[mythtv-users] Building a box for Mythtv/Question

[Daniel Jimenez]

Thank you for the answers,

You said you feel like you need a bit more processor power, the 1.1 ghz
is not enough w/the PVR-250? I was looking @ the XP 2100 or so...

Thanks!,
Daniel

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net] On Behalf Of Jeff C
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2003 11:08 AM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Building a box for Mythtv/Question


At 10:53 AM 5/26/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>All,
>
>If these have been repeated before, my apologies. I checked the
archives
>and couldn't scrounge up much. I'm building a new box just for MythTV.
>It looks fantastic and very promising. My questions to all of you
>follow:

I just built mine so hopefully I can offer some thoughts... cost was a 
major focus area for me so I went fairly affordable...
I based my system around a Duron 1.1Ghz Proc and 256MB of RAM but I find
I 
could use a bit more Proc and I had to up the ram to 384MB (both back
and 
front end on this machine).  For audio I disable the onboard sound and
put 
in an OEM SBLive card.

>.Is there an IR Receiver/Remote that you've had a great experience
with?
>Is the remote that comes with the Sound Blaster Audigy a decent one for
>this task? If I use the PVR250 is that a nice speedy remote?

If you are going to get a PVR250 anyway, then I think you will find the
PVR 
250 remote does the job.  It has a fair number of "extra" buttons so you

can cram almost all the features on to the remote.  There is a bit of a 
struggle between volume/nav buttons but someone has coded a way around
that 
or you can just use your amp/tv remote for volume (which is what I do as
I 
rarely change it anyway).  The remote behaves like a completely normal 
remote so I'm not sure what you mean by speedy?  Interactions feel like
a 
regular TV remote to me.

>.I've read a lot in the archives about using a special serial cable to
>control a cable TV box or DirecTV box. I couldn't actually find anyone
>who's done this... If you have, does it work well? IE Fast Channel
>changing response times? Where can you find (purchase) it?

Can't help you here but this definitely comes up on the list all the 
time.  You may want to include info on what cable/sat box you are
referring to.

>.Regarding the last question, does the PVR-250 work well w/this setup
>(DirecTV or Digital Cable)? Is there a lag in changing channels?

There is a small delay in changing channels due to the rebuffering that 
takes place (I am on analog cable).  I'm not sure if it is longer if you

are on digital cable or sat.  I noticed this the first few days we had
Myth 
in the living room but now that we are used to it it is fairly
transparent.

>.Svideo out on a TV card vs. VGA to TV adaptor?

I am using the cheapest NVidia card I could find - a GeForce2MX 64MB
with 
TV Out.  It has well supported docs and drivers from NVidia.  I have
some 
overscan (black bars around my image) issues that are minor - but for
the 
cost (~$40ish USD) it was worth it.


>PS I just noticed someone posted one of these while I was typing this
>up, I apologies for two newbie posts in one day!

I'm not sure which archives you were able to search but here is a link
for 
the ones with the more detailed interface:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/perl/mailarc/gforum.cgi?do=search

-Jeff


_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users at snowman.net
http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users