[mythtv-users] Box I'm building

Jeff C tuner at hfx.eastlink.ca
Wed May 28 00:55:59 EDT 2003


At 08:38 PM 5/27/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Daniel Jimenez wrote:
>>All,   Sorry for the flood of emails, I'm very excited about MythTV and 
>>cannot wait to get started. Here is the box I'm building, could anyone 
>>comment on it? (This will be front end and back end)   AMD Athlon XP 
>>2500+ (333) 512 MB PC2700 Elixar Ram ABIT AT7-MAX 2 Serial ATA 150 Segate 
>>Baracuda IV 80GB HDD Happauge WinTV PVR-250 Antec Sonata Quiet 
>>Case   Will be getting DirecTV w/low speed serial port (I hope that XML 
>>TV has no issues getting DirecTV listings).   Haven't decided on wireless 
>>or cabled yet...   Thanks, Daniel Jimenez
>
>With that kind of CPU power, you could save a few bucks and use a bttv 
>tuner - you'll have so much cpu left that the PVR-250 won't help much, if 
>at all.

Pete you raise an interesting point and one I have been pondering for a 
while.  While processor prices so low, and PVR250 cards a bit on the 
expensive side, I'm thinking that it is probably cheaper to go with a 
low-end tuner card and more proc than go splurge for the 250.  In my neck 
of the woods a 250 goes for almost CAD$250 but a Duron 1.1Ghz starts at 
about CAD$60 and even much more fire power is only $120 ish....

I am happy with my 250 setup and it works well but I am going to likely be 
building a few boxes for friends and would like to go with a more basic 
tuner card instead and more proc.  What do people recommend for a tuner 
card that also supports audio off the PCI bus of the tuner (I've read 
enough audio in messages to know that PCI audio seems to be the way to 
go)?.  The ATI Tuner card is popular in this neck of the woods but the low 
end one doesnt seem to suport stereo.  What are price points on popular 
tuner options?

-Jeff




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