[mythtv-users] Building A MythTV Box

[Chad]

On Apr 10, 2005 10:42 PM, Galen <galen at myhome.net> wrote:
> Well, let me first state that I am an extremely curious person, but a
> complete newbie when it comes to MythTV. I'm looking to build myself a
> MythTV box, and I'm hoping to gather input and assistance from this
> list. In particular, I want to hop in before July 2005 and the dreaded
> U.S. broadcast flag! Please feel free to respond to just portions of
> this email, as I know various people have different areas of expertise
> and limited amounts of time.
> 

Being a "newb" to linux's setup, I'd probably go with Fedora or
KnoppMyth, Fedora seems very supported all over the web and especially
on this list with MythTV situations.  I google for problems I run
into, and probably 2 out of 3 responses are for fixes for Fedora
problems, where I run gentoo and 1 out of probably 15 are for fixes
for Gentoo.

> I have been most heavily involved in Mac OS X, PHP, MySQL, Apache, etc
> professional over the past few years, and I'm not afraid of compiling
> software myself. But I don't derive any particular pleasure from it,
> either! I have had a growing interest in HDTV, and have recompiled VLC
> to allow me to view raw MPEG2 transport stream via OpenGL acceleration
> on my 1.33 GHz OS X PowerBook G4. (OS X's built-in YUV->RBG performance
> SUCKS!!!) I have a good understanding of *nix basics - permissions,
> compiling, file systems, etc. I'm not stupid in this department by any
> means and I'm extremely willing to learn what is needed. But, I have
> not been administrating or setting up Linux systems anytime recently,
> so much of the very specific hardware/driver stuff is foreign.

I'm right along side you with "which one is better", I too am looking
at this right now and have no more to say to this than "good luck" ;)

 
> Over the past several months, I've taken a nearly complete break from
> television. It has given me time to think about it. I'm getting ready
> to bring it back, but on my terms. That means HDTV and PVR. I've been
> toying with HDTV enough to understand the format and qualities,
> including working with a number of raw transport streams on my OS X
> PowerBook. I've toyed with transcoding it, and I'm quite familar with
> video codecs and playback software.

That's really good news, and hopefully with help you when tweaking
settings to get the best picture possible.
 
> I'm basically wanting to build myself a single, self-contained
> Linux-based HDTV PVR box at the moment, without spending too
> excessively much. The sole purpose will be HDTV PVR functions, and I am
> planning to at least start with only one tuner card. (Hence I can only
> record or view one channel at a time). I'm going to discuss what I am
> understanding and my plans, so please correct me if I'm wrong about
> anything or you feel you can provide additional comments.

That's probably everyone's initial thought.  And likely, anyone who
watches TV enough, has that first line implanted in their skull, minus
the Linux part ;)  However, I think you'll be going after additional
tuners fairly quickly :-D  If not PVR-250's something that at least
allows you to capture reruns of Murder She Wrote while you are
watching the Simpson's in HD.
 
> For the basic equipment, I need a basic but solid PC. I do not have one
> that will suffice, nor do I have much equipment that would be used
> within one, so I will be purchasing nearly everything. For HDTV, I
> think we're talking about a 3 GHz P4 processor. What AMD processor
> would be equivalent? What would be the advantages/disadvantages to more
> or less CPU? Are there specific motherboard options highly recommended?
> How much RAM is suitable/optimal - 256 MB? 512 MB? Cost is very
> important to me, but not the only factor.

The P4 Nazi's have already spoken.  I however am a solid AMD fan til I
die.  I went with an AMD64 3200+ with 1MB of L2 cache, 1GB of PC3200
RAM, all on a solid Asus board.  Really, I would do no less than 512,
but the 1GB was for the other things going on to ensure I (for a while
anyway) have no issues while tuning on on classic The Flinstones, in
HD.
 
> I'm not a noise-nazi, but keeping this system reasonably quiet and on
> the more compact end of things would be preferable, if there are any
> reasonable yet inexpensive choices I can make in selecting the
> equipment, practical advice would be welcome.

Dollar for decibal, I cannot imagine using a fan on my front end much
longer.  Liquid or awesome heatsing seem to be the only way to travel
with your frontends.  I have my backend in my 'server room' which is
really just this concrete room where my water heater, water softener
and furnace live :D  so the noise from it hums right along with the
other servers, but all behind doors and far away from my Home Theater,
or any other TV in my home.
 
> I obviously also need an HDTV tuner card. It appears my options are the
> pcHDTV 3000 and the Air2PC-ATSC-PCI. The prices and features appear to
> be quite similar. Can anybody describe any differences between the two?
> Any significant difference in RF performance? Compatibility? MythTV
> support?

Word is they are equally supported, but I would venture to guess that
you will probably have slightly more luck with a pcHDTV 3000; of
course, that really is just my personal opinion.
 
> Regarding storage devices, it seems any modern hard drive should be
> able to handle HDTV raw streams (20 Mb/s) without too much trouble, and
> I will only have one tuner. Even my little 2.5" 60 GB 4200 RM laptop
> hard drive can handle it. Clearly, the limiting factor will be
> capacity, not performance, it seems. I have been pondering producing a
> RAID (probably software-based, RAID5 if possible) on here and perhaps
> using this machine for some light home file server functions. Anybody
> have experience with RAIDs and MythTV?

I went with a WD2000JD.  It's a 200GB SATA 7200RPM drive.  You can
grab it on the net for somewhere around $100 bucks.  Works great. 
Very fast, very nice when deleting massive files.  Strapped on it's
back is XFS for the filesystem, making it mega fast.  I have a second
one standing by ready to LVM together, or raid, whichever fancies me
at the time when space becomes necessary.  I'd personally go with RAID
10, but to each their own.
 
> Once the content is tuned in and everything, I need to output it. For
> the video card, my understanding is that NVidia may be preferable
> because of better hardware acceleration under Linux. I am looking to
> run HDTV, and that is all, so other performance is unimportant. I need
> good analog out (s-video), and of course VGA. If possible DVI would be
> preferable if not too costly, so I could run pure digital to
> DVI-equipped projectors, displays, and HDTVs. (At HDTV resolutions, VGA
> has noticeable blurring) Can anybody suggest some cards that would
> offer solid performance and value? What would be my best options for
> sound output? I do not currently need more than simple stereo RCA-style
> output, but if multiple channel support can be incorporated into the
> system for not too much more, I would love to include it. What sound
> cards would be best for Linux compatibility, good value, and reasonable
> quality? Should I even think about using built-in (motherboard) audio
> out?

Nvidia loves us more than ATI it seems.  You can snag an Nvidia with
Svid and DVI for less than the cost of a good steak dinner for 2 at
Outback.  As for audio, I haven't got the ears for it apparently, the
onboard that came on my Asus k8v SE deluxe is every bit as good as my
Audigy 2.  However, you'll need a soundcard for each capture card you
grab, depending on the type....  So feel free to grab a few and
experiment.  Get them locally so you can take em back, and then if you
want, get the ones you like online at a good price.
 
> So once I get all this stuff hooked up physically, it's time for
> software. First and obviously, I'm talking about using MythTV. I am
> guessing that running MythTV on top of a Linux distro would be
> preferable, as I will probably want to tweak lots of little things over
> time and perhaps do tiny other tasks with the machine. Without starting
> a holy war, what distro would be the simplest to setup and use with
> MythTV? (Yes, I know I will probably get multiple and conflicting
> opinions here!) I am aware of KnoppMyth, but I think I would rather
> have a little more control over the system than that, and I think I can
> manage to setup MythTV manually.

As noted above, I think you'll have the easiest time when running into
trouble (after all, that's where the difference lies really) if you go
with Fedora, FC3.  However, Knoppmyth is a very good option, gives you
plenty of control, with the ease of not needing it necessarily. 
Gentoo has been awesome for me, gives me control, ease of install, and
ability to tweak alot and keep up to date easy.  It's all in the
preference really.
 
> I also will need some sort of remote control apparatus. I need to
> further research this topic, but I would find it particularly
> interesting if I could use my Treo 650 (bluetooth and IR equipped) to
> control my system. I mean, if I already have the device, why not use it
> as a remote? This is really a secondary topic, but I know it's
> possible, so I'll get there.

I'm begging for help from individual members on the list here, and
seem to have luckily run into someone with my exact pieces of
hardware.  It's a hit and miss, and if you are purchasing outright,
I'd say it's best to go with Jarod's guide as was suggested above.
 
> Looking forward to a few thoughts from people.... and thank you in
> advance!

Good luck, figured I'd respond even though it's mostly searchable,
it's always nice to have a taylored response.
 
> -Galen

Chad