just had a quick look on ebay and there is a 2.8GHz P4 dell same as below for 110GBP:<br><br><a href="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-OptiPlex-GX260-SFF-2-8GHz-PC-1GB-40GB-XP-Pro-DVD_W0QQitemZ310034901555QQihZ021QQcategoryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-OptiPlex-GX260-SFF-2-8GHz-PC-1GB-40GB-XP-Pro-DVD_W0QQitemZ310034901555QQihZ021QQcategoryZ179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem</a><br>
<br>(no affiliation with seller, I just picked it randomly !)<br><br>also here is the spec from dell:<br><a href="http://www.dell.com/downloads/us/products/optix/gx260_spec.pdf">http://www.dell.com/downloads/us/products/optix/gx260_spec.pdf</a><br>
(it's the 'Small Form Factor - SF' one)<br> <br>Simon<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 10:38 AM, Simon Allcorn <<a href="mailto:simon.allcorn@gmail.com">simon.allcorn@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hi,<br><br>here's my 2p:<br><br>I'm in the UK, with 2x nova-t dvb-t cards running on a ~2Ghz Celery backend. I've just purchased a Dell Optiplex GX260 SFF ( <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,668796,00.asp" target="_blank">http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,668796,00.asp</a> ) for a frontend - it's small (about the same size as the original xbox), 2.4Ghz P4, 1Gb memory and DVD drive (laptop style). <br>
<br><b>And best of all this frontend only cost £80 !</b><br><br>To be fair this frontend box is not silent, however it is very quiet.<br><br>Also worth noting that I specially got one with DVI out and I can definitely recommend <b>NOT </b>using DVI if you have VGA available ! Perhaps it's just my TV (26' Samsung with HDMI & VGA - <a href="http://www.shopuk.co.uk/media/images/product_detail/LE26R41B.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.shopuk.co.uk/media/images/product_detail/LE26R41B.jpg</a> ) but I could not get the correct resolution without oversan using HDMI/DVI but with VGA it worked perfectly first time (this table is very helpful when configuring xorg - <a href="http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Modeline_Database" target="_blank">http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Modeline_Database</a> ). Technically the HDMI/DVI should give a better picture, but the VGA is really very,very crisp and drives the TV at it's native resolution with little hassle. I'm sure using HDMI/DVI could be made to work but it was way too much effort for me.<br>
<br>Using this kind of frontend will require adequate ventilation (mine is in a cupboard, with a big exhaust hole in the back :) )<br><br><br>hth<br><font color="#888888"><br>Simon</font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">
<br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"> On Tue, Apr 1, 2008 at 9:35 AM, Steve Smith <<a href="mailto:st3v3.sm1th@gmail.com" target="_blank">st3v3.sm1th@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div>On 01/04/2008, Nicholas Piper <<a href="mailto:nick-mythtv@nickpiper.co.uk" target="_blank">nick-mythtv@nickpiper.co.uk</a>> wrote:<br>
> Chad,<br>
><br>
><br>
> On Mon, 31 Mar 2008, Chad wrote:<br>
><br>
> > > Does anyone have a recommendation for a Mini ITX motherboard which<br>
> > > would have DVI output, is cheap (so slow is OK), but has a supported<br>
> > > hardware mpeg2 decoder to make up for the lack of overall CPU power?<br>
> ><br>
> > If you can find one, the Commell LV-667D makes a nice option in this area.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Thanks for this suggestion. I can't find a D variant stocked anywhere<br>
> yet. I've written to a vendor to see if they can help. Ideally, I'd<br>
> want the E8 variant too (800 Mhz Eden, fanless) I believe.<br>
><br>
> I can find the regular one:<br>
> <a href="http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=101" target="_blank">http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=101</a> to<br>
> which I could add a Mini-AGP DVI card<br>
> <a href="http://www.bvm-store.com/ProductDetail.asp?fdProductId=156" target="_blank">http://www.bvm-store.com/ProductDetail.asp?fdProductId=156</a> ? Is that<br>
> how Mini-AGP works, or would then I not be using the Unichrome<br>
> processor anymore?<br>
><br>
><br>
> > If size is not that much of an issue I'd strongly suggest you look at<br>
> > something MicroATX instead or even look at an Intel-based mini-ITX<br>
> > system (though that really will kill your above mentioned budget).<br>
> > The VIA systems, for lack of a nicer term, suck, due to lack of real<br>
> > help from Via that is actually usable to the vast majority of Linux<br>
> > users. I've got an SP13000 and a Commell LV-667T that are fairly<br>
> > useless for anything HD or mpeg4. I've done a lot of work to get them<br>
> > to the usable point they are at right now, and cannot imagine how much<br>
> > effort would be involved in getting them to actually do the mpeg4<br>
> > acceleration that VIA claims or fully work with MythTV and HDTV.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Your LV-667T has a CN700, which apparently can do 2048x2048 mpeg2 -<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://wiki.openchrome.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=HardwareCaveats" target="_blank">http://wiki.openchrome.org/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php?page=HardwareCaveats</a><br>
><br>
> which sounds 'HD'?<br>
><br>
> Regards,<br>
><br>
> Nick<br>
><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
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><br>
<br>
</div></div>Nick,<br>
<br>
Although I'm a die hard SD user (well you can get really nice CRT<br>
screens for NOTHING literally nothing these days), with Freesat the UK<br>
is on the cusp of going HD. So if you're going to spend money on a<br>
Mythbox now, you should probably make it HD capable.<br>
<br>
For that you're probably going to have to ditch the mini-ITX idea (for<br>
the Frontend at least), the power of these boards just isn't up to HD<br>
and linux driver compatability remains a bit of an issue. (I suppose<br>
one way might be to run the evolving Windows Mythfrontend client with<br>
Windows drivers?)<br>
<br>
Have you considered a near-silent frontend? You can build something<br>
pretty quiet these days either using off the shelf parts or doing some<br>
hardware hacking yourself. E.g. my P3 933mhz, Nvidia 5200, 3x<br>
harddrive runs quiet enough that me and the girlfriend have slept in<br>
the same room as it (in fact its the overly bright hard disc light<br>
that distracts us most!).<br>
<br>
With a bit of work you should be able to get a Core based box running<br>
pretty silent, some of the AMD processors can work pretty well<br>
undervolted which really helps out with the noise.. Check out<br>
<a href="http://www.silentpcreview.com" target="_blank">www.silentpcreview.com</a> for help. Then you can go with a tried and<br>
trusted Nvidia video card to get your HD output with the connector<br>
types you want for your TV.<br>
<br>
What you could use the mini-ITX idea for, is a low powered back end.<br>
Use USB tuners, and a 2 way PCI riser. (In the UK commflagging is a<br>
bit of a loss at the moment so you won't need huge lumps of power).<br>
With a separate backend you can keep the FE powered off (& absolutely<br>
silent) when you're not using it.<br>
<br>
Of course if you want to stick with SD, the mini-itx should be pretty<br>
good, some of the more powerfull ones should be able to cope with SD<br>
Mpeg4 (my p3 runs about 30-40% on most SD mpeg4s so a 1.5ghz C3 should<br>
just be able to cope)<br>
<br>
Sorry for the ramble...<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
Steve<br>
</font><div><div></div><div>_______________________________________________<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>