The Skinny on the P]-[/T 350 tv-out

[frostillicus]

Well it seems to me that most people are considering either the 250 or 350, and I recommend the 350 for it's fantastic tv-out.  Here is what I have come across so far and has seemed to have worked for me.  Any additions to this list of pros/cons would be welcome.
Again just for refresher my setup is:
Epia M10000
Winxp pro
Hauppauge 350

I originally hit a snag - in the form of the TV-out from the 350.  Apparently all this tvout can do is display MPEG2 video.  Argh, no desktop, no displays, no osds etc.  The freeware GB-PVR software can display _some_ stuff, but since it's beta it crashes a lot, plus there aren't a lot of features.  In the name of science I actually purchased (this project is adding up) SageTV to have access to their beta program of version 2.  Now, with a few programmers working on it and a large group of testers they seem to be moving along nicely. I am in fact recording a movie right now.  And it recorded Tripping the Rift last night perfectly.

Anyway - just look over at the mythtv forums and do a search for '350 tvout' - apparently it's close to impossible getting it to work with the interface, tho some have reported success.  I, OTOH, don't think I could ever get it to work - just being realistic there.  

I've already backed up a few shows on DVD using the included ULEAD dvd authoring software.  Surprisingly simple.  So I'm fairly happy with my setup now, and when sagetv works the bugs out for the official release 2 I'll be all set.  I really didn't want to use $$$ software, but unfortunetaly they are the best choice right now.  

Anyone have any experiences with the 350 tv-out they want to share?  I'm also looking for other/better/faster/stronger solutions.

PS - why are my posts getting so long??  Must be old age... :)

[Edited on 3/7/2004 by frostillicus]

[strider_mt2k]

So the TV out won't pass the TV tuner to an external monitor?

[rampy]

So the TV out won't pass the TV tuner to an external monitor?

 

The TV out on the 350 DOES pass *its* TV tuner input to its  svideo/etc out (or to your pc monitor)... BUT we are having trouble finding software that displays either the onscreen menus to control the pvr software and/or the PC desktop.

with most software/drivers it ONLY shows the TV signal part (or the mpeg you recorded... but how do you call up that mpeg if you can't navigate because the onscreen display is missing)

rampy

[frostillicus]

The TV out on the 350 DOES pass *its* TV tuner input to its  svideo/etc out (or to your pc monitor)... BUT we are having trouble finding software that displays either the onscreen menus to control the pvr software and/or the PC desktop.
 

heh correction - we are having trouble finding FREE and _mostly_ bugless software that can do this (sagetv 2 beta can but it costs $$$).  

[Anonymous]

Maybe a silly question, but isn't that what  this does?

[rampy]

Maybe a silly question, but isn't that what  this does?

You know I had a line in my reply regarding just that, but felt redundant at the time (in fact the only reason I started to type it in, is i knew someone would say "what about blah blah blah"  =P it's all good...  

I think frosty summed it up best in that we are having trouble finding FREE (as in beer or speech) that is both stable AND outputs OSD/menus to the pvr350's TV out.

Yes, if you load that specific IVTV binary and xfree merge... with mythTV you can see the display menus through the TV out... I'm following homebrew's thread on his experience with that very combination very closely.  Sounds like it works, but how stable is it right now?  I don't want bleeding edge CVS code hinging on whether simpsons or futurama get taped each night or not =P (oh i'm just teasing!)

GB-PVR for windoze has this functionality as well, but again is beta... and I watch its ongoing development with great interest...

SageTV as mentioned is $$ and is beta and has this functionality.

*shrug*
So there are options... and they are all getting better all the time... but I still feel  this functionality for the 350 isn't being supported widely nor well enough (yet!)

rampy

[Anonymous]

Silly as this may sound, have you contacted Hauppauge on this issue?
They're pretty good with updating their drivers and such. Maybe they'd be responsive to your issue?

I haven't gotten far enough into my new setup to use this yet, or I'd have some better input.

[strider_mt2k]

Sorry, that was me again. (New machine)
forgot to log in.

[frostillicus]

I personally haven't contacted Hauppauge, but since this is such a widespread issue for us DIY'ers I'm almost 99% sure someone has.  From their perspective, they bundle 'all the software you'll ever need' on a CD with each unit - so I'm sure their priorities are just to keep their software running well (which, heh, obviously isn't a _high_ priority).  Maybe they don't want to support 3rd party software, who knows.  

They probably never designed the tv-out to have any functionality other than showing TV...out.  No desktop, etc.  All comes back to the fact it can only show mpeg2s or something.  Therefore I presume  Hauppauge doesn't view this as a bug or problem, but is just operating the way it was designed.

[planetjay]

So what software are you using now?

[frostillicus]

So what software are you using now?

I bought a license for sagetv, and am using a beta version of SageTV2.  It's a little $$$ but works pretty well.  The OSD is great and navigation is quick and responsive.

[Anonymous]

FYI - I have a PVR 350 / MythTV based system and everything works
I get the TV picture and the OSD (and X) on the TV screen.

I used KnoppMyth R4V2 and it was almost a 30 minute install (but I use PAL which was trickier)

There is some mis-information but the mythtv-users list will help you.

The picture quality is *excellent* - the functionality is amazing.

David

[Anonymous]

Well the reason I think people keep saying the OSD is NOT supported on the 350 is for 2 reasons.  

1.  The windows based pvr software is only supporting OSD in beta's.  
2. In linux, the ivtv driver is still very quirky when it comes to the 350's tv-out.  

If you are running the OSD on the tv with the 350 and not having any problems with lockups, consider yourself quite lucky.  

-Kevin

EDIT: by rampy -> fixed the context problem you mentioned below so it doesn't not make no sense no more =)

[Edited on 3/16/04 by rampy]

[Homebrew]

Doh forgot to login on that post.  I also meant people saying the OSD isn't supported, not is supported.

-Kevin

[aspi]

I'm just planning my own PVR at the moment so forgive me if this is a stupid question but... is it possible to get the TV-out of the 350 to work simultaneously with another TV-out, such as the one on board the EPIA motherboard?  Then you could connect them both up to separate inputs on your TV and switch to the higher quality input when you watching a movie or the like.  Not ideal I know, but it might be a usable workaround until the software stabilises.

I ask mainly because I am looking at an EPIA/350/MythTV solution for my own project and I would live with that in the short term.