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Author Topic: Official Plextor ConvertX PVR TV402U Review Thread  (Read 9918 times)
rampy
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« on: December 07, 2004, 01:14:56 PM »
Your questions or comments regarding 2n's review of the plextor convertX PVR TV402U can be posted here  :cool:  

rampy
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« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2004, 05:19:51 PM »
I have read the review, seems very interesting.

My question is if something like this can be bent to work under something like MythTV.
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rampy
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« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2004, 05:36:01 PM »
As far as I know.... there aren't linux drivers for this particular piece of hardware (either by plextor or 3rd party/open source efforts)...  

hmmm.... since the mac version runs on OSX, I wonder how difficult it would be to port the drivers...

So no linux drivers, no mythTV support (for now) sorry.  If you *had* to go external, and wanted to use linux you could try hauppauge wintv pvr usb2 I suppose... but that doesn't support divx/mpeg4 etc like the plextor device.  I guess it depends on what you want to do.

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« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2004, 01:45:03 PM »
What I want is a PVR (like yesterday!) that runs on Linux without having to learn Linux.  ;)

I'm just going to have to bite the bullet, accept that this isn't going to happen soon and start learning linux. It seems there are lots of good products out there, but for some reason MythTV has me hooked, and I haven't even really seen or played with it.

I'm a window's junkie by default. In my ideal world, there is something free like MythTV that runs on a W2K box. Unfortunately, it seems what I need for winders is an XP or MCE box, and that gets me into a range I don't want to invest in at this point.

The DiVX ability and the ability to handle all encoding off the main PC is what makes this so attractive to me. A low powered file server is really all you need to have a great PVR then.

I'll keep watching I guess.
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rampy
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« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2004, 02:09:02 PM »
well you should check out the knoppmyth project which makes getting your feet wet with linux and mythtv easier

You might also, for giggles, if you want to try linux for general computing without altering your computer, try the knoppix live CD.  (it's a version of linux that boots off the CD into linux/xwindows, very cool for poking around and test driving linux with out any commitment/install!)

There are free windoze proggies:  See GBPVR.com and MediaPortal you can try (gbpvr supports the plextor, I don't know about media portal).

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Anonymous
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« Reply #5 on: December 28, 2004, 05:35:16 AM »
hello
 while you where using divx to encode.lets say a half hour video,how long did it take to finish the encoding?(30min,40min)also what type of audio format, resulted using divx?(ac3,mp3)
  does it also support macro,or can i back up my dvd collection?
 
             thank you !
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rampy
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« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2004, 08:38:05 AM »
Quote
hello
 while you where using divx to encode.lets say a half hour video,how long did it take to finish the encoding?(30min,40min)also what type of audio format, resulted using divx?(ac3,mp3)
  does it also support macro,or can i back up my dvd collection?
 
             thank you !


It encodes the video in realtime (give or take a few seconds buffer) from it's video inputs...

I'm reasonably sure the audio is configurable but i'll double check.
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Anonymous
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« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2004, 01:22:44 AM »

 
     [/quote]

It encodes the video in realtime (give or take a few seconds buffer) from it's video inputs...

I'm reasonably sure the audio is configurable but i'll double check. [/quote]

   any help on additional little info left out on the mothers page ,would be greatly welcome.
 in the review it was said it uses some of the computers resources ,more for encoding divix.
 what would cause that?could it be ,because it is writing to the drive?
  i just want to make sure this is what will make me happy.i dont want to regret buying a $200 paper wait .

    thanks in advance!!
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2n
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« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2004, 11:00:59 PM »
The processor usage would probably be due to writing to the drive. Perhaps it used a little more resources on my computer due to the usb2 vs pci interface, but that is completely a stab in the dark.

As for audio format, I am not certain what you are asking. For all of the setting availiable to me through the intervideo windvr softtware, the auido is listed as mpeg-1 layer II  audio (MP2 audio). The bit rate varies from 224 kbits/s down to 64 kbits/s.
Hope this helped!
-2n
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« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2004, 10:05:30 AM »
Quote
Quote
For all of the setting availiable to me through the intervideo windvr softtware, the auido is listed as mpeg-1 layer II  audio (MP2 audio). The bit rate varies from 224 kbits/s down to 64 kbits/s.
Hope this helped!
-2n


 thank you guys for bering with me, but ive one more question?do you have the option to chose a diffrent audio setting like , encoding the .avi to (MP3, ISO) MPEG-1 Layer 3 vs...   mpeg-1 layer II  audio (MP2 audio).
 thank you again in advance!!

   lol i dont know why plexor doesnt give this info out on there home page :casstet:  

i also desided to join ;)  
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2n
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« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2004, 02:12:11 PM »
Glad you joined!

As I already stated, the only options that the convertx pvr seems to offer is in the video. At least as far as I can tell, MP2 audio is the standard for every format (DIVX included).  The users manual seems to confirm this.

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Anonymous
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« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2005, 03:05:01 PM »
Hi, there.
An Eastern Europe user. I would like to know if the TV tuner supports all the PAL formats, especially PAL/B and PAL/DK, because I wouldn't like to buy something that wouldn't let me view all the channels around. Thanks in advance!
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2n
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« Reply #12 on: January 25, 2005, 11:06:58 PM »
Hiya Eastern European User. I checked the manual and the web page for the plextor 402U for information on the varieties of Pal supported, but I could not find anything. It simply states that it support NTSC, PAL, and SECAM. You could possibly contact plextor's support or maybe sales at   http://www.plextor.com/english/about/contact.html. Let us know what you find out.

2n
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Anonymous
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« Reply #13 on: January 26, 2005, 07:22:03 AM »
Windows does have a nice, free, media front end -> MediaPortal. Its the windows port of Xbox Media Center and its very good.
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Anonymous
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« Reply #14 on: January 28, 2005, 08:18:30 AM »
The EE user here. Here's a quote from the reply I recieved from Plextor's support:
   [b] The PAL formats supported by the Convert X are Pal_B,D,H,I,M,N,60[/b]

So, it seems I'll be able to view all the channels. Nevertheless, I'll put the device to the test before buying it and'll write again when I have all the info.
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