[mythtv-users] System Setup: Dual Opterons, Firewire, Xvmc, Homebrew Lirc, 64-bit packages, Hdtv (DVI to HDMI), Panasonic PT-AE700U Projector, Optical Digital Audio Surround Output

Wed Aug 24 17:16:05 UTC 2005

What exactly do you mean "XVMC is spotty at best (it works every 5th or
6th time)."? Is it that every time you try and play a video, it takes 4
or 5 tries for it to appear?

The 80gb is just a spare drive I have :-D

Anybody have any idea if it is possible to dual-head, with mythtv on one
head and the standard desktop environment on the other? I'd like to be
able to monitor log files, display system information, etc on a second
monitor.

Also, the dual processors were aimed at speeding up encoding (I would
like for it to be able to keep up with the rate at which I record shows,
ie encode a show every 4 hours or so MAX, + encoding DVDs

Thanks for the feedback so far guys!

Matthew Mousseau
AMSVans, Inc. Webmaster
matt at amsvans.com

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of David Ellis
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 12:56 PM
To: 'Discussion about mythtv'
Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] System Setup: Dual Opterons, Firewire,
Xvmc,Homebrew Lirc, 64-bit packages, Hdtv (DVI to HDMI),Panasonic
PT-AE700U Projector, Optical Digital Audio Surround Output

A general note on 64 bit MythTV.

1)       64 Bit MythTV works with some caveats.

a.       Xvmc drivers for Nvidia hardware (from Nvidia) are really bad
with current (7667) releases....hopefully this will improve later, but
for now 64bit XVMC is spotty at best (it works every 5th or 6th time).

b.       MythTV itself is pretty stable on 64bit Linux (I run my backend
24x7 - I've had three crashes in three months - not too bad).

c.       Mplayer/Xine work, but have limited codecs for some third party
AVI's - basically anything that requires a 32bit codec WON'T work -
until the 64 bit implementations are more readily available.

2)       64 bit Linux is pretty mature with support for most packages:

a.       I run mtd for ripping DVD's

b.       Lirc

c.       Apache2 for mythweb 

d.       Asterisk

e.       X10 Home Automation thru CM11U and Firecracker

f.         Samba

g.       Postfix/Cyrus IMAP & POP

h.       WUFTP

i.         Tinyftp

j.         Sphinx2

k.       Festival

l.         phpBBS

To sum it up, if you absolutely must have the 32bit codecs (ie. You have
a lot of pre-existing AVI's), or you absolutely must have XVMC
acceleration for HDTV (I do my HDTV thru xv) you should go the 32bit
route. Given your processor specs, HDTV will be fine with a good Nvidia
class AGP/PCI-E card (5200 or better, recommend the 6600). For example
my HDTV 

David

  _____  

From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Greg Depasse
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 12:34 PM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] System Setup: Dual Opterons, Firewire,
Xvmc,Homebrew Lirc, 64-bit packages, Hdtv (DVI to HDMI),Panasonic
PT-AE700U Projector, Optical Digital Audio Surround Output

On 8/24/05, Matt Mousseau <matt at amsvans.com> wrote:

I'm looking to put together the system to end all systems. I believe I
have spec'd out all the hardware, but I was hoping to get some feedback
on everyone's experiences with each individual aspect of the system.
First I will post the proposed specs, then the desired software /
hardware behavior, then questions that I'm concerned with at the moment.
If anyone thinks of something I may have missed, please let me know!

Also, as I build this I will be writing a guide. I am very much new to
linux, so it should be helpful to the "n00bs" in the community.

System:

Mobo: TYAN S2885ANRF (
<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813151120>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813151120 )

Proc:  AMD Opteron 246 SledgeHammer 400MHz FSB (
<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103412>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103412)

Raid:  HighPoint ROCKETRAID2220 PCI-X SATA Controller (
<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16816115022>
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16816115022 )

Ram:  Thinking around 1gb / chip

HD's:  4x400gb SATA For my "archive" ; 2x250gb SATA "working"; 1x160gb
PATA "music" ; 1x80gb PATA "boot"

Firewire:  Basic 4 Port controller (for hookup to my HDTV recievers)

Nic's:  Thinking the onboards should work, will add new ones if
necessary

Audio: Need a recomendation here, onboard is Coax SPDIF, was looking for
an optical solution (longer run so i'm concerned about noise)

Graphics: Recommendations are good here too, I want DVI to HDMI for my
projector, as well as a second monitor running (for diagnostics, etc...)

Hi Matt-
As a noob who has the same mobo I'd love to see what you come up with.
I haven't been able to get mine up and running.  Of course, the bulk of
my problems have been trying to get a PVR-250 running (which you don't
have spec'd).  The rest of the mobo stuff works great.

I had the same plan as you (although not quite as extensive in the
automation dept).  I bought the same mobo and CPUs.  I also bought a
couple PVR-250's, only to find out that this mobo only has 1 slot
compatible with the cards.  I've been trying on and off since April to
get this working.  My wife and and I had our first child in March, so
their hasn't been much free time for me to work on this.  I tried the
64-bit OS route and found that I didn't gain much except a headache (be
careful of some of the software repository issues regarding the 64-bit
distros), so I reverted to the 32-bit versions.  I've tried FC3 (jarod's
guide), knoppmyth, gentoo, and suse 9.3.  (And I'm about to try the new
version of MythDora).  I couldn't get any of them to work with either of
my PVR-250s.   It's been a couple months since I've last attempted an
install, and I'm sure much has improved in the 64-bit area since then so
good luck.  I'm not a linux guru, which definitely accounts for some of
the delay in getting this to work.  My guess is that you will have
better luck.  

Greg

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