[mythtv-users] What's the best way to get started?

[Richard Morton]

Many people use an  HDPVR in the US. This is so that they can use the
cable box to decode, the HDPVR to capture via component HD and encode
it into H264, then send it over ethernet to a storagedevice by nfs/smb
share.

In your case that sounds like too many boxes if you want it to be the
size of a TiVo. So you're looking at PCI or USB tuners; I am not sure
what tuners would be appropriate. I am sure someone else will say
which are the best for you.

So back to the box itself; it all depends on how noisy you are happy
with... I hate background noise, so my front/backend is in a closet
next to the lounge with a small hole in the brick wall for the cables
to come through. My seperate frontend is completely silent with no
hard discs or fans. hard drives and fans, for me are too noisy
especially when these boxes tend to stay on even when not using them.
Consider if you read quietly in the room and whether hard disc and fan
noise will be distracting for you.

So if you are serious about Myth; consider puting the box in an
ajacent closet so you can buy a big box with room for expansion - more
tuners and hard discs, plenty of CPU power for commercial flagging and
transcoding.

After that adding remote front-ends is a breeze and although they
maybe a little more sluggish - due to network latency and reduced CPU
power... they are fantastic.

If you are serious about a small completely fanless system for myth;
have a look at Tranquil in the UK, Hush Technologies in Germany. (I
have bought one of each an original Hush and a Tranquil T2e and they
are very well made - the Hush slightly better and more expensive than
the Tranquil).

If you are happy with a quiet fan, a silverstone tend to be very well
made and many look like HiFi equipment so will fit into your lounge
hifi stack well; they aren't fanless but take standard components and
tend to give you a bit of room for expansion; PCI cards etc. With a
little careful selection of fans you will get a system a little larger
than a TiVo with more expandability and similar noise levels.

Hope that helps.

R


Thanks And Regards,

Richard Morton

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www.mythtv.org - Home media system




2009/11/8 Patrick Doyle <wpdster at gmail.com>:
> Hello All,
> I am looking to replace my old (SD, analog, Series 2) TiVo with a
> shiny new MythTV.  I recently purchased a shiny new large-ish (37")
> 1080i LCD TV.  I looked at MythTV a couple of years ago, and thought I
> remembered a "Here's my setup" page, but I can't seem to find that
> anymore.
>
> If anybody has advice, I'd be glad to hear it.  If anybody would like
> to point me at the best (most recent) hardware recommendations guide,
> I'd be glad to read through tath.
>
> I know some of the specifications of what I want...
>
> Since I want to replace my TiVo, I would like to build a combined
> frontend/backend box.  I would like it to be roughly the same physical
> size of the TiVo.  It would like it to have an integrated remote
> receiver.  I think something like the Thermaltake Mozart Media Center
> looks like the type of case I want.
>
> I (currently) only receive and watch OTA ATSC video.  So I don't need
> a whole lot of horsepower to encode the video, but I do need to
> playback 720p and/or 1080i video.  I'm not sure how to interpret the
> "HD_Playback_Reports" page on the wiki, but if I buy a retail CPU
> (that fits in the retail uATX motherboard I stick in the case), is it
> likely that I'll get something that can't handle that?  How much
> memory is "enough" for MythTV?
>
> Is there anything else I should be thinking about?  Yes, I know I'll
> need a disk, or two, or three, but I can figure out the size of that
> later.  Should I be (especially) concerned about the speed?  I have an
> ATSC tuner on the way, courtesy of WOOT.
>
>
> Thanks for any tips or pointers.
>
> --wpd
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