[mythtv-users] Building a Simple, Barebones, Minimalist, Cheap Backend

[David C. Uhrig]

On Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 9:38 AM, Ivan Kowalenko <kichigaimentat at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hey all. It seems my repurposed HP Pavilion is giving me some trouble,
> and this might just be the excuse I need for a new back end system.
> I'm looking at making something smallish (mini-tower or smaller,
> hopefully), low powered (Geode or Atom might be cool), and cheap (Sub-
> $250, circa-$100 hopefully). I've already got a capture card
> (PVR-150), and a pair of hard disks (one 6GB drive for the OS, one 250
> GB drive for recordings, both PATA), and I'm not looking for any real
> playback capabilities (I use my laptop as an incidental front-end as
> I'm the only user of the system). Any advice on where to find
> hardware? I've looked around at NewEgg and TigerDirect, so far I've
> got an OK system put together for about $125, but it's using a Via C3,
> and I have no idea what those things are like. Any advice?
>
> Thanks for your time!
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>

Hi Ivan,

    My current backend is using an Intel Celeron 440 Conroe-L (2.0GHz,
Socket 775, 35W, Single Core, only 512KB L2 Cache though). This costs $53 at
Newegg right now [1], while the 1.8 GHz model (430) is about $39 [2], and
they also have some slower dual-core processors around the same price point.
You can get a socket 775 motherboard for pretty cheap, as well as a case/PSU
combo.

    My backend has no problem capturing from two input cards (non-HD,
though) and play back a recording without any hiccups. It also lets you
leave open the possibility of using PCI Express capture cards, more RAM, and
a CPU upgrade in the future without needing to overhaul the entire box.

-David C. Uhrig

[1] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116038
[2] http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116039
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