[mythtv-users] Yet another noobie sanity check ;-)

[David]

Brad wrote:

> I've been watching this list for a couple months now and have waded 
> through the messages more times than I care to admit, but being a 
> complete noob to all this I'm forced to ask for the lists guidance 
> with my hardware purchase. I know, I know... I've seen the countless 
> other similar requests, but naturally, they don't cover my intended 
> combinations. Its a lot of money, and hopefully someone with more 
> knowledge can confirm I'm not throwing it out the window.
>
> This is intended to be a combined front/backend. Mostly for TV 
> recording and playback (via s-video and tv-out), storage, playing and 
> ripping of DIVX and MPG4 movies, DVDs, also a music server for all my 
> CDs (I plan to rip them all eventually). I also want to have it act as 
> a file server for my Mac

ah, _that's_ why you're short of cash ;)

> , probably via SMB, but I can work that out later. Its, hopefully, 
> going to be in my living room - so it needs to be quiet. I want to be 
> able to add more video capture cards in the future and possibly a 
> separate myth frontend for the bedroom.
>
> Case        Asus Aria

Lovely case (Antec? Aria)
looks small - I'd worry about heat.

> 2) is there any point in a writeable DVD drive? Form what I can tell, 
> Myth doesn't support writing dvds yet, if its even possible from Linux.

Mine get very hot.
And if you're doing video editing etc you need a full desktop install - 
yes it's possible - I've written all my Farscapes to DVD's with menus, 
nice covers etc.
I'd install a DVD ROM instead and put a writer in a remote machine that 
you can sit down at and edit.
(You could always use network block device support to make the writer 
appear local in the future - I'm playing with this now and it seems OK)

>
> 3) can someone suggest a quiet cpu cooler that fits in this case?

SilentBoost

>
> 4) can I really get away with 256Mb Ram? I'm trying to keep the costs 
> down (its already more than I was prepared to spend)

probably if you only run Myth and don't use it as a desktop - prepare to 
upgrade later when you run a second backend.

>
> 5) how much space is needed for the system? I'm hoping to install a 
> small HD with just the system on it. I have a few *old* drives, maybe 
> 1.6G - 3G lying around... is that enough? I'm probably dreaming, but 
> I'd like not to have to buy a 40G just for the system.

Don't use a second HD for the system - too much heat (and old drives are 
noisy too). HDs generate a ton of it!
Also don't use a 7200rpm disk for the main drive if poss - they run hot too.
If possible get a Maxtor Maxline II 5400rpm 300Gb (less cache, slower 
but more than adequate for a PVR)
The extra space is useful and use a 5G partition for the sytem.

David