[mythtv-users] First build - Looking for CPU recommendations

[Dewey Smolka]

On 4/30/06, Chris <ck42 at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Nick wrote:
> > On 30/04/06, Chris <ck42 at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> >> Need a CPU that can comfortably handle two simultaneous recordings from
> >> the PVR500 and a recorded playback all at the same time.
> >> Needs to be able to do all this without any skipping, hesitation, etc.
> >> I'm also taking into consideration heat generation.  Doesn't necessarily
> >> need to be the COOLEST running CPU out there, but I don't want box that
> >> runs hot either.  Price takes a back seat to the above mentioned
> >> requirements.
> >
> > My Celeron 1.3GHz slave backend/frontend managed this, in almost
> > silence. Uses 2x DVB-T cards and 1x PVR-150 card for recording. ATI
> > Radeon 9000 for output to TV. (No HDTV available in the UK)
>
> Celeron 1.3 doing two recordings and a playback(non-HD) w/o any
> problems?? wow!  That's much less HP than I would've expected!

The heavy lifting for capture (with the PVR x50/500) cards is done on
the card. Very little CPU required. The CPU is needed for playback,
for com flagging and transcoding.


> Is the 7600GS overkill in my case?  If a 5200 will do what I need w/o a
> hickup, then that's $$ saved.

Yes, it's overkill. Lot of the newer cards are designed for
power-hungry 3D rendering for games and such. MythTV doesn't require
much in the way of 3D, and you won't really get much of a difference
in performane or appearance with $200 card vs a $50 gf4 or fx5200.

>
> Being new to this, I haven't read anything about commercial flagging and
> how it relates to system resource demands.  I'll need to read up this to
> know if this is something I need to consider or not.  Same for transcoding.

Simply put, com flagging analyzes your recordings to flag where Myth
thinks the commercials are, allowing you to skip them automatically.
Not 100%, but very effective on the whole. Transcoding lets you reduce
the size of your recordings, giving you more room on your disk. Your
choice of CPU won't really affect Myth's ability to do these things,
only the speed at which it does them.