[mythtv-users] MoBo+PVR150 or 350?

[Lane Schwartz]

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 20:40:46 +0100, Sim <simon.hampton at freebel.net> wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm trying to work out what to build into a budget (except for cool, quiet
> case) PVR box / music player / photo presenter and possibly DVD player, and I
> have some questions.
> 
> For the video part I am simply aiming to replace my old VHS and dont think I
> need very advanced features.
> 
> If I get a motherboard with a TV-Out, will an Athlon 1800+ be sufficient for
> decoding, so that I could just buy a PVR150 for encoding?


If you have a card with hardware MPEG encoding (which the 150, 250,
and 350 all do), then yes, that processor should be OK.

> Alternatively do I need a video card (or at least one with TV out) if I get a
> PVR350?  I thought I read that the 350 is rather limited for displaying
> anything but decoded MPEG2 streams - combination of the itv driver's
> limitations and the need to run X through the 350's framebuffer (and I admit
> I'm not quite sure what I'm writing here).

AFAIK, it depends on what you want to do, and how experimental you want to be.
I *think* (and I don't have a 350, so I can't back this up), that
you're basically right. My suggestion would be to get a mobo that has
TV-out built-in, so you have it if you need it.

> In practice the integrated video cards are so cheap that the first option
> looks like the money saver, but I may have overlooked something.

Not really. Just make sure you get one with nvidia graphics. Most are
based on the 440MX, which should be fine for most stuff.

> I was thinking of building on top of Mandrake 10.1, but I see that most of the
> posts refer to Fedora.  Should that influence my choice?

If you want the broadest base for support, use Fedora. I use Mandrake
on my desktop and laptop and wouldn't think of using anything else.
But, Jarod's excellent guide is based on Fedora, as is Axel's rpm
repository. Because of that, a lot of people on this list (me
included) use Fedora. You'll find it a lot easier to get
troubleshooting advice if you use Fedora and follow Jarod's guide.

> As for the case, what do you recommend?  I think a small form factor is
> necessary.  Frankly the Asus Digimatrix looks the most like consumer
> electronics and will probably fit best with our TV furniture, but I like the
> look of Shuttles, and could be persuaded for anything else I can get in
> Belgium.

I just got the Ahanix X220 from Newegg. I also hear that lots of
people are quite satisfied with the standard Asus Pundit.

HTH,
Lane

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