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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The recent death of my Tivo prompted me to press on
with a 'proper' myth system (before I was just using Myth to grab tv shows to
encode for my palmtop).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ive finally got my myth system working in client
server mode (a PC based backend with 2xNova-T cards running Mandrake, and a XBox
as the frontend running GentooX. Both with almost current CVS versions of
myth).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The xbox is a temorary solution to test the
girlfriend acceptance factor (she hated my Tivo at first, but it soon became
'her' tivo).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Assuming she is happy with the UI, I will be
looking to build a always on under TV box.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This is because the XBox is a) noisy and b)
frequenty used for games (gasp!) so is rebooted and c) a _little_ underpowered
for it (it only has 64 meg of ram). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Im looking for a PC that has the following: (I am
in PAL land (UK))</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>a) Smallish / good looking (maybe a
shuttle?)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>b) Powerful enough to decode MPEG2 (I have DVB
cards)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>c) QUIET (the most important factor!)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>d) Has SCART output with RGB out (I think the
Americans call it component?). Composite output from a video card is very poor
quality compared to the XBox connected via SCART RGB.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think the RGB output may be the hardest to
achieve, although I read somewhere that you can con some video cards into
outputing at a frequency that TVs can accept. Any
insight/experience?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>e) preferably with a remote control (although I can
add that later if needed)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>f) As cheep as possible :)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I dont believe that I need a very powerful system
(i think the XBox would be powerful enough if it has a little more ram) so Im
thinking around the 800MHz to 1GHz mark (any more and cooling becomes a
problem).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Finally I am considering trying to boot it from
compact flash to save on hard drive noise, but that is a 'later'
project.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I assume many on this list have already built such
a box, and am interested in experiences of others.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am not interested in a device that can just
'play' MPEG over the network as I want the full Myth GUI.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Also, a couple of PCI slots would be nice so I
could maybe move the a DVB card or 2 into it and use it as another backend (but
I realise that this may be incompatable with my 'small'
requirement)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any comments appreciated</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>thanks</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>g</FONT></DIV>
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