[mythtv-users] Seeking frontend advice

[Dave Cunningham]

>> That Dell isn't going to be quiet, it is designed for an office with a
>> certain
>> amount of ambient noise to cover the fan.
>
>> I'd suggest replacing the TV.  I did that earlier in the year for my
>> mother.  SVideo really doesn't work very well any more.
>
> Thanks everyone for advice!
>
> Unfortunately I know my parents will not replace the TV, even if I buy
> them a new one - it's in good working order and they don't care about
> quality like we do.  I can't stand their TV, but that's their decision.

If the TV only has scart/svideo then I'd highly recommend you just get a
freeview/freesat box and skip mythtv, write your transcoded material to
DVD and watch them that way.

If you're absoluteky determined to use mythtv and not change the TV then
I'd 100% stay away from the svideo connection (been there, you'll not get
a picture even close to an off the shelf PVR plugged into the scart
socket).

Assuming the TV has an rgb scart socket you should be able to hook up some
video cards this way and get a decent picture.

I used an Intel little falls atom board this way with mythtv 0.24/Debian
Lenny/patched xserver/FRC timing patch (linked in the wiki)works great as
a frontend for SD material but no good for HD (I researched this years ago
and this at the time was best setup picture quality wise at the time - vs
nvidia/ati - have tried all 3).

I have since changed the TV and gone to a nvidia frontend. If you're
interested I still have this Intel board in a cupboard somewhere and
probably a VGA/scart cable to go with it, still have the netboot image for
it with the various patches. Yours for whatever the postage cost would be.
This would only get you as far as mythtv 0.24, the various patches are all
historic by now though and unless you're coding skills are up to it I
think you'll struggle to get the patches ported to a more modern setup.

I think this is all way more hassle than its worth though and stick with
my original suggestion - just buy an off the shelf PVR, it'll work better.

Regards,
Dave