[mythtv-users] Power to the Masses (CPU Power that is) - LONG!!

[Howard Cokl]

You don't need the 350 since it won't be outputting
video since it's a backend.

You need the good video card on the frontend, I don't
think the 350 will do HDTV so get a 250, I use an
nVidia FX 5200.

I am a huge AMD fan but I think Intel has the edge in
this type of setup.  I have an Athlon 2700+ and can't
watch live TV without XvMC.  You need alot of CPU for
Live HDTV.

I would also stay away from via chipsets, just my
experience with them in the past and currently have a
via based board in my myth box now and if I load the
via-agp module it breaks XvMC.

Just my 2 cents, not looking to start a fight over
this.


--- "Richard J. Sears" <rsears at americanIS.net> wrote:
> Hey Everyone - 
> 
> I need a little help to steer clear of any landmines
> out there. I have
> read a lot of different stuff on hardware and
> software, drivers, video
> cards etc, and I have come up with a list of what I
> THINK will work, but
> was hoping someone could eye it over for any flaws
> before my building
> process starts.
> 
> 
> What I want to do is have a dedicated backend system
> for grabbing all of
> my video stuff which will reside in my office and
> several "frontend"
> systems in the house for just watching the stuff off
> the backend. 
> 
> I have a cable tv connection, an external HD
> antenna, and around 250
> DVDs I want to put on the system for playing without
> having to load the
> dvds. I also have around 10,000 MP3s from my cd
> collections I want to
> load on the system.
> 
> Here is the plan for the backend:
> 
> HD-3000 HDTV PCI Card
> 
> Hauppauge WinTV PVR-350 (someone said you cannot
> watch DVD's with this
> card, has that been corrected, or should I stick
> with the 250..?)
> 
> LSI Login MegaRAID SATA Controller
> 
> 4 x Maxtor 300GB Hard Drives (RAID 5)
> 
> 
> Questions for the backend system:
> 
> Do I need a real good video card for this system
> since it will not be
> hooked to a TV at all...?
> 
> Do I need a decent sound card to capture the sound,
> or will the ivtv
> driver work for both the 250/350 and the HD-3000
> 
> How powerful of a CPU do I need to handle the HDTV
> stuff. I realize that
> the 350 has a builtin hardware mpeg encoder/decoder,
> but I am not sure
> about the HDTV side of the house. 
> 
> Do I need a separate tuner card in the backend
> system for each frontend
> system in order for them to watch separate 'live'
> channels..? SO if I
> had 3 frontend systems that wanted to watch
> different 'live' channels, I
> would need 3 x PVR-350's..?
> 
> 
> 
> On the frontend, I assume that I need
> 
> 1) Hard Drive
> 2) Good Video Card
> 3) Good Sound Card
> 
> The hard drive does not have to be that big because
> its only going to
> run the front end application correct..? No need for
> mysql, and all the
> extra stuff that had to been installed in the
> backend, or am I incorrect
> here..?
> 
> On the video card, I was told to use a card that
> supported XV. I was
> hoping to use a nice ATI or NVidia that would
> support component out as
> opposed to composite or S-Video. But how powerful of
> a card do I need
> 
> Also, how powerful a machine and video card do I
> need on the front end
> to watch the HDTV stuff, or is all of that
> processing done on the
> backend system and just streamed to the frontend..?
> I was thinking of
> running the ASUS Pundit as my front end systems
> (with a different video
> card (if necessary)).
> 
> 
> Thanks for any input anyone may have !!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ******************************************
> Richard J. Sears
> Vice President         
> American Internet Services                          
> ----------------------------------------------------
> rsears at adnc.com
> http://www.adnc.com
> ----------------------------------------------------
> 858.576.4272 - Phone
> 858.427.2401 - Fax
> INOC-DBA - 6130
> ----------------------------------------------------
> 
> I fly because it releases my mind 
> from the tyranny of petty things . . 
> 
> 
> "Work like you don't need the money, love like
> you've
> never been hurt and dance like you do when nobody's
> watching."
> 
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