Ben Bargabus wrote:
<snip>
1. I've not had trouble with the VIA DMA problem. I seem to recall
some talk that it could be an FC3 on VIA problem. Maybe I shouldn't
say that since I can't recall specifics of the conversation. YMMV
FC3 as in Fedora? I'm a debian guy, I assume then that would be fine.
Although Fedora Core 3 may have its own set of DMA issues with Via's
(broken) DMA implementation, the one that gets most Myth'ers is the
massive amounts of DMA traffic required to run the PVR-x50 cards from
Hauppauge. The ivtv drivers tend to have more issues running with
(especially older) Via chipsets (the issues are usually hard locks which
require a hard reboot).
Although some people have ivtv working with new Via chipsets, it's
probably worthwhile to go with the Intel chipset to start with and in
future backends, you can take your chances with a Via. The new ivtv
drivers tend to work around the problem as much as possible, and some of
the people using the most problematic Via chipsets brag about uptimes in
the 2-3 day range. I actually have to reboot my Dish network receivers
more often (about once a month) than my Myth box (which has had uptimes
in the 90+ day range--although I've never hit a max on it: I do way to
much hacking on it to get the uptime any higher).
I had one of the Via chipsets that caused significant problems (the
KM133) in an old system I had lying around that I used to test out
MythTV, and the $40 I spent to get an SiS-based motherboard (for an
Athlon) was the best $40 I ever spent. For a computer whose sole
purpose it to take shows from other people's schedules and make them
available on your schedule, availability is an important consideration,
so IMHO, it's worth a little bit extra to make sure it will work when
you need it (so you don't miss that 2-hour Lost season finale).
Mike
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