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

[Couvrette, Jeffrey C.]

It's getting old, but the Asus Pundit is still a great system for a MythTV
Frontend/Backend.  It's quite and small and cheap.  For $150 (newegg.com),
you get a case, PSU, and motherboard with graphics, 5.1 audio, network,
firewire, USB2, 2 PCI ports, PCMCIA Port - in a nice package.  I use one and
would highly recommend it.  The picture quality is good, as is the sound (I
use optical).  I can't hear it running in my quiet living room.  I would
also recommend an infrared keyboard/mouse unit and then programming a
universal remote to enter your key strokes.  But a remote does come with the
PVR-250 as well.  There is also lots of help in the community from other
Pundit users and very specific set up guides with Fedora Core 1.

Pundit	$150
Hard Drive	$200	250G
Memory	$80	512MB	
PVR-250	$133
DVD-ROM	$50
Processor	$70	2.4GHz Celeron
TOTAL		$683
US->CN$	$898

Just my two cents, though.

Jeff

>I've checked out the CoolerMaster, and do like it. However, getting 
>that and then the other required bits (power supply, fan, etc) pushes 
>the price up for the system more than I'm willing to go (heck, I'm 
>not even sure all this is going to work yet). I can get the Aria for 
>$139 (CDN) with PS, while the Coolermaster is $153 and I still need 
>to buy those other parts. Basically, I'm bumping my head on my 
>self-imposed $1000 (cdn) budget for this project. 
>
>As this is solely meant as a server, I'm not looking for killer 
>speed. MythTV is definitely the biggest load on the system. I much 
>more concerned with keeping it quiet and thus cool. 
>
>It sounded like people were warning me away from the AMD Thoroughbred 
>XP2000 due to heat concerns. The processor I'm thinking of using now 
>is "AMD MOBILE ATHLON XP-M 2400+ 1.8GHz 266FSB BARTON 45W 1.45V OEM" 
>($125), basically the lowest end mobile proc I can find. I can use 
>this in a Socket A board? Anything weird I need to know about 
>(heatsinc, fan issues perhaps)? If I went the other direction and got 
>a Duron 1800, is that powerful enough to handle things like MPEG2 to 
>MPEG4 transcoding and DVD decoding? Would that produce even less 
>heat? Its definitely a lot cheaper ($75). 
>
>I think the motherboard may be a little overkill too actually. 
>Considering that I'm not using the built-in video at all (I will only 
>need TV out or S-video once its all set up), I think I'm paying a 
>premium for that in the Shuttle MN31N. I really wanted an AMD mobo 
>with onboard tv-out, 5.1, spdif, firewire, usb2, and gigbit ethernet 
>(to talk to my screaming fast mac). I know now that expecting so much 
>was folly! ;-) The shuttle seamed a good choice as it offered most of 
>what I wanted onboard, except TVout which could be added in the AGP, 
>preserving the 3 PCI slots for 2 PVR x50's and leaving one slot for 
>gigabit ethernet if I dare (providing this thing isn't literally 
>smoking by then). Anyone aware of a better/cheaper mATX mobo that 
>could fit my bill? 
>
>Thanks again for all the help so far! 
>
>Brad