On Saturday 14 November 2009 02:26:52 [email protected] wrote: > I'm planning to build a MythTV box & have come up with what I think is > suitable hardware to run it on, but I'm hoping that those of you with > MythTV experience will point out anything I've got wrong. > > The box will be both back and front end and will be in the lounge room > in the cabinet with the amps, dvd player, etc, so it'll need to be > fairly quiet, especially when idle, but I don't want to hear much when > it's running either. It's going to be inside a cabinet so doesn't have > to be stunningly beautiful, but I don't want it to look spectacularly > ugly either. My budget is $2000. > > I want HDMI video to the TV (LCD, 1080p), either with audio or with a > separate analogue audio cable. I also want digital audio (S/PDIF, > preferrably coax) to the amp for better quality stereo or 5.1 audio. > > I'd also like the option of watching either live TV, recorded programs > or ripped DVDs on any other PC on the LAN, at the same time as a > different program is being watched on the TV and maybe another is being > recorded. > > I believe that all of the hardware I'm thinking of is supported by Linux > and MythTV, and although I don't think the necessary drivers are > packaged in any distro yet (I'm thinking of using the latest Mythbuntu, > only because everything else is running Ubuntu), I do know where to get > them. This is my list of hardware: > > Asus P5Q SE2 motherboard > Intel Core2Duo E7600 3.06GHz 1066MHz FSB > 2GB PC6400 DDR2 RAM > Asus GeForce GT220 1GB DDR3 video card > 1.5GB Seagate 7200 RPM SATA HDD (ST31500341AS) > Lite-On SATA 240x8 DVD-RW drive > Silverstone LC10-E case > 500W power supply > Logitech diNovo Mini bluetooth keyboard > > and either of: > > Hauppage Nova-T-500 MCE dual tuner (PCI) > Hauppage 2200 MCE dual tuner (PCI-E) > > I'll probably add a second tuner card once I've got it all up and > running. We have occasionally wished for a third tuner in the past (not > often, there's not that much worth watching on TV), so I may as well > have four, just in case :-) > > Is this hardware powerful enough to do all that I want? Do I need more > CPU grunt? More RAM? More hard drives? Bigger PSU? Anything else? > > > The only other thing I can think of is remote control. I'd like to be > able to control it from my Logitech Harmnony One remote, at least for > the most common tasks, so obviously I'll need some sort of IR receiver. > > >From what I've read, the USB IrDA dongle I have is unlikely to work, so > > I'll need something else. All I've been able to find are receivers > bundled with remote handsets, but I already have half a dozen or so of > those gathering dust and don't need to add another one to the > collection. > > > Advice and suggestions will be gratefully received. I'd like to order > the hardware next week, and I'd appreciate knowing that I've chosen > badly *before* I part with the money :-)
Rather than 'saying you oughta ...' this is what I'd do and why ... a) I'd run back and front end of different machines The backend can be a single core 1G ram machine. I use the WD green disks being low power and quiet. I use an antec NSK1380 case. Backend is 30W (at the meter with a stop watch) Server 24/7 low power means you avoid all the WOL hastles, you can watch any time, and by using mthweb you can schedule stuff from any browser anytime. b) your frontend needs some grunt and good graphics. minimyth works well http://www.minimyth.org/ but you could also use the new quite cheap kingston serial 32G flash disks. You can optimize the frontend to do your audio and graphics as you want. I do not do commercial flagging as each of the channels does there to thing to break it (eg 10 turns off the logo BEFORE and on AFTER the ad breaks. 7 skips blank frame pre and post amble etc). So cpu usage stays low. I'd use a wireless keyboard (logitek make a nice keyboard and numpad, the numpad makes a nice remote and keyboard is there when you need to internet- stuff that machine. I'd buy one DVD USB drive. Use it to install the frontend, then keep it on the backend. You can commit stuff to a dvd-iso on backend copy it to front end and burn on frontend. Wireless networking does work, but wired is much better here. James -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
