[mythtv-users] Recommendations for new Mythtv Box

[John Goulah]

my comments below:

On Sunday 22 June 2003 5:20 pm, John Rives wrote:

> Processor:
> Athlon XP 2600+ - This is the best bang for the buck right now, IMHO. The
> P4 series is too pricey, but if there was a case+mb+P4 combo that came out
> close to the Athlon pricing I would be very interested.
> Budget: ~$100

this is what i have, works good, get some fans in  your case, athlons are 
toasty

>
> Motherboard:
> Perhaps this section should be labeled: "Chipset HELP!". The nforce2 is
> everywhere, and seems to have good performance. The 48khz audio problems
> scare me, however. Also, I have seen references to issues with the IDE
> controller. The KT333 and KT400 chipsets look like a good value - any
> suggestions? My preference, for what it is worth, is to get something that
> is Mythtv/Linux friendly. The more that can be integrated onboard the
> better.
> Budget ~$120

I have a soyo kt400, it works good with a 2.4.21 kernel and an AGP video card 
(see next), the audio is onboard and works fine (i'm using btaudio for 
capture though, and you should too if you are using more than one tuner, 
unless you want to buy a bunch of soundcards)

>
> Video Card:
> TV-Out or converter cable?!?!?! Geforce? ATI + Cable? This and the
> motherboard are major issues for me right now. I'd absolutely love to hear
> some comments or recommendations from list members. If the motherboard has
> onboard video / TV-out that works, that is fine with me. The most advanced
> GAME that will every be played on this will be something in MAME, so high
> end is not important to me.
> Budget: ~$60

if you get a kt400 board, get an AGP card. I had serious freeze problems with 
a PCI video card. I'm using an Nvidia 440MX SE i believe, and it works fine 
so far


>
> Memory:
> PC2700 or PC3200, hopefully on Sale! 512mb enough??
> Budget: ~$60
>

if you want two encode and a decode at once I would guess at least this much 
memory... 

> Sound Card:
> Audigy? Integrated? One or the other, hopefully.
> Budget: ~$0

the motherboard I have has a onboard soundcard, but you only need it for 
playback if using btaudio, go with onboard if you can

>
> Linux Distribution:
> Gentoo? Mandrake? RedHat? Anything that will work with Mythtv. I'm willing
> to put in the time to figure it out, but the more Myth-friendly it is the
> better. Also, aside from XMLTV it will be behind two layers of firewalls so
> once it works, I don't plan to mess with it much.

i got it working with redhat, i'm sure any distro will work if you follow the 
docs correctly and know how to compile and deal with dependency issues


>
> Any suggestions? Can an Athlon XP 2600+ handle two encodes + one decode
> concurrently? Am I completely out in left field with expectations? Any
> feedback is greatly appreciated!!
>

I'd be interested to know the answer to this too, since I only have one tuner 
now and plan to upgrade