[mythtv-users] Dream System .... almost

[Edward Wildgoose]

> Here's the Existing Hardware that I have
> PIII 550

Have a gander at the mythtv faq page (it's under the Documentation link at http://www.mythtv.org).  

For compressing video the recommendation is having roughly 1Ghz per TV card.  In addition to this you will need some spare CPU for playback - perhaps 500Mhz would be minimal, more would be better.  Ie you are looking at around 1.5Ghz (at least) for record and playback at the same time (which is how live tv works)

Your cheapest and best quality way forward might well be to look for a PVR350 card.  This will give you excellent quality TV out, and hardware assisted compression and playback.  You should only need a very small CPU to power this, your 550 would probably be adequate for example. 

Good luck




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