[mythtv-users] Setting up, checking system, and hopefully help others.

Sat Jul 16 01:14:54 EDT 2005

In Advanced, I didn't double read this thing, I started typing at
around 11AM, and finished around 1AM with part searching and such, and
decided to just send it in. In Advanced, thanks to anyone who helps.

OK, well I am going to be setting up a pretty advanced MythTV network
in my house very soon. So before I do, and before I buy anything, (I
got like one or two months before I will have the urge killing me to
build it) I want to check all my hardware and see how I can optimize.
I want to make this thread really in depth for the most part, because
all the guides I see right now, don't really make it affable, or
really explain how to do it. So for the entire time I from now till
end of building, and compiling, I will be taking photos, and keeping
notes. In the end of all this, I will create a web page that describes
everything I am doing, so even a village idiot can  do what I plan to
do.

For convince, I won't be posting links in the text instead you will
see "(see below for link)" and at the bottom their will be links to
the product, and maybe to some retailers. Or links to where the
information came from. Kinda like citation, but less formal.

Some notes before I start.
Cable Service Provider: iO digital cable (See Link Below) for which I
have 3 set top boxes.

The Operation system I have choose for all these boxes will be
KnoppMyth except for maybe the backend which might Fedora Core 4.

That's all I can think of right now.

OK, lets begging with what I have in my head.

For my Master Backend, I am converting an old (not that old)
workstation to do almost all the work. Its an AMD XP 2400 (2 GHz)
Underclocked to an AMD XP 2000 (1.8 GHz). It has one gig of ram, and
since I took some parts out. An ATI Radeon with 32 megs of ram. Has a
nice DVD+/-RW drive. Built in it has 2 10/100 NICs, and bunches of USB
ports. Also has 5.1 integrated surround sound.

  I just got a GREAT deal on 500gig External fire wire hard drives, so
I have 5 LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500GB (see below for link) for a total
of 2.5TB. So storage is no problem. I am taking 2 out to be used as
raid storage for my personal movie collection, and other things that I
want to make sure don't go up in flames if a drive fails. So that
leaves me with 3 drives or 1.5TB should give me plenty of recording
time =)

For the TV tuner cards, I really want MPEG4 encoding (DIVX codex if
possible) only because I find it so much better in both quality and
file size. So in that respect I am looking at a Japanese company named
NEXX NTVC-760 MPEG4 TV Tuner (See Link Below). I am seriously in love
with this card. It has really great coding resolutions in DIVX, and
does both audio and video. Plus if I need to, it can be down graded to
MPEG1/2 so, no matter what this card can do what I want. I really want
the Back end to do my all my capture, so I would be getting 3 of
these.

One Problem with this card is that the company doesn't really have
good American relations, so none of the products are here in the US. I
have emailed asking if the card would support Linux, and possible
release dates, haven't got a response yet, will resend out. I have
looked at other MPEG4 cards, such as MSI tv at nywhere, however I am not
impressed by it. Also I am looking at the Linux pcHDTV HD-3000, but
again that is MPEG2 but its still a nice card. In any case I am open
to suggestions.

I going to need a IR Blaster to communicate with the set top boxes,
and seeing how I need more then one, I figured USB was the way to go.
Didn't do too much research into it, but I think I am going to go with
USB-UIRT IR Blaster (See Link Below) Another question about the IR
remote, is will I be able to control the remote when ordering a movie
on demand, and that sort of thing.

This looks good to me, however if I am missing anything important
parts or there is something that is incompatible, post it and I will
correct it.

OK Moving on to the Front Ends. 

Since these are all going to be new boxes, I wanted to make it a
little flash, and since there is going to be 3 of them I wanted to
make em as cheap as possible. (the two really don't go together do
they)

For the case I did a little research right now I am thinking about MSI
Mega 865 PRO (See Link Below) This gives me a lot of power in a small
amount of space. 6USB ports fire wire ports, wired and wireless
network power, and 1 VGA/1 PCI slot  and it is its own media center if
it isn't turned on as a computer. So its really a lot of power in a
small space. Now I have a really big question that will decide if I go
with this or not..

WILL THE REMOTE THAT COMES WITH IT BE ABLE TO CONTROL MYTHTV?

OK, I'll make what I have inside short.
DVD+/-RW drive (See Link Below)
Seagate Barracuda40GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM (See
Link Below)
1gig OCZ duel channel DDR-333 RAM. (See Link Below)
Intel Celeron D (I hate Celeron, but they are cheap) 2.66 GHz
Processor (See Link Below)

This is all I need to have it running. But now for TV out. I really
don't know, so that's a question I must ask. WHAT WILL BE THE BEST TV
OUT CARD? Now I might go with a Hauppauge WinTV PVR 350 if the card
that I want the backend to use, doesn't come out in time. This raises
another question. CAN I HAVE FRONTENDS HAVE ALL RECORDED DATA SENT TO
A BACKEND? The fire wire drives are both to big, and run to hot to be
connected to the front ends. And as such need to be kept in the
basement where the backend will be.

OK, how does this setup look, Please brutalize it as much as you
possible can. And if possible give me better cost/quality ratio
products.

I am open to suggestions and if you want to contact me at any time,
you can do so using:
EMAIL – georgyo at gmail.com
AIM – GE0RGY0
MSN – georgyo at gmail.com

LINKS

  iO digital cable
	http://www.io.tv/

LaCie Big Disk Extreme 500GB:
	http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10491

NEXX NTVC-760 MPEG4 TV Tuner
	http://www.nexxpro.biz/ww/products/NTVC-760Series/

USB-UIRT IR Blaster
	http://store.snapstreamstore.com/usb-uirt.html

MSI Mega 865 PRO
	http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16856101233
	http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=MEGA_865_PRO&class=mega

Front End Parts
	DVD+/-RW drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827152039
	Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148013
	RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820146996
	Processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819112193