[mythtv-users] Need Help in setting up MythTV system

[mark at onnow.net]

I just setup a system last week and was in the same position as you. 
Undetermined hardware, OS, etc.....

I now have a fully working system ( only 1 bug in it that is fixed in CVS )
-BUG was record live TV with only 1 TV-in card. Not a big deal though.

Here is what worked easily for me:
Hardware:
PVR-250 ( Model 980 w/ grey remote )
Celeron 2.4
512 RAM
No built in devices except for nic
Soundblaster 5.1 Live card
Asus FX5200 w/ TVout
120Gig Drive
Silent Powersupply and CPU fan.
Standard ATX case

Software:
Fedora 2
Follow Jerrods howto to the letter and you will be up and running no problem.
The PRV250 is nice and simple and just works.  The remote too.
I have all features working first try and it was easy with the Jerrod HOWTO and
apt-get.  

You can email me for assistance or to clarify anytime.

Mark

Quoting clemens at dwf.com:

> I hope this isnt a duplicate,- I had some mail problems here yesterday
> and everything that I sent seems to have been lost.  So here we go again.
> 
> ---
> 
> Ive been reading the MythTV lists now for a couple of months, and Ive read 
> whatever
> else I can find that is pointed to by the MythTV / pcHDTV sites, but if 
> anything,
> I'm confused.
> 
> And the more I read, the more confused I get.
> 
> I suspect that SOME of the confusion will go away when I have a machine to
> run 
> MythTV
> on, but first things first.  Although Ive bought a pcHDTV card, my current 
> machine
> (a 733MHz Pentium III) is 'full up' with cards, so I'm going to have to buy a
> 
> new
> machine to experiment with MythTV.
> 
> Whatever the machine, it will be running Linux, at the moment my preference 
> would
> be for Fedora2 with a 2.6.x kernel, since thats whats on my other machines.
> INITIALLY I will be viewing the result on my Computer monitor,
> later to a standard TV, and still later to a HDTV.
> 
> >From what Ive read, its not clear if I'm going to keep all of MythTV on one
> 
> machine,
> or split it between two, so for now Ill go for all the horsepower I can
> afford
> and we'll see about a 2nd machine later.
> 
> OK, so I see LOTS of recommendations, but lets lay it out and work thru the 
> list.
> I will need
> 
>     (1) PCBox, Powersupply, Fans
>     (2) MotherBoard (w/ Disk controllers & ethernet)
>     (3) CPU, Fan.
>     (4) Disk(s)
>     (5) TV Card(s)
>     (6) Video Card
>     (7) Sound Card
>     (8) DVD recorder
>     (9) IR Remote
> 
> So, here's where you can start making recommendations.
> 
> (1-3) BOX, MOTHERBOARD, CPU.
> My first thought would be to get a local shop that I have dealt with before
> to 
> put
> together the bare bones machine, viz (1)-(3).  I would expect a Pentium 4, 
> 2.8-3.2GHz.
> 
> For other experiments, I would like a CPU with MultiThreading, but remember 
> seeing a
> chart (which I cant find at the moment) that showed the heat output from the
> 
> various
> processors.  The 'slower' machines output 85w, the 'faster' 115w.
> The cost difference between seems to be about $60 for 2.8->3.0 and 3.0->3.2
> so 
> cost
> would not be a factor here.  I would rather stay with the lower heat 
> processors,
> but am not sure if that conflicts with the desire for MultiTasking.  anyone?
> 
> Ive never put a machine together from scratch before, but if it was obvious I
> 
> was
> going to actually save some money that way, I would consider it.
> 
> Ive seen plenty of comments about 'quiet boxes' and I can remember having a 
> aquarium
> air pump in the living room that just drove me up the wall.  As noted, I'm 
> willing to
> ignore that problem up front while I'm experimenting with MythTV in my
> office. 
>  So a
> 'quiet' PC Box is not a necessity.  Basically I will either get a 2nd machine
> 
> later
> with only the playback (Video/Sound)Card in it so its heat dissipation will
> be 
> less and the
> powersupply noise should go down too, or Ill do what I did with the air
> pump,- 
> put
> it in my walkin closet which is directly behind the TV, and run the cables
> thru
> the wall...
> 
> As for MotherBoards I would probably stay with the INTEL D875PBZ, as thats 
> what I have
> on two other machines at the office.  Comments?
> 
> ---
> 
> (4) DISKS
> This could be the simplest, most generic choice.
> Any reason to worry about rotational speed?
> Any reason to worry about transfer rate (ATA/100, SATA/100, SATA/150)?
> I'm guessing one disk for the OS, I usually set aside space for 3 or 4 5GB 
> partitions
> for different OS revisions, and space for several versions of MythTV.  Thats
> 
> still a
> 'small' disk these days, 60-80GB.
> 
> In addition 150-300GB for TV storage with room for more disks.
> 
> I see numbers like 200GB / $139 ATA/100  7200RPM
>                    250GB / $159 SATA/150 7200RPM
> 
> Considering the most recent disk I bought, I would assume that this 3-1/2" 
> drive would
> be mounted in a 5-1/2 slot in the box, mounting it in a tray with extra 
> cooling fans.
> Unless there are some strong objections, this will depend on whats on sale 
> when.
> 
> ---
> 
> (5) TVCard
> As noted above, the only part of this project that I have in hand is a pcHDTV
> 
> (2000)
> card.  I may at some point add a second card (a 3000?).  I currently record
> TV 
> with
> 2 VCR's,- If there is ANYTHING decent on, its always across from something 
> else I want
> to see...).  thoughts?
> 
> It seems to me that the PVR250/350 series of cards are going to be obsolete 
> within
> a year so I have not considered them.
> 
> ---
> 
> (6) Video Card
> I know *nothing* about video cards so I can really use some help here.  Cards
> 
> these
> days seem to have ENORMOUS amounts of video memory.  I can understand some 
> extra, but
> wow.
> 
> In any case I have seen references to TVout in addition to monitor out (ok)
> Ive seen references to MPEG2 support.
> Ive seen references to Direct 8 support.
> 
> What are people using, and why?
> I can understand the first requirement above.
> The 2nd is a bit more iffy, if in fact you re-encode things on disk to MPEG4
> 
> for
> better compression.
> 
> The third, well, Ive never heard of X11 having a requirement for (or ability
> 
> to use)
> Direct 8, so perhaps this was with respect to some PC software.
> 
> So any and all suggestions will be appreciated here, and if you can say WHY
> you prefer a given card, all the better.
> 
> Of course, I understand that this is a fast changing field (video cards) what
> 
> with
> the gamer community, so this weeks best card may not be next weeks best
> card...
> 
> Ive also seen references to 'external adapters' to convert VGA -> NTSC but I
> 
> don't
> think I've ever seen one of these advertised.  Any pointers here?
> 
> Please, I need HELP on deciding on a Video Card, as I am clueless...  .
> Suggestions please
> 
> ---
> 
> (7) Sound Card
> It looks like something like the Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 would be
> appropriate.
> I currently have a Sound Blaster Live! (not 5.1) on my current system and it
> 
> works
> fine for what I need.
> 
> The Audigy 2 cards look interesting, but they are a considerably more 
> expensive,
> and Ive just been thru an experience of trying to get one (the PCI version
> not 
> the
> USB version) working with Linux, and it was a lost cause.  Maybe in another
> 6mo
> or a year...
> 
> ---
> 
> (8) DVD Recorder
> All the (+/-) formats are confusing.  Is this just going to be a continuing 
> problem
> like VHS/Beta forever, or is one set of specs starting to take over?
> 
> And Recording speed.  I just read an article that said, independent of how 
> fast the
> recorder CAN record, don't record faster than 4x, or you'll probably end up 
> with
> a disk that is unreadable.  Well not totally unreadable, but with unreadable
> 
> sections.
> 
> And double layer (is that the term?)  Seems that twice the capacity  WOULD be
> 
> nice,
> but the media is still quite expensive.  thoughts
> 
> ---
> 
> (9) IR Remote.
> It appears that some of the TV Cards (the Hauppauge cards), and some 
> MotherBoards,
> come with an IR Remote, but the pcHDTV doesn't, so Ill need a free-standing
> IR 
> here.
> There must be free-standing units.  Recommendations?
> Or perhaps a different MotherBoard?
> 
> ---
> 
>                                                 Reg.Clemens
>                                                 reg at dwf.com
> 
> 
> 




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