[mythtv-users] UK based system

[Greg Cope]

2009/7/6 Jason Ward <Jason.Ward at 3dtlimited.com>:
> I've been looking around for someone in the UK that makes and sells Myth
> systems, I've found one, but unfortunatly not somone I feel able to trust.
>
> So it looks like I will need to do it myself.
>
> What I want is back end system with 2 dual tuners for DVB-T (Freeview) and
> either a dual tuner or two tuners for HD Satellite (Freesat).
>
> I then want two silent or near silent front end systems.
>
> I've read the hardware requirements wiki page, and looked at various cards
> avaialble to me.  I was hoping for an upto date shopping list, this as you
> probably all know, not the case.
>
> I think I've got the Freeview/DVB-T cards I need as Hauppague WinTV NovaT
> digital PCI TV card however I can't find a HD Satellite card, do any exist?
> Or am I trying to reach for the impossible?

- Freeview is fine - my NovaT's have been recording for years (4?)
- HD Sat I believe is still in its infancy.  You may need to research this.

> What I'm also not sure about is how much processing power I will need, I was
> thinking Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 socket AM2+ motherboard with AMD Phenom 9950
> Quad Core Socket AM2+ Processor with 8GB Ram.  But I quite honestly don't
> know if I'm over doing it, under doing it, or getting it about right.  The
> only thing that will run on this system with be the Myth backend.

For the backend you need;

- LOTS of disk space - performance is really an issue, I would suggest
the large "green" drives
- Not too much CPU power UNLESS you are transcoding/advert skipping,
however as advert skipping is not possible on Freeview (unless I
missed something) you will not be doing that.
- A case to put all the disks in
- Somewhere to put said case that has a network connection, power and
sat cables that does not get to warm.
- A CPU and memory to boot the OS - 1Gb should be fine.  A gain nothing special

The easiest to make this quite is to put it somewhere where you do not
care about the noise.  Garages/Cupboards are good.

One point to note is that this part will be on all the time so looking
for low power components (disk/CPU) will save allot of money (and
heat)!

> What do people think I shoud be looking at for the front end devices?  Again
> they will be single use, i.e. to play back running the Myth front end.  What
> I want is guidance on the minimum spec I would need so as to know I'm going
> to have a good experience playing HD content.

For front ends you need;

- good network connectivity to the backed (wireless (G/N spec) is not
sufficient)
- Reasonable CPU (nothing too drastic) if you are using hardware MPEG decoding)
- Nvidia seem to be making the best MPEC decoding cards - again
nothing major - but something that does VDPAU - Ion based Nettop
platforms may work well in this context (Nvidia 9400M, Atom Proc in a
small desktop case - some attach to the rear of monitors/tvs.)

> I also have some questions, I've played with a MythTV system I purchased
> from supplier I won't be using again, but I have had a number of problems, I
> wanted to know if they were perculiar to what I purchased or wether they are
> part of how Myth behaves.  When recording radio broadcasts transmitted over
> Freeview Myth doesnt seem to realise its audio only, is there a way to fix
> this?  I've also found that my Myth system just stops recording from time to
> time, there is diskspace to hold the recordings and they are marked in the
> database as having been recorded... they just are not there, I am presuming
> that Myth doesnt do that for everyone, but I'd like that confirmed.

Mine records fine for weeks/months - this is not normal - what do the logs say?

> Finally, is there a way to configure in some fairly high level way (i.e.
> without writing code in whatever language MythTV is written in, but perhaps
> writing in some fairly high level scripting language) to have MythTV log
> into a website, allow me to browse the video's on that website and then
> download an play them?

Yes - that is called mythweb - works fine.

Just my 2pence worth.

Greg