[mythtv-users] Box I'm building

[Aran Cox]

On Wed, 2003-05-28 at 00:02, Daniel Jimenez wrote:
> I grabbed my 2500 XP for 99 bucks, so why it's such a high end
> processor.
> 
> My only idea w/serial ATA was HDD speed. Serial ATA will be quite a bit
> faster, my question is... Will this be a huge difference? Should I spend
> the money on more space?
> 
> Daniel

Speed is not what you need for MythTV, not really anyway.  Think about
it... how fast a drive do you need to write a 2GB file in 1 hour? 
That's something like 582KB/sec.  With any relatively modern drive you
can easily get 10MB/sec or more.  Still, if you are writing two files
and reading back two more, seek time will be important.  

I think the most important qualities a HD for MythTV has are:

Size
Noise
Seek Time
Throughput

So, IMHO, spend your money on big cheap ATA133 or ATA100 drives.  







> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net] On Behalf Of Jeff C
> Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:56 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Box I'm building
> 
> 
> 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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