythtv system and I'm looking for recommendations for TV cards and monitors for the new system.
I'd prefer to stay away from the stb arena and keep the whole system contained within one case and would also very much like to use a good monitor rather than a tv set. (I understand from reading that any monitor that can handle 75Hz should suffice).
All solutions considered at this point in the project.

watty

Use 2 x DVB-S2 PCI cards for Satellite and a Dual tuner USB stick for DTT for a full combo PVR.

Do check the Linux wikis for 100% compatibility before purchase.
You ideally need 1920 x 1080 p 50Hz screen. Anything else is inferior. The Screen can be 100Hz internal mode as long as input is 50Hz/50FPS

So Graphics card with onboard HDMI 1.3 (Audio and HDCP) to feed a real 50Hz HDTV. many PC monitors Frame rate convert to 60Hz internally. That makes European rather than US TV look rubbish.
In theory 1920x1080i25/50 is better for all HD broadcast. But PC can't upscale the SD 576i unless it's de-interlaced and the 1920 x 1080 then needs to be progressive.

Only very basic embrionic Linux info here http://www.techtir.ie/node/1003625
but DOES have the important Linux links.

The Asus version Nvidia GeForce 210 seems a good choice for Graphics card (if Linux compatible). No fan. You only need the Cheap 512M version about €40 rather than expensive 1G Byte version. Full HD frame is less than 9Mbytes buffer.

Test all the bits with MeTv in Linux then install MythTV when all is working.

cmac

Thanks Watty, super fast reply as always :-)
Satellite isn't really of interest to us at the moment so it's internal cards for DVB-T that I'm most keen on. However, I'll have a look again at the various linux wikis for suported USB sticks. To be clear, is it DVB-T2 support that I'm looking for?
Alos, am I right in thinking that cards such as the Hauppauge HVR2200 are a waste of money because the on-board MPEG2 encoding can't be used?

watty

You only need DVB-T2 for UK "Freeview HD" reception

Unless you have cuda support or some sort of GPU H.264 AVC L4 support you need serious PC to do the codec for HD.
Decoding RTE2HD All HDMI 1920x1080p50
2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Xp 32bit (Software Codec only, CoreAVC) = 30% CPU
With X1950 in HW mode does 10% but GFX driver crashes after a few minutes.

Atom Netboook XP 32bit with Nvidia Ion (GPU decoder) = 9% CPU

MSI insane gamer laptop iCore5 with Win7 64bit and ATI insane gamer card (GPU decoder)
Total Media 3.5 SW mode 22%!
Total Media 3.5 HW mode 6% (GPU assistance)
Win7 media Player/Centre 10% approx.
All same quality.

1.8GHz P4M with GeForce 440 Go 1600x1200
SD OK, Can't do HD, about 2 to 5fps

AMD64 Athlon 3700+ 32bit XP 1920x1080p50 on VGA and HDMI modes CoreAVC and Cyberlink H.264 tested.
tested X1600, Geforce 6800, X1950
Best is 1920x1080p50 on VGA X1600. about 80% to 99% CPU. Occasional dropped Frames on HD, SD perfect.
X1950 no better
Nvidia Geforce 6800 slower.
MP10 playback of recorded as-is Transport stream is best. So suspect W7 might be better.
VLC and FFdshow unusable for HD and poor on SD.

My DTT stick isn't Linux compatible.
The Satellite cards are erratic in Ubuntu on AMD64 Athlon 3700+

Note that 64bit OS will be slower than 32bit for media and have less drivers.

Note that FFDshow, VLC etc on Windows about x4 CPU than CoreAVC or Cyberlink H.264 with basic "HW" support on ATI X1600 or X1950

A suitable Linux supported H.264 L4 GFX/GPU is mandatory really for HD reception.

For DTT a dual DVB USB2.0 stick definately better route than a card.

Reading up on stuff the ATI cards seem more optimised for gaming and Nvidia GPU seems to be more stable H.264 support.

cmac

watty wrote: »

You only need DVB-T2 for UK "Freeview HD" reception

Ah, that give me more options ;-)

A suitable Linux supported H.264 L4 GFX/GPU is mandatory really for HD reception.

Perfect. Any excuse for a new graphics controller.

For DTT a dual DVB USB2.0 stick definately better route than a card.

That's good to hear. The last time I researched these USB sticks they were niche and not really working very reliably. I guess the I've reached that age where the world seems to be moving along at an accelerated rate!
So much browsing so little time......