Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
On 5/24/05, Adam Pash [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi everyone, I'm new to both mythtv and linux, but I'm hoping to tackle both. I'm hoping to setup a system that I can use as an all-in-one (front-end + backend) system. welcome to Linux and Myth. I've got an old pc (amd-k6 w/multimedia 300mhz, 288mb ram, pvr-150 [from my other computer], dvd-rom) and I don't know if I'm ready to tackle all that would go into installing a linux distrubution and mythtv on a system as old as this. I'm looking for suggestions for hardware (mobo, processor, video card w/tv out) that I can throw together with the pvr-150 remaining salvagable parts and get a mythtv up and running in the most simple fashion for a linux newbie. that's an understandable request. :) i did exactly the same thing, build a MythBox out of spare parts. after i had it assembled and partially working i thought it was so cool i just went out ahead and ordered parts for a new system. :) even if you do decide to start with old hardware as a first step i'd recommend that you start compiling a list of parts based on posts in the archives for a new system. i guarantee that you will end up buying it. :) I understand that this will probably be a somewhat large undertaking for someone who doesn't know anything about linux, so I'm ready to put some time into it; nonetheless, I figure that it'd be best to start out with the odd in my favor when it comes to hardware. I've read the Fedora-Myth HOWTO, and I think that's the route I'd like to take, but like I said, I'm looking for suggestions for the cheapest hardware purchases that will still get me a good system. i read Jarods HOW-TO. it's a great document and i know that it's helped a lot of ppl here on the list. but if you have no/limited experience with Linux and really only want to play with MythTv then i would 'highly' recommend KnoppMyth. it is very easy to install and everything works pretty much out of the box (based on supported hardware of course; but that is a pretty wide range...). i used KnoppMyth for my test install on an old AMD K-7 700MHz machine with a bttv tuner card i had laying around. i don't think i even got to watching/recording tv and i was so excited by how cool Myth was and how easy KnoppMyth was that i built a new system for it. I'm hoping to use it mostly to record, transcode, and watch my video. I don't need it for live tv watching, but that wouldn't hurt! I'm excited to try the different offerings of mythtv, but those are my main NEEDS. since i'm advocating a new system for you i'd recommend a supported motherboard (look in the archives and KnoppMyth forums) that includes tv-out, audio and LAN. i would also recommend the nvidia nforce2 chipsets. with the PVR cards you can get away with a fairly low powered CPU and still be able to record/watch tv without any problems. if you are planning on doing a 'lot' of transcoding then i would recommend a higher powered CPU; or if you're thinking you may want to move to HDTV. i'm very happy with my AMD +2700 for standard cable, but it's been mentioned that Intel chips handle HD and transcoding better than AMD. (not trying to start a war, just making an observation) ;) definitely go with the biggest hard drive you can afford. :) i have a 40GB that the main system and ringbuffer are on and a 300GB that my video tv partitions are on. (the video and tv partitions are actually LVM'd with the 40GB...) so i have ~300GB of tv storage space. i've run out of space twice. :) but i don't watch as much as i record (obviously), and i didn't have auto-expire set. space does go fast, especially as you get carried away with how cool your MythBox is. :) good luck and enjoy! ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
Thanks for your replies. Everything makes sense, but there's still one thing... as is, I'm not sure how well my existing soundcard, video card, and motherboard are going to work. Actually, I know that the video card won't work, b/c it doesn't have any s-video or rca video outs. But I don't think that my motherboard will support a newer card, either. So I'm thinking... is there any combination of motherboard (with onboard sound, and ethernet), video card, and processor that anyone could recommend that would cost somewhere in the $100-$200 range that are well-supported? I have no concerns for hi-def, but I would like to transcode video, as disk space is somewhat of a concern. Anyone have some suggestions in this price range that have worked for you? ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
On 5/25/05, Adam Pash [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: is there any combination of motherboard (with onboard sound, and ethernet), video card, and processor that anyone could recommend that would cost somewhere in the $100-$200 range that are well-supported? i'm currently using the Chaintech 7NIF2 mobo (http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/product_spec.asp?MPSNo=13PISNo=15) which works great. the only beef i have with it is that SPDIF support was discontinued right before i bought this board. so if you want to be able to hook your MythBox up to a stereo receiver and listen to 5.1 audio you're out of luck. :( but i'm sure Chaintech has a newer model that supports SPDIF. also look at Asus, ABit, Gigabyte... you may find other models mentioned in the archives or KnoppMyth forum (although that's easier said than done...). if you find a mobo you think you'd like to try, you can check the KnoppMyth forums to see if anyone is using that model successfully. look under the Tier 1 topic or just search the forum. ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
The VIA Mini ITX boards fit that niche - ~600-1200MHz processor depending on model, onboard Unichrome graphics with MPEG2 acceleration (supported by MythTV), SVideo or RCA video out, analogue or SPDIF audio, onboard ethernet, and various other options dependant on which board you choose. I can watch Live TV (standard definition) from a DVB-T card with about 10% CPU usage. Transcoding chugs a bit on a processor like that, though - if that is a major concern, you might be better off looking elsewhere. Richard On Wed, 2005-05-25 at 16:06, Adam Pash wrote: Thanks for your replies. Everything makes sense, but there's still one thing... as is, I'm not sure how well my existing soundcard, video card, and motherboard are going to work. Actually, I know that the video card won't work, b/c it doesn't have any s-video or rca video outs. But I don't think that my motherboard will support a newer card, either. So I'm thinking... is there any combination of motherboard (with onboard sound, and ethernet), video card, and processor that anyone could recommend that would cost somewhere in the $100-$200 range that are well-supported? I have no concerns for hi-def, but I would like to transcode video, as disk space is somewhat of a concern. Anyone have some suggestions in this price range that have worked for you? __ ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
I currently use an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe for my front end with an Athlon 2500+ and 512 MBs of RAM and an Chaintec FX5200 graphics card. I had no idea what to expect from Myth when I first bought this hardware but it is working out fine. Just a little loud for my tastes so I am thinking of replacing it with a DigiMatrix from Asus. We will see what time brings. Welcome to the wonderful world of MythTV! On 5/25/05, Andrew Close [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 5/25/05, Adam Pash [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: is there any combination of motherboard (with onboard sound, and ethernet), video card, and processor that anyone could recommend that would cost somewhere in the $100-$200 range that are well-supported? i'm currently using the Chaintech 7NIF2 mobo (http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/product_spec.asp?MPSNo=13PISNo=15) which works great. the only beef i have with it is that SPDIF support was discontinued right before i bought this board. so if you want to be able to hook your MythBox up to a stereo receiver and listen to 5.1 audio you're out of luck. :( but i'm sure Chaintech has a newer model that supports SPDIF. also look at Asus, ABit, Gigabyte... you may find other models mentioned in the archives or KnoppMyth forum (although that's easier said than done...). if you find a mobo you think you'd like to try, you can check the KnoppMyth forums to see if anyone is using that model successfully. look under the Tier 1 topic or just search the forum. ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
Since I just went though building a new frontend, I thought I'd offer a few suggestions of my own. I bought an MSI K7N2GM2-LSR motherboard from newegg for $63 with shipping. This motherboard is an nforce2 with onboard sound and video and both svideo and rca out. It also has SATA. Newegg doesn't appear to carry it any more (I just bought it a month ago, but pricewatch shows ewiz carrying it at that price). I really like the motherboard and it works great. I would suggest a Athlon XP-M 2400+ or 2500+ mobile processor for about $80-$90 for low heat and reasonable cost, plus a CNPS7000b-ALCU Zalman heatsink/fan for $29 from Amazon.com for quiet operation. This would be for the best bang for your buck that I could determine. Good luck, Bob C Adam Pash wrote: Thanks for your replies. Everything makes sense, but there's still one thing... as is, I'm not sure how well my existing soundcard, video card, and motherboard are going to work. Actually, I know that the video card won't work, b/c it doesn't have any s-video or rca video outs. But I don't think that my motherboard will support a newer card, either. So I'm thinking... is there any combination of motherboard (with onboard sound, and ethernet), video card, and processor that anyone could recommend that would cost somewhere in the $100-$200 range that are well-supported? I have no concerns for hi-def, but I would like to transcode video, as disk space is somewhat of a concern. Anyone have some suggestions in this price range that have worked for you? ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
I built out of an ASUS Pundit-S, $115 on new egg, and a Celeron-D processor, ~$70-80. A little bit pricier than the other suggestions given, but the small case looks just like a DVD player, and Jarod's guide has specific instructions for the pundit. I've been extremely pleased with it so far On 5/25/05, Bob Cottingham [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Since I just went though building a new frontend, I thought I'd offer a few suggestions of my own. I bought an MSI K7N2GM2-LSR motherboard from newegg for $63 with shipping. This motherboard is an nforce2 with onboard sound and video and both svideo and rca out. It also has SATA. Newegg doesn't appear to carry it any more (I just bought it a month ago, but pricewatch shows ewiz carrying it at that price). I really like the motherboard and it works great. I would suggest a Athlon XP-M 2400+ or 2500+ mobile processor for about $80-$90 for low heat and reasonable cost, plus a CNPS7000b-ALCU Zalman heatsink/fan for $29 from Amazon.com for quiet operation. This would be for the best bang for your buck that I could determine. Good luck, Bob C Adam Pash wrote: Thanks for your replies. Everything makes sense, but there's still one thing... as is, I'm not sure how well my existing soundcard, video card, and motherboard are going to work. Actually, I know that the video card won't work, b/c it doesn't have any s-video or rca video outs. But I don't think that my motherboard will support a newer card, either. So I'm thinking... is there any combination of motherboard (with onboard sound, and ethernet), video card, and processor that anyone could recommend that would cost somewhere in the $100-$200 range that are well-supported? I have no concerns for hi-def, but I would like to transcode video, as disk space is somewhat of a concern. Anyone have some suggestions in this price range that have worked for you? ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
Craig Betts wrote: I built out of an ASUS Pundit-S, $115 on new egg, and a Celeron-D processor, ~$70-80. A little bit pricier than the other suggestions given, but the small case looks just like a DVD player, and Jarod's guide has specific instructions for the pundit. I've been extremely pleased with it so far Considering the Pundit includes a case and motherboard, it isn't really any more expensive (unless you don't need a case of course), and is about as cheap as you can reasonably create a system. It may not have all the room you'd want for a frontend/backend system though a lot of people seem to have been happy with it in that configuration. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is only one IDE channel, no SATA, so you can only fit one optical and one hard drive in the system and installing a PVR-150/250/500 may require some time with a dremel to get it to fit. There seems to be a lot of variability on people's happiness with the noise and quality of the video out from reading the list. Am I wrong in my perception? Bob C ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
Bob Cottingham wrote: ...I bought an MSI K7N2GM2-LSR motherboard from newegg for $63 with shipping. This motherboard is an nforce2 with onboard sound and video and both svideo and rca out. It also has SATA... ...I would suggest a Athlon XP-M 2400+ or 2500+ mobile processor for about $80-$90 for low heat and reasonable cost... I have also used this motherboard for a remote frontend I built recently and completely agree with the recommendation. I just wanted to mention though that it did not like the Athlon XP-M 2000 that I tried to use and I eventually had to give up and swap processors with the backend machine. It now works very well. -Obie ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
[mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
Hi everyone, I'm new to both mythtv and linux, but I'm hoping to tackle both. I'm hoping to setup a system that I can use as an all-in-one (front-end + backend) system. I've got an old pc (amd-k6 w/multimedia 300mhz, 288mb ram, pvr-150 [from my other computer], dvd-rom) and I don't know if I'm ready to tackle all that would go into installing a linux distrubution and mythtv on a system as old as this. I'm looking for suggestions for hardware (mobo, processor, video card w/tv out) that I can throw together with the pvr-150 remaining salvagable parts and get a mythtv up and running in the most simple fashion for a linux newbie. I understand that this will probably be a somewhat large undertaking for someone who doesn't know anything about linux, so I'm ready to put some time into it; nonetheless, I figure that it'd be best to start out with the odd in my favor when it comes to hardware. I've read the Fedora-Myth HOWTO, and I think that's the route I'd like to take, but like I said, I'm looking for suggestions for the cheapest hardware purchases that will still get me a good system. I'm hoping to use it mostly to record, transcode, and watch my video. I don't need it for live tv watching, but that wouldn't hurt! I'm excited to try the different offerings of mythtv, but those are my main NEEDS. Thanks a lot for any suggestions, Adam ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
RE: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
off list im just going through a similar install...i bought a new pc for the purpose but i built myth on a cele500 with the 150 to see how well things went... pvr-150 has mpeg2 on it so it means your already receiving mpeg2 streams recording at mpeg2 should work on anything over a 266 mhz pci mean really all your doing at the capture point is cat /dev/video0 file.mpgso its merely a copy to file... transcoding wont be quick on a small box but transcoding can be ignored unless you are short on diskspace (2terabytes in my PC so i dont bother transcoding...dvd is mpeg2 also so it's the easiest way for me to cut them abck to dvd (tv series collections etc. live tv on the 500 worked np but i have heard that people under 500 have issuestry and see...make sure you have dma on on your harddisks and it's not a via chipset mobo...via suck for dma channels.. other than that as long as you have alsa drivers and video drivers (nvidia/ati if its a new card) you should be fine be aware you need to use mplayer to test the pvr-150 ...xawtv etc do not work with ivtv cardsand the pvr-150 drivers you need atm are on www.ivtv.tv..version 3 drivers unstable.. From: Adam Pash [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 25 May 2005 9:55 AMTo: mythtv-users@mythtv.orgSubject: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions Hi everyone,I'm new to both mythtv and linux, but I'm hoping to tackle both. I'm hoping to setup a system that I can use as an all-in-one (front-end + backend) system. I've got an old pc (amd-k6 w/multimedia 300mhz, 288mb ram, pvr-150 [from my other computer], dvd-rom) and I don't know if I'm ready to tackle all that would go into installing a linux distrubution and mythtv on a system as old as this. I'm looking for suggestions for hardware (mobo, processor, video card w/tv out) that I can throw together with the pvr-150 remaining salvagable parts and get a mythtv up and running in the most simple fashion for a linux newbie.I understand that this will probably be a somewhat large undertaking for someone who doesn't know anything about linux, so I'm ready to put some time into it; nonetheless, I figure that it'd be best to start out with the odd in my favor when it comes to hardware. I've read the Fedora-Myth HOWTO, and I think that's the route I'd like to take, but like I said, I'm looking for suggestions for the cheapest hardware purchases that will still get me a good system.I'm hoping to use it mostly to record, transcode, and watch my video. I don't need it for live tv watching, but that wouldn't hurt! I'm excited to try the different offerings of mythtv, but those are my main NEEDS.Thanks a lot for any suggestions,Adam ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: [mythtv-users] Bottom-end MythTv Suggestions
On 5/24/05, Adam Pash [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi everyone, I'm new to both mythtv and linux, but I'm hoping to tackle both. I'm Welcome! hoping to setup a system that I can use as an all-in-one (front-end + backend) system. I've got an old pc (amd-k6 w/multimedia 300mhz, 288mb ram, This is what I setup when I first got into MythTV, around version .17. However, I'm running a P4 1.8 Ghz with 512MB RAM. You might want to search the list archives (http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/) for posts about minimum requirements, this has been discussed many times in the past. However, I do believe that if you are going the PVR150 route, what you already have just might work (notice, I said might, I've never tried it). The PVR series of cards (and some others I think) use hardware encoding for your video streams. Therefore, the CPU is not taxed very heavily with trying to encode the streams in software. If you were using a type of card that does not do HW encoding, or if you plan to use this box for HDTV, then you will definitely want a more powerful box. pvr-150 [from my other computer], dvd-rom) and I don't know if I'm ready to tackle all that would go into installing a linux distrubution and mythtv on a system as old as this. I'm looking for suggestions for hardware (mobo, processor, video card w/tv out) that I can throw together with the pvr-150 remaining salvagable parts and get a mythtv up and running in the most simple fashion for a linux newbie. I mentioned my hardware above. Works great for me. If you eventually want to use the box for HDTV, I think that you need at least a 3Ghz CPU. This has been discussed numerous times as well, so, if you don't get any answers with this post, you should be able to find them in the archives. What I would recommend for hardware is the largest Hard Drive you can afford. I started with a 200GB, and I'm constantly at about 140GB used, out of about 175GB of /video partition. I'm looking to install a 400GB just as soon as I can pick one up fairly cheap. I understand that this will probably be a somewhat large undertaking for someone who doesn't know anything about linux, so I'm ready to put some time into it; nonetheless, I figure that it'd be best to start out with the odd in my favor when it comes to hardware. I've read the Fedora-Myth HOWTO, and I think that's the route I'd like to take, but like I said, I'm looking for IMHO, that is definitely the way to go, although I've seen many others post about Knoppmyth (Linux distro geared around MythTV) and other solutions. Jarod's guide made it very easy for me. I was not new to Linux, but had never heard of MythTV until a few weeks before I setup my box. I've only had to rebuild it once, but this was due to a corrupted disk after a power failure, not a Linux or MythTV issue. I've upgraded twice since then (.18 .18.1) and never had any major problems. MythTV is the greatest thing since sliced toast. suggestions for the cheapest hardware purchases that will still get me a good system. I think that one of the first things that you will want is more than one tuner. The number of tuners in the box dictates how many things you can watch OR record at the same time. For instance, with one tuner, you can record one thing while watching something that was recorded previously. Or watch live TV only if nothing is currently recording. You'll hear this quite a bit on this list, but many people don't watch live TV after setting up their recording schedules. I didn't believe it at first, but it's now true for me as well. The last time I watched live TV was at my brother's house. I currently have 4 tuners, on three cards. Two PVR250s and one PVR500. The PVR150s are cheaper than 250s, and seem to work just as well. I believe that the PVR500s are the most expensive of the bunch, but since you get two tuners on one card, it works out to be a better deal in the end. I'm hoping to use it mostly to record, transcode, and watch my video. I don't need it for live tv watching, but that wouldn't hurt! I'm excited to try the different offerings of mythtv, but those are my main NEEDS. Thanks a lot for any suggestions, Adam Good luck! --Garry ___ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
