[mythtv] Hardware advice (Via Eden Board) / Video Card.

[Jeremy Oddo]

Learn from my mistake:  don't get a shoddy mobo, and make sure that you
CAN add a video capture card, sound card, and AGP video card if the
onboard stuff doesn't work.  I went around in circles with a whole host of
problems before finally biting the bullet and buying a system that I knew
would work.

I'd say the biggest problem with most people is the sound--you really need
to be able to use ALSA sound.  IMO, it's wise to get "popular"
sound/video/capture cards as those are usually the ones that have proper
drivers.

I worked for many hours trying to get a RedHat machine with onboard video
and sound to work.  I finally said "screw it" and I downloaded Mandrake9
(has full ALSA support outta da box) and got a new machine with a
soundblaster and an Nvidia AGP card (with TV-out).  It only took me a
couple hours to get that setup working :)  It's really a trade off:  spend
a little more money and spend a lot less of your own time, or skimp on
hardware and spend a boat-load of your time trying to get it to work.

I got a case that looks cool *and* is quite (my PlayStation2 is louder!). 
You can get quite fans if you want to pay a couple bucks more...or you can
install fanless coolers yourself.

If you want a small quite machine, you may want to look at the new shuttle
mobo/cases.

Just my $.02

Jeremy


> Discovered MythTV last night and very, very impressed.
> But I need to dedicate (and buy) some hardware for the system.
>
>
> I have two choices:
>
> 1) Buy a Via Eden board.
> Not sure about these cheap boards, £ 80 with 800Mhz chip on board,
> integrated video (with TVout), sound and LAN. Linux compatibility is the
> worst - so far through lots of searching google  - asking here if anyone
> knows of show stoppers.
> I've not found specific chipsets used. It's critical that the on-board
> stuff works because it only has one PCI slot for the capture card. It's
> advantage is that it's fanless- so won't keep me awake at night!
> Dedicated an Athlon with huge fan is too noisy!!
>
> http://www.viavpsd.com/products/epia_mini_itx_spec.jsp
>
> 2) Use my old AMD K6-3 450Mhz - but I'd need to find a new video card
> (cheap) with TV-out...
> What card is recommended?
>
>
> Thanks for a great piece of software - very, very impressed.
>
> --
> NAME    :	Adam Allen.
> EMAIL   :	adam@dynamicinteraction.co.uk
>
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