Hauppauge 150MCE or 250PVR and what are you using for capture??

[GMaq]

Hi Linux Brethren!
Thinking of breaking down and purchasing a Hauppauge WinTV card of some description, I would be interested in input from Linux users already using one of these products. Also what capture utility are you using? I don't really need a PVR like MythTV just a nice little capture utility with a minimal GUI. I am running Linux Mint (A Ubuntu Feisty derivative) and SimplyMEPIS 7.0. Since the Win-TV cards do hardware MPEG encoding I would like to capture in DVD Compliant MPEG-2, is this do-able in Linux yet? "Zapping" looks interesting, Your time and experience are appreciated.

[courtrrb]

I use Mandrake/Mandriva. With my Hauppauge PVR250. I just drop to a command line & execute the following 2 lines. To capture from composite.

ivtvctl -d /dev/video1 -f width=720,height=480 -p 5
cat /dev/video1 > (some name).mpg

When finished recording I hit a control-c

[GMaq]

courtrrb,
Thanks very much for replying, Does the terminal command above make DVD Compliant files? and what part of the command determines the amount of bitrate?

[courtrrb]

Yes it does. I run it thru avidemux to cut anything out I don't want. Then save not changing the codec. & use QDVDAuthor to author the DVD

[GMaq]

courtrrb,
Thanks for your answers, Now I just have to decide which model, there is only $11.00 CDN difference between the 250PVR and the 350.

[GMaq]

OK,
I picked up a PVR-150 because I have other cap cards in my Windows boxes and didn't want to spend too much on my Linux "Testbox". Using a variation on courtrrb's terminal command I can capture video. I cannot capture audio, can anyone give me some guidance here? None of the GUI programs XawTV,MoTV,XdTV,Zapping and KDETV will give me a preview or anything, even when the ivtv fimrware and utilities are installed properly. I'm getting EXTREMELY frustrated but the apalling lack of function in all of these applications with my "Linux Supported" PVR-150. Do you plug the audio input into the "Audio Input" minijack on the PVR-150 itself or do you use your Audio Card? I am tenacious and determined but this is my last hurdle to deciding whether I'm a "Linux Brother" or not.

[courtrrb]

I have the pvr250. If I Capture with the turner I get audio without fuss. If I use the composite I have to plug the audio cable into the audio in on the card.

[GMaq]

courtrrb,
Thanks again for your reply, Forgive my pissy tone in the post above, some of the other things I've been able to figure out in Linux (like music synthesizer sampling) have been a breeze compared to this TV card thing, I'm getting worn down and I don't like to give up! Anywho the PVR-150 has the same input layout as the PVR-250, I have tried both the line in on the card itself and the input on my Soundcard and no luck either way, I don't use the tuner at all because my Sat box hooks up to the S-Video input. I've tried MEPIS and openSUSE 10.3, I see you're using Mandriva, maybe I'll have to check it out, I don't really want to flip distros just for one purpose though.

[courtrrb]

What does your command line look like? A second set of eyes so to speak.

Before changing your distro what I would do is put the card in a windows machine & make sure that the card works as expected. I've received new hardware & couldn't get it to work in Linux and only to find out the card was defective. You might have received a bad card.

[jman98]

GMaq - Although the PVR-150 superficially appears to be the same as the PVR-250/350, it in fact uses very different hardware. The encoding chip is completely different between the 150 and the 250/350. The 150 is cheap, but some people have horrible problems with it. The 250/350 cost more, but they just work for pretty much everybody. Unless you have a compelling reason to record in AVI format (only the 150 supports this), most people are probably better off to pay more for a 250 or 350 card.

[GMaq]

@courtrrb,
Thanks for hangin' in there with me. Funny you mentioned trying the card in Windows, I can't even get XP to install on this machine, I get the dreaded NTLDR can't be loaded when I try to install, However several Linux distros have installed and run perfectly, I am pretty sure XP doesn't like my latest BIOS upgrade. I am using the command " cat /dev/video0 > file.mpg which gives me a nice 720x480 .mpg capture with no audio. the top line of your command doesn't work for me and complains about wrong parameters etc. If I type ivtvctl in a terminal I get this output. It looks like the last line may hold a clue but I don't know the command syntax, any guidance would sure be appreciated.

pcuser@mepis1:~$ ivtvctl
Usage:
  -d, --device <dev> use device <dev> instead of /dev/video0
  -h, --help         display this help message
  -K, --passthrough <mode>
                     set passthrough mode: 1 = on, 0 = off [IVTV_IOC_PASSTHROUGH
]
  -W, --get-vbi-passthrough
                     query the current VBI passthrough mode [IVTV_IOC_G_VBI_PASS
THROUGH]
  -w, --set-vbi-passthrough=<mode>
                     set the current VBI passthrough mode to <mode> [IVTV_IOC_S_
VBI_PASSTHROUGH]
                     <mode> is a comma separated list of:
                     none: no passthrough
                     cc:   closed caption
                     wss:  widescreen signal
                     vps:  vps
  --get-yuv-mode     display the current yuv mode
  --set-yuv-mode [param],[param]
                     set the current yuv mode
     param:
       mode        =<#> yuv_mode 0=interlaced,1=progressive,2=auto
       threshold   =<#> if src_hight <= threshold treat as progressive
  --reset-ir         reset the infrared receiver [VIDIOC_INT_RESET]
  --version          shows the version number of this utility.
                     It should match the driver version.

Expert options:
  -D, --set-debug <level>
                     set the module ivtv_debug variable
  -E, --end-gop      capture last GOP [IVTV_IOC_S_GOP_END]
  -e, --get-debug    query the module ivtv_debug variable
  -I, --list-gpio
                     show GPIO input/direction/output bits
  -i, --set-gpio [dir=<dir>,]val=<val>
                     set GPIO direction bits to <dir> and set output to <val>
  -k, --sync         test vsync's capabilities [IVTV_IOC_FRAMESYNC]
  -R, --list-registers chip=<chip>,min=<addr>,max=<addr>
                     dump registers from <min> to <max> [VIDIOC_INT_G_REGISTER]
                     <chip> is one of: saa711x, saa7127, saa717x, cx2584x, cx234                                                                                                  1x
  -r, --set-register chip=<chip>,reg=<reg>,val=<val>
                     set register [VIDIOC_INT_S_REGISTER]
                     <chip> is one of: saa711x, saa7127, saa717x, cx2584x, cx234                                                                                                  1x
  -v, --audio-route=input=<in>,output=<out>
                     set the audio input/output routing [VIDIOC_INT_S_AUDIO_ROUT                                                                                                  ING]
pcuser@mepis1:~$

@jman98
Thanks for the bad news! I was under the impression the "PVR150" was OK and the "MCE150" was to be avoided at all costs, I read up on it at the ivtv site quite extensively. Too bad I didn't have the 250 though, it'd be a lot easier if we were all talking about the same card here.

[GMaq]

OK,
Messed around with the tuner, and I get sound and video with "cat /dev/video0 > file.mpg" also get preview with Tuner only via KDETV. However no sound or preview when using Composite or S-Video jacks? I've tried various scripts using the ivtvctl output log above to no avail. Suggestions welcomed.