[mythtv-users] Myth TV on server

[Kevin Ross]

On 11/5/2010 4:41 PM, Mark wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm hoping to set up MythTV on my a server I bought used.  I want to 
> be able to capture TV shows to the server and then have any computer 
> on the network play those shows.  My question for you guys is what 
> sort of TV capture card should I be looking at.  The server has 3 
> PCI-X (not PCIe) slots available, it only has USB 1.1, It also has a 
> built in serial port, and we are using a digital cable set top box.  I 
> spent the last couple of days reading about capture cards in the 
> MythTV wiki but I'm even more confused now!  I want to capture the 
> signal from the set top box and control it with the server through an 
> IR interface.  I think I need to use an analog framebuffer card like 
> the WinTV-Go card, but I'm not sure, and I don't want to spend the 
> money to find out I cant use it.  As for the IR control I plan on 
> using the IR Blaster that is recommended in the wiki. The server is 
> also running openSUSE as its OS.  I would also love to capture HDTV at 
> some point, so if I can get a capture card that can do that as well 
> then that would be great!  Am I going in the right direction, or is 
> there something I'm missing?
> Any help would be appreciated.
> Thanks
> Mark
>
> Additional computer specs:
> MOBO: Tyan Thunder K8SR
> CPUS:  2 AMD Opteron 270 Dual core 2.0Ghz.
> memory: 4 gig
> Hard Drive: 1TB drive, 3 empty SATA ports.

Since you will be capturing from the output of your cable box, I 
recommend the HD-PVR.  It will capture the output of the cable box in SD 
or HD.  You only have USB 1.1, and the HD-PVR requires 2.0, but you can 
get around that with an add-on USB 2.0 PCI card for about $10 on Newegg.

For channel changing, an IR blaster will work, but if you can get 
firewire or serial channel changing working with your cable box, that 
would be more reliable, and easier to set up.

Hope this helps!
-- Kevin