Set up the capture cards that you have installed in your system through the MythTV backend configuration. We have set up systems using the Hauppauge PVR-150 cards (for analog recording), the pcHDTV 5500 cards (for HDTV recording), the AVerMedia A180 cards (for HDTV recording), the Hauppauge PCTV HD 800i cards (which are really Pinnacle cards, for HDTV recording), and the Hauppauge HVR-2250 dual tuner cards (for HDTV recording only). All of these cards work well and have been, in some cases, running on our systems for 3-4 years.
Each of these cards is detailed in a separate section that follows. Analog TV is pretty much old news, so most of the cards that we use are for HDTV recording only. However, should you need to record analog signals, the PVR-150 cards, with their onboard MPEG encoders, are the best, in our opinion, to use. Many are available on the various auction sites for quite reasonable prices.
Once your capture cards are set up, define your video sources (i.e. channel lineups) as described in the Video Sources section (below) and then associate them with the capture cards, as described in the Input Connections section (also below).