PVR-350 Output with Frame Buffer Overlay and a Reverse Idea

[mikejaner]

Please bear with me, I am brainstorming.

According to recent discussions in the MythTV arena, the PVR 350 output is working with overlay. Also, according to the discussions, they are using a technique to display the frame buffer on the screen for the overlay portion. By reading further in the link I have provided below, they are saying divx and dvd is playable through the output on the PVR-350 because of this technique. I know this isn't possible in hardware, so I know it would have to be decoded by the processor and then displayed as the frame buffer. What I am getting to, is , can this be done with SageTv 2 and have you tried to do it yet? I know the sound would have to come out of the soundcard for everything but mpeg2 video, but I think that would be alot more tolerable than having to switch between two differnt tv outputs if I wanted to watch a DVD. This also would be better because I would imagine it would look pretty good since the output of the PVR 350 looks so nice.

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/arch..._on..._P86583/

My second idea,
I have read on other websites and projects, IVTV in particular, about some talk about getting the video generated by the decoder engine on the PVR-350 card outputted through the pci interface. I know they haven't done it yet, but I believe they are currently working on making that a reality. This would be the reverse of the idea above, but a good one also. This would allow you to display the mpeg2 output of the PVR-350 as an overlay on the tv output on whatever video card you had, therefore freeing up the processor for TV, while allowing you to playback dvd's and divx files without switching interfaces to your tv.

So Jeff, Are any of these two options possible?

mikejaner

[Narflex]

Not with the Windows drivers.

Linux makes this easier (sort of) because they've built their own Linux drivers by reverse engineering the hardware and then adding in this extra functionality. They can also tweak the OS code so they have access to the video system in any way they please. Ohhhh, the advantages of using an open source OS.

[mikejaner]

LOL, thanx for the quick info
mikejaner