[mythtv-users] VIA ITX and case recommendations for MythTV

[R. G. Newbury]

John Fountain wrote:
>> There seems to be quite a lot of ITX boards to choose from,
>> has anyone got any recommendations,
>> also suitable cases ?

I'm running an SP13000 in a Silverstone LC11M.
The Via boards can be confusing as there are multiple chipsets and the 
capabilities are not always easily discoverable.
The SP13000 has the VT1623 tv out chipset, with an S-video plug built 
in. That does Standard Def without difficulty, and I can do HD using the 
  VGA output. But I just bought an antenna last week (this morning's job 
is to mount it) and I have not really checked out the HD capability.

There are LVDS/DVI daughterboards for some VIA MB's and some MB's have 
other optputs. The full capabilities of some of the HD capable TV chips 
have not been achieved however by the openchrome group developers, 
mainly, it appears because Via will not release enough data...

So take care to match your desires with your capabilities.

With the right tuner hardware, this box will record 4 SD streams at 
once, and play back a recorded SD program. I have a PVR500, and an 
(external) HdHomeRun..-> 4 streams.

But I am worried that I will have to change the box or the motherboard 
if i want to do full HD..and I should (cross fingers!) have about a 
dozen digital channels incoming by late this afternoon. Damn I hate 
fishing coax cable through the joists and down a wallspace.


The LC11M case is a very striking stereo-receiver sized case. It comes 
with a VFD and IR receiver, and a remote (Imon PAD handled by lirc) and 
it works fine! One of the original 80mm case fans was a little loud for 
my liking as was the 40mm CPU fan. I replaced them with Silenx versions 
for about $30 CDN total and the noise went way down. The power supply 
has started to make a little white noise and probably needs a few 
minutes of Q-tip maintenance to clean its fan blades. It's been over a 
year and a half..


The case has physical space for 3 PCI cards, mounted horizontally, on 
the back. To match a PCI card to the case with the single PCI slot VIA 
board, you need the Via-original 2 slot PCI riser card and a flexible 
PCI extender. You need the Via riser to handle the electrical connection 
properly (which normal risers do not do). You need the flexible extender 
  to adjust for physical mis-alignment. Together about $40.00.

With the proviso that you might need those adjusters, this case and 
board combination is really nice.

But, as I said, I don't know if it will handle HD very well. I think it 
can...but I will have to wait and see....

Hope this helps.

Geoff