Recommended Hardware
From MythTV
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Recommended Hardware
Background
A common question on the user list is "What hardware should I buy?". My goal is to stop these questions from occuring (or at least give a good link to send these people to read). This page will have three parts to it. First will be a rundown on some minimum's for specific tasks, basically a starting point to help users understand what is needed for varying MythTV setups. Next will be set of "Recommended" hardware for various typical system types. Finally, a list of other hardware options to help those looking to upgrade existing systems.
Along with this, I hope to share acquired knowledge on various topics in choosing hardware.
What Do I Need?
Such a loaded question! The answer to which is dependent on your needs. For most, modest hardware can handle the majority of their needs. HDTV has brought a whole new level of requirements, and headaches, but recent price drops in hardware have lowered the cost of entry.
Capturing
Recording TV is the basis of MythTV, and as such will be the starting point of building a system.
Standard Definition Cable (SDC)
Mostly for U.S. users, standard definition cable has very low requirements as far as encoding, storage and playback. The recommended capture cards for SDC are the Hauppauge PVR line of cards, or any IVTV supported TV cards with on-board mpeg2 encoding. The PVR-150 card can be had for about $60US or a dual tuner version, the PVR-500, for $140. There are two versions of these cards, one being the MCE or "Media Center Edition" which is sold sans-remote.
Users can also use cards without on-board mpeg2 encoders but these systems will then require use of the CPU to perform the encoding. As such, if your buying a new tuner card it is recommended to go with one of the above PVR cards.
Satellite
Typically satalite receivers only have standard tv-out and require a ir blaster to control them. I really like using the Microsoft MCE remote combo. More info on irc blasters can be found here. You typically can not receive HD signals via the tuner box.
Update: support is in the works for the Hauppauge HD PVR. It captures component out in up to 1080i. I have confirmed this on my Phillips HD 1080p TV...switching inputs from HDMI to component ...The TV detects both as 1080i and the picture is identical. Info on the product can be found here. MythTv development status can be found here. IR blaster support will be determined upon what satellite box you have. VERY exciting news as DRM and encryption will be a thing of the past with component capture and will be the new milestone for the MythTv community.
HDTV
In the US HDTV can be recorded using an antenna and receiving the Over The Air (OTA) broadcasts, commonly referred to as ATSC, or via their cable providers line, commonly referred to as QAM. All the latest HDTV capable tuners are capable of working with both methods, though their sensitivity to the signals of either system vary, but are all more than capable with a strong clean signal.
With the introduction of the HDHomeRun two methods for recording HDTV are possible. The HDHomeRun is a network connected dual ATSC/QAM tuner. For anyone looking to record two HDTV channels at the same time the HDHomeRun is a hard option to beat. It saves PCI slots and does not rely on the computer power supply which can introduce power issues that have plagued some users.
The other option is with single tuner ATSC/QAM PCI cards. Some options for PCI tuners include the
- pcHDTV HD5500
- Aver A180
- DViCO FusionHDTV5 Lite (requires Linux 2.6.15) This card will also capture NTSC.
- etc.(need to fill this list in..)
There are some ATSC/QAM USB cards that work as well:
- DViCO FusionHDTV5 USB Gold (requires Linux 2.6.16 and the dvb-usb-bluebird-01.fw firmware file)
- DViCO FusionHDTV7 USB (requires Linux 2.6.26 and the dvb-fe-xc5000-1.1.fw firmware file) Awesome gadget.
Check out AntennaWeb to see what kind of antenna you need.
If you're in a strong signal area, the DB2 is great antenna.
Playback
Video Cards
ATI
ATI cards are not recommended at this point in time. ATI currently does not support running MythTV on their hardware, and have no timeline for when this might change. See http://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=26907 for more information.
If you want to try to use ATI, please see AtiProprietaryDriver
Nvidia
Most Nvidia cards will work fine with MythTV, if you want XvMC, you should consider a GeForce FX 5200 or newer. If having a color OSD is important, you need to stick in the GeForce FX 5xxx line of cards.
HD-size content (720 lines or greater) is only usable on FX 5xxx, 6-, 7-, and 8-series cards; AGP or PCIe only. Lesser cards aren't powerful enough to decode the high-resolution MPEG2 video.
As a rule of thumb a 5xxx series card can playback 720p content with out problems, but may stutter with 1080i content; and 1080p blue ray rips will be next to impossible to playback. the same holds true for the 6xxx series.
If you are looking for an Nvidia card that handle anything you can throw at it go for a 7xxx series card with at least a 600mhz GPU clock. Using XvMC I can playback 1080i content flawlessly and playback blue ray MP4 rips using Mplayer. Any card in the 5-7 series CAN work, but for the most compatibility try the 7xxx series if you are in the market for a new video card.
