[mythtv-users] Anyone familiar with Shuttle computers?

[Chris Petersen]

> Does anyone have anything good/bad to say about these as a basis?

They're good boxes, decent cooling (I've built a few, and have one on my
desk at work).  keep in mind that they are *not* quieter than the
average desktop - in fact, I'd say that they are as noisy as the average
desktop (though much quieter than my dual athlon)

> What processor should I choose, given that the box is only for running
> Myth (with a TV card with hardware MPEG)? I don't want to spend more
> than necessary but also don;t want ot to struggle.

Depends on what you want.  If you're going for hardware mpeg, stick to
as slow of a processor as you can get.  Spend a little less and don't
get the 857 chipset shuttle - the older chipsets (SiS included) have
dropped in price, and if you're not paying for the 800Mhz FSB proc,
there's no need to pay for it on the motherboard, either.

Avoid AMD (I know that this is generally a bone of contention, but my
company ships > 10 times as many intel machines as AMD/Athlon, and we
see *more* AMD machines come back with problems, so call this an
educated opinion).  They're cheap, I have one for my personal
workstation at home, but if you can afford to pay a little more and get
an intel proc, do so.  (granted, the opteron series looks promising, but
we haven't had enough time to thoroughly burn/field test them yet)

> Does the TV output need a separate output card, or can a TV output from
> the graphics controller be used if the motherboard has one?

Should work fine as long as you can find drivers for it.  Pretty sure
that there are linux drivers for the onboard shuttle stuff, but I've
only used that in console mode in linux.

In the end, I went with a pundit because they're quieter.  If noise
doesn't concern you, it's a safe bet that the intel chipset shuttles are
slightly better quality than the pundit or their SiS counterparts.

-Chris