[mythtv-users] Hardware for MythTV

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Mon Sep 6 15:56:13 UTC 2010


On Monday, September 06, 2010 09:00:51 am JCA wrote:
>    After a couple of years with MythTV 0.20 I am about to embark in a
> full upgrade - not only MythTV but also the Linux box running it. What
> kind of specs should my new box aim to meet? My current box is built
> around a Pentium 4 at 3 GHz, with 1 GB of memory, an Nvidia FX 5200
> video card and a Hauppauge PVR 150 capture card. I would like to
> capture HD video (which implies a new capture card - which one?) and
> this platform does not play well (if at all) HD videos - at best they
> are jerky.
> 

Given your present system, it sounds like you are talking about a combined BE/FE machine.

In the US, the HDHR and the HD-PVR are common for HD capture. I'd keep the PVR-150 for capturing the SD output of an STB 
or satellite receiver, and any analog channels you might still have access to on a cable system.

The HDHR is good for any OTA stations, and any clear QAM available. The HD-PVR is good for capturing the component HD 
output of an STB/sat receiver.

You might give serious thought to a separate BE and FE, which allows for much more flexibility and upgrade potential to an 
additional FE.

>    Will getting a multicore box help here?

Kind of hard to find new machines that are not at least dual-core these days. The software support for multi-core will 
improve with time, and you won't save enough money by getting a single-core CPU to be worth it. The exception is FE 
machines like the Atom-based ones, but even they are trending towards dual-core.

Think about if you want to use your main machine, or dedicated BE if you go that route, as anything else, like a household 
NAS server, and how much disk capacity you might need. If you want to run VMs on this machine, take that into 
consideration as well.

I believe in the "central machine" concept, but others like the separate small low-power boxes approach. It's up to you, 
and highly dependent on your needs and budget.




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