[mythtv-users] Choices to make...

[Ken Bass]

  From what I have seen all the small form factor machines are very limited 
in the
number of PCI/AGP slots there are.  If I recall the Shuttle XPC boxes only have
1 PCI and 1 AGP slot. Maybe there are other models that I didn't come 
across in
my own research, but you wont be able to get your 2 PVR's + a Geforce in there.
Since your question was related to running over a network, maybe you meant to
say the backend would have 2 PVRs and the Shuttle XPC frontend will be just 
for
the AGP Geforce4. I am returning my Asus Pundit because it only has 2 PCI 
slots,
no AGP, and no floppy capability (not even on the motherboard-try flashing 
a bios!).
I guess the client/server stuff isn't for everyone - I don't want multiple 
computers powered
up all over the house. I want a PCI slot for a cheapie modem so that I can 
work on
integrating caller ID into the Myth OSD.

I'm going to replace it with the Antec Sonata - low costs and also quiet. 
That will allow
a full ATX motherboard and expansion capabilities. If I wanted to drop some 
bigger bucks, see http://www.digitalconnection.com/products/cases/ht200.asp 
- that takes a full ATX motherboard and looks
like a stereo component, has an LCD screen, and comes with an IR remote option.

At 12:49 PM 08/20/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>What I would like to do is get a small case like the Shuttle XPC or the
>like and make it a MythTV frontend with 2 PVR-250's, a GeForce4 MX 440,
>256 MB and a relatively small hard drive (20-30 GB) for the OS & swap.
>I don't want to load this box with storage (only 1 hard drive) to keep
>the size small.  I would want to use the storage space (I love LVM) on
>the main servers to hold all the content.