new user issue

asb007 · #1 09-10-2005, 08:48 PM

i just installed the trial version of sagetv. whenever i try to watch live tv the following error comes up...error message

. help would be much appreciated.

stanger89 · #2 09-10-2005, 08:54 PM

Software encoders (cards without hardware encoders) aren't suppored in 2.x, the 3.0 beta supports them, but there's no trial of the beta unfortunately.

asb007 · #3 09-10-2005, 09:03 PM

i thought ati cards were compatible though (i have a "tv wonder pro"). also, is there an advantage to having a card with a hardware encoder (besides running sagetv of course

)

stanger89 · #4 09-10-2005, 09:17 PM

ATI video cards work fine (as video cards), for TV cards, only the e-Home Wonder, and Theater 550 based cards are supported.

As for benefits of hardware encoders, theres the drastically lower CPU usage for recording (0 basically), better recording quality, more reliable recording (in my experience, been a while since I bothered with software encoding though), and the ability to run multiple cards.

asb007 · #5 09-10-2005, 09:30 PM

considering i only payed $40 for my tv wonder and it's still within the return policy do you think buying a card that supports hardware encoding (i've had my eye on the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150) would be worth it?

stanger89 · #6 09-10-2005, 09:37 PM

"Only" $40

Yes, definitely, I'd return the TV Wonder and order (or pick up) yourself a 150. Just to be sure, you are intending this mostly for recording/timeshifting TV right?

asb007 · #7 09-10-2005, 09:48 PM

yes, that's basically what i got it for but i would also like to connect my game console to it as well. would that be possible with the 150 or would i have to get something a bit more expensive? also, do you think the sagetv and pvr-150 bundle is a good deal?

stanger89 · #8 09-10-2005, 09:58 PM

With game consoles it gets tricky, since hardware encoders introduce a delay due to the encoding, basically makes games unplayable. Now I think the 150 can be run in a way that bypasses the encoder, and thus has no delay, but not within Sage. You might want to check the dScaler site to see if it works with the 150 (it's not in the supported cards list but I think it works).

asb007 · #9 09-10-2005, 10:24 PM

thank you very much for your help, i really appreciate it.

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