<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>----- "Bobby Gill" <bobbygill@rogers.com> wrote:
<br>> I am curious what the total cost is/was for you to get everything up and running (asides from time, which depending on whom you<br>> are may be the priciest...).<br>> <br>> So for example, an HD capture card, a capable backend, the frontend(s) of course, the subscription to a provider and/or an <br>>antenna-- and if an antenna, did you do it yourself? Order it online, buy from a shop, hire someone to install, etc.? Not necessarily <br>> asking for the life story but some brief explanation of the components as I'm really trying to get a gauge on what entering this<br>>arena may cost me, and whether it's /worth/ it or not...<br><br>There are so many ways to go.<br><br>My first MythBox, which could capture HD but couldn't reliably stream it because of audio issues, I literally found in the trash. (Since then I've found in the trash better systems than the new MythBox I built up last year. Go figure.)<br><br>Modest starter set:<br><br>You can turn a single-core Pentium 4 /3 GHz with 1 GB of memory that you found at a thrift shop into a MythBox. You'll need to add a modest video card (nVIDIA 5200, AGP or PCIe 16, under $40), and a modest capture card (under $60 for the Hauppague HVR-1250). And a nice hard drive; a 500 Gb SATA drive you find on special for under $50 will hold 60 plus hours of HD content.<br><br>Fancier: <br><br>Dual core system -- Intel or AMD -- with 2 GB of RAM. DVD burner for making DVDs. Motherboard or graphics card with HDMI output. nVIDIA graphics that can support VDPAU. Multiple tuners, including an analog model for capturing from cheap STBs.<br><br>Subscriptions and such:<br><br>I get Comcast cable. My TV antenna can actually get a fair amount of channels but I haven't tried integrating that into Myth.<br><br>Schedules Direct charges $20 a year for TV schedule downloads, customized to your area and signal source (cable, antenna, etc.).<br></div></body></html>