I'm in the process of putting together a shopping list for a new multi-purpose PC. One of the primary functions of this PC will be a MythTV frontend, including HD content playback. In addition to the MythTV usage, the system will be used for general word processing, spreadsheets, plus typical multimedia tasks like ripping CD's and DVD's, uploading digital pictures, etc.; it will not be used for any high end PC gaming. The big "X" factor, at least as far as I'm concerned, in the setup is that when I'm doing the PC functions I'd like to use the system with my nice 20" Samsung LCD monitor, but when I'm playing back MythTV content most of the time I'm going to want to watch it on an HDTV (haven't picked the TV out yet; it will probably be some lower end 26" or 27" model). <br>
<br>I guess my first question is how hard is this type of thing to setup on a Mythfrontend box? I've played around a little in the past with TV-out, but I'm thinking this type of setup to an HDTV would be a little more complicated. Or maybe not? Beyond just the setup itself, anyone have any suggestions for what type of card to use? I'm pretty sure I want to stick with Nvidia graphics, unless someone can convince me otherwise. I'd also really like to continue to use a DVI connection to my Samsung monitor. So, would I be best to go with a dual-DVI card, and then use a DVI-to-HDMI cable to connect to the TV? Or would connecting the TV up via a VGA connection be sufficient, and therefore a card with one DVI port and one VGA port be sufficient? How about some of these motherboards that have onboard video. One in particular that I have been looking at is the Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2H (<a href="http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813128072">http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16813128072</a>), which has a VGA port, a DVI port, and an HDMI port. Would something like this work?<br>
<br>One last factor is that pretty much all of the motherboards that I have been looking at don't have an AGP slot, so unless I choose one with on-board video the card will have to be PCI-X (or unless I find a mobo with AGP, that meets my needs).<br>
<br>Any thoughts, tips, tricks, hints, etc. on this setup, including specific video cards and/or mobos with on-board video suggestions would be greatly appreciated.<br><br>TIA,<br>John<br><br>