[mythtv-users] Opinions on my hardware choices for a new PVR
Jonathan Moore
moorejon at usd465.com
Sat Jan 1 21:34:50 EST 2005
Let me prefis this with I have only built one of these and ended up with a Via Eden
5000, and a PVR 350 in a modified IBM NetVista case. We wanted something really
small and I wanted to play with Mini-ITX
> Antec Overture case -- Should look good in the living room and is
> supposed to be quiet
This case passed the "wife" test. There were a few others she liked even better, but
she would be willing to have one of these in the living room. Antec also makes a cude
case that would work well in some entertainment centers.
> Hauppauge PVR 350 -- for encoding and decoding
>
> On my optional list I have:
>
> Hauppauge PVR-250 -- for dual recording
If you are planning on going out to the onboard video card anyway why spend the
extra cash on the 350? As far as I know the only way to make use of the onboard
mpg2 decode is to send the video output through it. I went this route to work around
the low end cpu on my via, but if I were building a full sized/powered system I would
spend the money on multiple 250s.
>
> Neatgear 54Mbps wireless card -- streaming video to other PCs?
>
I have a friend that claims to be streaming via G wireless to his iBook laptop running
an OS X ported frontend, so it should work, esp for playback of highly compressed
video such as saved in mpeg4, but I think even mpeg2 works for at least a single
stream. I am told the B is a little dicy with mpeg2.
> Wireless keyboard and mouse -- For non-PVR uses, games, browsing the
> web, etc? (Any recommendations?)
>
> I considered going with a VIA M1000 but it seems like the software
> support is not as good and/or trickier to setup. Plus there is less room
> for expansion and performance might not be that good if I go outside the
> PVR space (maybe add in some games for my little bro :) ).
I wouldn't go with this line unless you have a compeling reason, size, space, cost,
curiosity, etc. I really love the small form factor of my Eden but I am about ready to
switch to something more powerful and easier to work with. I recently had a drive
crash and it took my about 3 or 4 days to get the thing back together because of all
the compiling on a slow box.
>
> Well what do you guys think?
I think your parents will really enjoy it.
Visit Winfield Public Schools at http://usd465.com
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