[mythtv-users] Frontend questions

[R. G. Newbury]

Patrick Lorigan wrote:
> I've been using MythTV for several years now using a combined
> frontend/backend machine hooked up to the TV in the living room.  For a
> couple of years I've been kicking around the idea of building a separate
> frontend machine that will look better in the living room and moving the
> server into my office.  With 6-month-old twins about to start crawling all
> over the place, my wife and I have decided we need to clean up our
> electronics corner so now seems like as good a time as any to build my
> frontend box.  I've got most of my hardware picked out, but have a couple of
> questions.
> 1. I'm currently using the IR receiver on one of my Hauppauge 250s and a
> Harmony 880 (emulating the Hauppauge a415 remote) to control my machine.
>  Once I move the backend and tuners out of the room, I'll need to get a new
> IR receiver.  Can anyone recommend a USB IR receiver that is well-supported
> by LIRC that will recognize my current remote setup with minimal
> reconfiguration?
> 
> 2. Will a motherboard with an integrated Geforce 9300 or 8300 be enough to
> playback HD video (via DVI/HDMI), or do I need to go with a dedicated card?
>  The machine will most likely have a Core 2 Duo E7400 (or comparable AMD
> chip), and 4GB or RAM.  I'm currently playing back HD using a Geforce 5300
> without any problems on the backend machine (similar processor and RAM).

I have an ASUS P5N7A-VM motherboard with an Intel COre2Suo E5300
(2.60GHz) here at the office. This MB has the nvidia 9300 (730i) on 
board video chipset driving a Dell 24" 192-x1200 HD display.

Plays Mythtv beautifully using the nvidia 180.29 driver and vdpau on 
mythtv trunk svn.

The 9300/9400 series chips (for Intel mb's) have 16 shaders versue the 
8haders on the 8300/8400 series chips used on AMD mb's. Something to 
remember if you have a free choice of which CPU you will choose. (Also 
the Intel's are a little less power-hungry and run cooler than the AMDs.)

Geoff


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