[mythtv-users] Newbie... Help Requested

[Ben Dash]

--- Marc wrote:
> Does this hardware setup sound reasonable? Anything
> I should look out for? 
> Any recommendations for the usb IR
> receiver/transmitter?

Welcome to a trial by fire.  You're entering as a noob
and if you succeed you'll leave as a guru ;-)

I'd do some googling about your PVR150, maybe ask the
ivtv people if google doesn't present a clear answer,
just to confirm.

800mhz w/256MB RAM should be more than adequate for
standard TV with a PVR x50 MythTV combo
frontend/backend.  You'll want a LOT more hard drive
space, with that old box you may be limited to 120GB. 
Just get a 120GB barracuda or two, they're nice and
quiet and seem to have served me well.

If you want to output onto a TV screen you may want to
look into a simple VGA to composite/s-video/etc.
converter assuming you don't have TV-out onboard and
don't want to buy a new TV out video card, or don't
have space for one.

Many people, probably most, separate the frontend and
backend to a client server setup.  That way your
backend can be busy recording something while your
frontend is turned off or busy doing something else. 
You will probably want to have several frontends, one
for your PC, one for your TV, one for that mini mac
you bought and really had no use for.

I don't know the status of the Windows MythTV
frontend, since I don't use windows at home.  I don't
think that the Windows MythTV frontend is filling the
same niche as the Linux frontend, I see the Windows
version as a normal Windows app rather than a full
screen TV dedicated PVR.  I have managed to stream
mythstreamtv to a windows client though, just to see
if it could be done.

I went with an RS232 serial IR receiver and a
Radioshack 2116 8 in 1 learning remote (JP1 capable to
become a 16 in 1 macro learning remote).

You may like to try one of the LiveCD distributings,
like knoppmyth to see if you have an instant solution.
 If that fails then it's time to get your hands dirty
and start advancing up that ice wall learning curve by
picking a distribution (Fedora, Gentoo, Debian,
Ubuntu, DSL, or whatever), doing lots of googling, and
building your dream PVR from its component pieces.

I wasn't joking about the trail by fire.  If you're a
linux noob this'll either make you or break you.  If
you succeed you'll be wondering why people think linux
isn't "ready for the desktop".  If you fail, you'll
know that linux isn't ready for anything ;-)

It sounds like you've already used this box for linux
before, so you should have no problems, let us know
how it goes.

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|Ben Dash                                           |
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