[mythtv-users] New to building computers and MythTV

[R. G. Newbury]

Rod Smith wrote:
> On Wednesday 21 March 2007 12:29, Jon Sustar wrote:
>>> What types of broadcasts do you want to record, HiDef or Standard TV.
>> Standard TV

You have not said where you are in the world. If you are in North 
America, you REALLY have to consider the upgrade path you will have to 
follow. Analog signals are going away in the not too distant future and 
digital will be it. "Standard TV' as in 525 line NTSC level content will 
  continue to exist for years but new content will be at higher definition.

Yes its easy to do a low power analog only box, but you will need more 
CPU power or better video output to do HD.

Just as an example, there are digital tuner cards (HD3000, HD5500) which 
will do both analog and digital tuning. But there is no analog to 
digital compression onboard, like the PVT150/500 have. So you need more 
CPU power, *while recording*. On the display end, nvidia 5200/6200 cards 
are cheap. They have lots of onboard hardware to speed up display 
output, but you DO need a minimum level of CPU 'grunt' to do HD levels.

If you have no problem junking the box in a year and a half of so, then 
none of this is important *today*. But you may want to consider these 
things. Remeber too, that the requirements for the backend are NOT the 
same as for a frontend. And even some of the backend requirements can be 
side-stepped or downgraded if you use an HDHomeRun for digital 
receptiom...Then the box only needs masses of storage... Although 2 
network interfaces would be nice..unless you already have a router.

I suggest you browse the hardware sections of the wiki, and some of the 
'what hardware' threads on the list archive at gossamer-threads.

This IS one area where a LOT of thinking beforehand can avoid all sorts 
of later grief.


Geoff


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