[mythtv-users] Building first MythTV back end box...

[Andrew Close]

On 12/16/05, Kirk Grell <kirkgrell at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Andrew Close <aclose at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 12/16/05, Kirk Grell <kirkgrell at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > I'm building my first MythTV box.  It'll be a back
> end
> > > box that I'll admin remotely (web, rsh, ftp, etc).
> > > It's sole purpose right now will be to schedule
> > > recordings and transcode them to smaller video
> files
> > > for pulling later to my PC at a different
> location.
> > > I'm not planning for any other MythTV modules or
> front
> > > end box at the moment.
> > >
> > > Below is the machine I'll be piecing together.
> Anyone
> > > know of any known issues with any of the following
> > > hardware in Linux and/or MythTV?
> > >
> > >   - Shuttle XPC SN85G4V3
> > >     + nVIDIA nForce3
> > >     + Realtek ALC655 Onboard Audio
> > >     + Onboard Lan
> > >   - AMD Athlon 64 3000
> > >   - CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB DDR 400
> > >   - Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB SATA150
> > >   - NEC DVD Burner ND-3550A
> > >   - ASUS V9400 Geforce MX4000 128MB
> > >   - Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350
> > >   - RedHat Fedora Core 4
> > >
> > > BTW, this will be hooked up serially to a DirectTV
> > > D10-100 receiver.
> > >
> > > Any info regarding this setup or conflicts between
> it
> > > and Fedora and/or MythTV would be greatly
> appreciated.
> >
> > save a couple bucks and get the Hauppage PVR-150 or
> > PVR-500 (two
> > tuners) instead of the PVR-350.  since you're only
> > building a backend
> > the 350 provides nothing extra.  you can probably do
> > with onboard
> > video or a cheapy video card since this is only a
> > backend; unless
> > you're planning to use it for video editing or
> > something.  if it's
> > just going to be a standalone backend video isn't
> > neccessary.  saving
> > money on the parts you don't need may allow you to
> > purchase a larger
> > hard drive. ;)
>
> This XPC doesn't include onboard video.  Which is why
> I need to get a vid card.  But, the card is only like
> $30.
>
> As for the PVR-500, 2 tuners won't do me any good (I
> believe), because I only have 1 satellite reciever.
>
> I could bump down to PVR-150.  Main thing is that I
> really want as high quality of video as I can get
> before transcoding.  In terms of MPEG2, does output
> from the PVR-150 look as good as output from the
> PVR-350?
>
> And, although I didn't mention it before, if it's
> possible, I might want to record audio from the FM
> receiver of the PVR-350.  But that's just a perk if I
> go with that card.

from what i understand the 250 and 350 are equivilent in quality as
far as recording.  the (possible) advantage of the 350 is that it will
encode/decode various formats for you if you use it as your video
output.  you won't be using the 350's video output so you can save
yourself a couple bucks by using the 250.  the 150/500 is the newest
card available.  as far as i know the 150 has the same quality as the
250, it's just a different chipset and is cheaper.  i have a 250 and a
500 (basically two 150s stuck together) and they record at the same
quality.  i can't tell the difference between a program recorded by
the 250 or one recorded by the 150.
i don't think the FM radio on the cards is usable in Myth.  i know ppl
have talked about it, but i don't think it's a supported feature and i
don't know that there is widespread success in getting it to work.  if
it does work, i believe one of the 150 models comes with FM as well
(MCE version - http://hauppage.com/pages/products/data_pvr150mce.html)
so you should be able to get by with a 150 saving yourself some money.
 and it will probably be easier to set up than the 350 from what i've
read. :)