PVR Selection for MythTV and/or Plex

[ikbendeman]

I'm looking for a PVR/DVR setup that will work for FreeBSD. I'd like to record either directly from cable or, I could setup an IR receiver, etc. and use MythTV to schedule recordings from my DVR box. I just need a device (PCI-e, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, or even eSATA if the device has some kind of internal hard drive). I know MythTV can encode so it can be used with my Plex multimedia server. I'd like to get at least 720p video out of the thing, too. I do have a standard definition Hauppauge PVR somewhere, I'll post the model when I can find it, and I do have a free PCI port if it's compatible (if anyone knows if ANY of them are it'd be appreciated, but I know for sure this one's a bit antiquated). I have a (sustained) 550w power supply). Here's my system specs:

AMD FX-8350 Black Edition 8-core 4.0 Ghz with 18 Mb Cache CPU
16 GB 1866 Mhz RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
1 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM HD (UFS Filesystem)
1 GB Seagate 7200 RPM that has Windows for my games, and possibly for migration to ZFS
Numerous USB 2.0, 3.0 ports
2 eSATA 6 GB ports
1 free PCI port
2 free PCI-e 1x ports
2 free PCI-e 2.0 4x ports
1 free PCI-e 2.0 16x port
1 IEEE 1934(a) port
(If it matters) 8 channel Realtek ALC889 audio chipset

(Here's actually a link to my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 Rev. 3.0 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128514)

 

[nox@]

Hi!

I'm in Europe so I don't have personal experience with ATSC tuners myself (here we use DVB), but from what I read WinTV HVR 950Q should work with multimedia/webcamd for example (the Q is important), or if it really needs to be PCI(e) then you could try one of the ATSC tuners supported by multimedia/cx88 (see http://corona.homeunix.net/cx88wiki/Overview/SupportedCards) See also my thread "Digital TV (DVB, ATSC) on FreeBSD: A small guide" here: http://forums.freebsd.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=35179.

And if you want to receive IR (comm/lirc port) I can recommend for example HP-branded MCE transceivers (yes they can also send IR tho the supplied IR LEDs are low power and come on a cable, i.e. they are meant to be put directly on the IR receiver of the device to be controlled) - this means you can use irsend too. Some(?) cheap HP-branded MCE transceivers don't come with the IR LED cable, if you can't find that cable by itself I know at least Hauppauge MC Remote control Kit model 226 comes with one. Another way to send (and receive) IR via lirc (irsend to send) would be via FTDI-based USB devices, tho I don't know if those are sold preassembled for IR use so some soldering etc may be required. See also https://wiki.freebsd.org/WebcamCompat.

Oh and be careful with other cheap random "MCE"-labeled remote control devices, those often aren't mceusb but just emulate a keyboard and are not very useful for lirc.

HTH,
Juergen