[mythtv-users] Dual Core or Dual CPU??

[Chris Glover]

> I was thinking of the DVB-T Nova-T cards, rather than the PVR range -
> but then DVB is already in mpeg isn't it?? So that doesn't even need to
> encode that :-)
>

I'm using 2xNova T's and an Aver Media A800 USB thing. The A800 refused to 
work using the XP drivers when I tested it on my laptop, but it works 
perfectly under Linux! In fact I found the tuner to be better at locking 
to streams with low signal strength than the Hauppauge cards. (BBC HD 
trial from Crystal Palace)

>> On the other hand, forget about a RAID card. If that RAID card goes up
>> in smoke, you'll need to replace it with an exact same one, otherwise
>> the data on those disks will likely be inaccessible. You're better off
>> using Linux software RAID. Hardware RAID cards, contrary to one's first
>> impression, offer little performance benefit over softraid.
>
> My reasoning for a hardware RAID card was for thoughput. No mobo I could
> find would have 8 SATA-II ports on it, and I could only really get PCI
> SATA cards, which them severely limits drive performance to the old PCI
> bus speed. That, plus the online RAID level changes ( eg RAID 5 -> 6 )
> and online expansion seemed to make it worthy. It's fully
> hot-swap\hot-spare too, and even has the ability to link up with other
> RAID cards of the same chipset to give even more expansion. Really quite
> funky for less than £200...
>

I'm using a 3ware 9650 SATA raid controller, which works very well. Nice 
and fast.

I'm running on a Core 2 Duo 2.66G (cant rememebr the number now). This can 
transcode stuff for my ipod in 15mins for 1hours worth of video. This PC 
is also running Asterisk, and various other things like mail and samba for 
5 other PCs. All works great. I have the frontend on a different PC.

HTH

Chris

-- 
Chris
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