[mythtv-users] newbie setup questions

Thu May 29 14:21:30 EDT 2003

I believe he is refering to the drivers for X windows. It's just
Nvidia's linux based drivers that you can download from
www.nvidia.com.  Correct me if I'm wrong about that.

--- subscriptions <subscriptions at syntrix.net> wrote:
> Thanks guys for your advice.
> 
> I will get the measurements for the space, a bit hard because it's
> new home will be 800 miles away, so getting someone to do that for
> me! But I imagine it would be no bigger in height than a pioneer
> 5.1 AMP. I use a compaq EVO at work, a case that size would be
> great...
> 
> Basically it would be nice to know the specs for a great system AND
> a KIA, why not look at both options....
> 
> and Yes, the hard disk is 120GB!!!
> 
> As for the video card, I am a little confused here.... I went to
> http://tvtool.de/  and looked at cards that only had chips that
> started with NV** (cause I thought that meant they use the NVTV
> chipset?), are they the best performing cards?? I was thinking of
> buying a...
> 
> XFX Geforce2 MX400 64MB SDRAM Model PVT07G-DT With TV-out 
> 
> but you said...
> 
> >  Many work with TV out; my sense, both from my own experiments
> and from
>    >  reading the list is that newer nVidea cards, using nVidea's
> nvidea X driver
>    >  (not XFree86's nv driver) give the most satisfactory
> performance. Check
>    >  www.compugeeks.com for some decent deals at least as of a few
> days ago).
>    >
>    >  The Linux compatibility (actually, XFree86 compatibility)
> issue here is a
>    >  big one. You need a card that has support for both TV-out and
> xVideo (the X
>    >  counterpart to DirectX on Windows). This restricts your
> choices severely
>    >  ... nVidea cards are the only ones I am *sure* support both
> TV-out and
>    >  xVideo ... though I believe *some* Savage cards and some
> older Matrox cards
>    >  (the ones that use the priprietary Matrox X driver) also do.
>   
> So to clarify I should look for a card that supports nividea's X
> DRIVER!? Can you give me some examples of NIVIDEA cards that
> support both TV-out AND XVideo?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>    -------Original Message-------
>    > From: Ray Olszewski 
>    > Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] newbie setup questions
>    > Sent: 29 May 2003 06:54:17
>    >
>    >
>    >  I don't know if I can really say anything useful here, but
> since I saw no
>    >  other responses, I thought I would say what I could.
>    >
>    >  First, when asking for shopping info, it would help if you
> said something
>    >  about where you are located. I infer from your having Comcast
> that you are
>    >  in the USA ... but you aren't even explicit about that. Were
> you near me
>    >  (Northern California), for example, I would suggest some
> offline shopping,
>    >  like checking the Fry's specials this (every) Friday.
>    >
>    >  Second, I don't offhand know how big "5 disc cd changer"
> normally is, or
>    >  how big your "entertainment slots" are, making it hard to
> take that part
>    >  into account. I did measure here and found that a standard
> desktop PC case
>    >  (roughly 17.5" wide, 9" tall, and 17" deep) fits into one of
> my
>    >  entertainment centers, but fails with the other one on depth
> (only). So you
>    >  might want to describe your size constraints a bit more
> explicitly. Be sure
>    >  to allow enough space for the stuff that sticks out the back
> of a pC; its
>    >  connectors tend to be bulkier than typical A-V devices.
>    >
>    >  Third, configuring a system is always, in the end, about
> tradeoffs between
>    >  price and features/convenience. Do you want a Rolls-Royce or
> a KIA? It is
>    >  hard to advise on choices without some sense of your
> willingness to spend.
>    >
>    >  Some specifics follow.
>    >
>    >  At 03:00 PM 5/28/2003 +0000, subscriptions wrote:
>    >  >Hello all
>    >  >
>    >  >I want to start building a mythtv box for my entertainment
> system, as this
>    >  >system looks kick ass, and if anyone has suggestions as to
> the rest of the
>    >  >hardware i need that would be great, as i want to run into
> minimal
>    >  >problems with linux compatibility as I haven't used linux
> much, but hoping
>    >  >to learn more thru this process!
>    >  >
>    >  >I want a case size that will fit into one of my
> entertainment slots, so no
>    >  >bigger than a 5 disc cd changer... and I want it to replace
> my video
>    >  >recorder, so it had to has a tv out. My TV is a 40"+ sony
> trinitron with
>    >  >s-video in. My cable provider is comcast.
>    >  >
>    >  >So far I have...
>    >  >
>    >  >Western Digital SE 120MB 8MB HD
>    >
>    >  I trust you mean 120 GB, not MB.
>    >
>    >  >Hauppauge PVR250 Card
>    >
>    >  Should work fine with Linux. I've used the cheap Hauppauges
> (WinTV Go, from
>    >  before they changed the chipset) for a long time and have
> been very happy
>    >  with them.
>    >
>    >  >I need...
>    >  >
>    >  >graphics card
>    >
>    >  Many work with TV out; my sense, both from my own experiments
> and from
>    >  reading the list is that newer nVidea cards, using nVidea's
> nvidea X driver
>    >  (not XFree86's nv driver) give the most satisfactory
> performance. Check
>    >  www.compugeeks.com for some decent deals at least as of a few
> days ago).
>    >
>    >  The Linux compatibility (actually, XFree86 compatibility)
> issue here is a
>    >  big one. You need a card that has support for both TV-out and
> xVideo (the X
>    >  counterpart to DirectX on Windows). This restricts your
> choices severely
>    >  ... nVidea cards are the only ones I am *sure* support both
> TV-out and
>    >  xVideo ... though I believe *some* Savage cards and some
> older Matrox cards
>    >  (the ones that use the priprietary Matrox X driver) also do.
>    >
>    >  Another option is to run the computer itself with standard
> VGA out and use
>    >  an external VGA-to-NTSC converter. Check the list archives
> for some
>    >  discussion fo this approach; I haven't tried it myself.
>    >
>    >  >  cpu
>    >  >case
>    >  >motherboard (integrated sound/nic)
>    >
>    >  I tend to buy my mobos and CPUs together. Usually, I find it
> cheaper to get
>    >  a mobo either without sound and NIC, or with junky ones, and
> add in PCI
>    >  cards for these functions. My current Myth boxes are Cel 1.7
> GHz using a
>    >  "Gigabyte P4 Titan" mobo ... nothing special about it, just
> what was cheap
>    >  that week. This setup works OK (with an inexpensive AverTV
> vidcap card) but
>    >  is starting to seem a little bit underpowered for "live" TV
> viewing (that
>    >  is, for simultaneous recording and playback). But you are
> using a more
>    >  powerful vidcap card than I use, so your CPU demands should
> be lighter than
>    >  mine.
>    >
>    >  You don't ask about RAM. There is some variation in views,
> but the
>    >  consensus seems to be that *minimum* RAM is 256 MB of PC133
> SDRAM. The
>    >  higher speed of DDR RAM is preferred by many. I've seen no
> consensus about
>    >  whether additional amounts of RAM help or not (I think they
> do not, in a
>    >  1-tuner integrated frontend/backend setup).
>    >
>    >  >  dvd rom
>    >
>    >  I don't have a DVD drive in my MythTV system so cannot fofer
> specific
> 
=== message truncated ===>
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=====
Brock Hatfield
tekchip at yahoo.com
do bee do bee do....beware the penguin

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