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<p>I have been getting ready to setup a new front end which will sit in the main living area with a Metz TV , the TV already has a set top box that receives Free To Air Digital TV (Standard Definition) and I am looking to replace the set top box with Mythtv to get HDTV. </p>
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<p>Subject, very much, to a successful install that meets the w.a.f.</p>
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<p>I hope you can bear with me as this is a bit long.</p>
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<p>We are based in Australia and TV transmission uses PAL.</p>
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<p>When I started with Mythtv, I setup a system using my existing office machine which connects to the home network, simply so I could try Mythtv. I use OpenSuSE on all our machines and at the time I installed mythtv I was running v.10.2 the PC is in a CM Stacker 810:</p>
<p>AM2 X2 5200+</p>
<p>4Gb Ram</p>
<p>GigaByte MB M55SLI-S4</p>
<p>Seagate Barracuda Sata II 320Gb</p>
<p>Onboard sound Realtek</p>
<p>Onboard Network (Marvel 10/100/1000Mbit)</p>
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<p>I installed two Leadtek Winfast DTV1000T DVB-T cards (which also had remotes included)</p>
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<p>I then successfully installed and setup the Shepherd Australian TV guide grabber and that is working quite well. </p>
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<p>After doing a lot of searching, reading, and some fiddling I have not really persevered to get a remote control working, so I am using mythtv on this office PC with a keyboard ( and not always so successfully).</p>
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<p>I have now upgraded this machine to OpenSuSE v.10.3 and am running mythtv 20.2 and all seems generally OK. I have been using TV, recording and playing back programmes and playing music which is about all I need to do now.</p>
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<p>I am now ready to start building a separate front end and will base it on a spare ATX AM2 motherboard I have (GigaByte M57-SLI-S4) </p>
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<p>I would appreciate comments on the following components:</p>
<p>I have available a Kingston 2Gb RAM DDR2 (667) kit to use</p>
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<p>Considering another AM2 X2 4200+ or AM2 X2 5200+ 2M</p>
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<p>Has onboard LAN</p>
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<p>Will onboard 8 channel sound be OK or needed? Or separate sound card preferred?</p>
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<p>Is onboard Nvidia video OK, or should I get a PCI-e Nvidia card? </p>
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<p>I will put in 1 Seagate Barracuda Sata II HDD (min. 320Gb based on current price) maybe add a second later, but more drives will be available on backend.</p>
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<p>1 x Pioneer DVD Reader/Writer (IDE or Sata II)</p>
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<p>Overall I want to be able to utilize at least 3 DVB-T TV cards, and maybe 4 in the future. There are two in the Office system and I want to keep that as the master backend, so I need to add 1 or 2 two PCI cards to the new front end?</p>
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<p>I have read up on dual channel PCI cards and it seems that there are still a few issues, eg. the recently new Dvico dual channel card still has remote issues (or requires some changes to Lirc that may be a bit ahead of my experience). My experience with the winfast cards has been that they work OK and are cheap, the problem is the remote.</p>
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<p>So perhaps my question should be can I use just one remote to run Mythtv?</p>
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<p>Related to this question is the matter of a suitable case, and I have been considering various HTPC silver cases, Silverstone have quite a few and I was wondering If I select one with the VFD & remote whether the remotes will work OK out of the box, irrespective of TV cards in use? </p>
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<p>Or should I get a separate remote such as the streamzap to best use Mythtv? </p>
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<p>I am just trying to get my mind around all this before I commit the dollars, or end up going down a path to the black hole!!</p>
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<p>Any suggestions or comments very much welcome and appreciated.</p>
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<p>-- </p>
<p>John </p>
<p>In Australia</p>
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