[mythtv-users] Future Myth user with questions -- ME6000 or not?

[Clay]

I've been hovering over all that is MythTV-related for the past few 
months and am ready to build my own machine, since most hardware I'd be 
using is now supported (what seems to be) well.  However, considering 
that I don't want to lay down over $400 for a Myth frontend/backend 
machine and find out I'm not going to have smooth sailing, I've got 
some questions for the board.  (I understand you get this a lot, and I 
apologize if I'm just repeating past posts -- I tried searching the 
archives to make sure I'm not just repeating stale information.)

My goal is a Myth machine (that is dedicated to ONLY Myth and maybe DVD 
viewing in the future) that is as quiet as possible, since constant CPU 
fan noise drives me nuts and I plan for the box to go next to my TV in 
the living room.  I'm interested in building a VIA EPIA ME6000-based 
machine for this purpose that would serve as its own frontend/backend 
-- in other words, a standalone Myth machine.  (I considered a Pundit, 
but maybe that'll be in the future -- I want as little noise as 
possible, and the fact that the Pundit even has a CPU fan turns me 
off.)  I saw a recent post showing some success with an ME6000 Myth 
machine, so obviously the lagging CPU is no longer much of an issue.  
However, I'm curious: should I purchase a WinTV PVR 350 rather than a 
250 for the ME6000?  I've heard mixed reviews on the TV-out quality of 
the EPIA series, and I want the highest quality I can get.  My goal is 
for this near-silent Myth machine to be as close to the original TV 
quality, if not the same quality, as possible (coming from analog 
cable).  It seems the consensus on the PVR 350 is that it has possibly 
the best TV-out quality for the purposes of viewing video (ie, cable 
content from the hardware MPEG2 encoder) on a standard TV from a Myth 
box; is this true or am I misinformed?

Sorry for the long post.  I've been psyched for months to get this 
project started, and it seems hardware support has matured to the point 
where I can begin.  Am I completely off-base in thinking that an ME6000 
machine with about 512 megs of RAM will be better off for TV viewing 
with a PVR 350, or would it be smarter to just get a PVR 250 and rely 
on the ME6000's TV out?  Or am I headed in the complete wrong direction 
with this machine?

Thanks for any suggestions and input.