[mythtv-users] Of motherboards and lesser devices

[match at ece.utah.edu]

Naturally, these are just my opinions and biases. Others may differ... that's OK.

On 29 Apr 2004 at 17:01, PAUL WILLIAMSON wrote:

> Do people generally build their own myth boxes from the 
> ground up or purchase a preconfigured hardware set 
> and add the special stuff needed?

I build from the ground up, as I suspect most do. The little "Cube" style basic boxes 
like those from Epox and Shuttle (and others, seems there's a new vender every 
day) are also popular. 
 
> I'm looking at a bunch of motherboards, many with onboard 
> video, sound (sometimes even 5.1 or 6.1), ethernet, and 
> usb.  I know I'll need something like a PVR-[23]50, but do I need 
> a sound card (for compatibility) as well?  I'm thinking that in 
> most cases I have nothing but trouble with the onboard 
> sound, so I usually end up adding a decent sound card and 
> bypass the onboard stuff.  If I can find a board without sound, 
> I figure I may be a little better off depending on the responses 
> seen.

I wouldn't bother looking for a motherboard without sound, frankly I can't think of one. 
Rather, make sure that the onboard sound circuitry can be disabled (most can), in 
case you decide to add a fancy sound card later.
> 
> I have successfully built myth on an IBM PC with a soundblaster 
> audigy and a leadtek card, but I want to keep this system 
> intact and build one from the ground up in a custom card (as I posted 
> earlier in the week).  I've looked at all the sites I can find about 
> the hardware requirements, but nobody is very specific about 
> if they use the onboard sound or not.

The reason that nobody is being particularly specific is because just about anything 
that walks by will work to some degree or another. Besides it's a moving target. 
What's "best" today may not be tomorrow.

I've always found sound to be difficult to sort out. You can almost always use either 
the on-board sound or a sound card. Check the Alsa site for compatibility:
http://www.alsa-project.org
The list on the website is pretty short, so you may have to ask in the forums. 

Take a stab at choosing a MB, then ask on this list if anyone knows of a reason NOT 
to use that combination. I think that's about the best you can do.
 
> In looking at motherboards.com, the choices are endless, and 
> I just need a place to start. 

Everybody has his favorites. I think that the current selection of AMD CPU's are the 
best bang for the buck, so I use them. Right now I'm pretty impressed with any of the 
name-brand motherboards that utilize the nVidia nForce chipset. I've personally used 
ASUS and MSI boards with various flavors of this chipset.

To wit: I've used and liked the ASUS A7N8X and A7N8X-Deluxe ( the deluxe gets 
you firewire, 6.1, and SATA), and I'm currently using two MSI K7N2-Delta's with AMD 
Athlon 2500 Barton CPU's, but to be honest I've been trying to sort out a cheap 
Envey24HT-based soundcard, so I can't even tell you if the sound on these boards 
will work with MythTV or not! 

The 2500 Barton has got to be the most horsepower per dollar going, BTW.

The older MB's that used the Via chipsets were problematic, but I believe that the 
current crop of Via-based MB's are OK. No personal experience with the newer Via 
chipsets.

Don't scrimp on memory. Buy the good stuff. I like Corsair... it's more expensive but 
I've never seen a memory-related problem since I began using it.

> I figure a pvr-350 is a good start, 
> but I don't know if I should look for a sound card or focus next 
> on the mobo (with or without sound).

PVR-350 is excellent if you intend to display on a TV set using its TV-out connector, 
otherwise there is no advantage over a PVR-250 for a lot less money. Someone 
correct me if I'm wrong. Both have on-board hardware MPEG encoders. The 350 has 
an on-board hardware decoder as well, but it's only usefull if you use the TV-out 
(again someone correct me if I'm wrong.) So, what are you going to display on?

1st choose the CPU, then the MB (with onboard sound), then the video card (unless 
you're set on using the TV-out function on the PVR-350), then later add a sound card 
if the onboard sound doesn't work out.
 
> Thanks for letting me bug you all so much!  Myth rocks.

I have opinions about video cards too, but you didn't ask  :-)

Marvin