[mythtv-users] Ready for use?

[Chris Lopeman]

Jay R. Ashworth wrote:

>On Thu, Jul 21, 2005 at 03:57:53PM -0500, Chris Lopeman wrote:
>  
>
>>   Is anybody successfully using mythTV on a regular basis?  I just don't
>>   want  to  put  something  together that is going to have problems with
>>   basic  functionality  every other day.  Or is gonna work but look like
>>   crap on my TV.
>>    
>>
>
>Sure, there are lots of people.
>
>If you're buying everything from scratch, and you take advice from the
>right people, you stand a *much* better chance of ending up with an
>appliance.
>
>Is a little Linux background helpful?  Sure.
>
>Will everything go perfectly?  Probably not.
>
>Does everything go perfectly with a TiVo?  Probably not, either.
>
>Is the extra functionality worth the time?  Lots of people think so,
>including my sister, who, while she's pretty sharp, really mostly wants
>it to be an appliance as well.
>
>Is this sort of question-talking annoying?  You bet.  :-)
>
>Stick with hardware-MPEG cards like the PVR-250, pick the right
>VGA/NTSC-out card and distribution, and avoid the pinch-y chipsets on
>motherboards, and you shouldn't have too much trouble.
>
>Cheers,
>-- jra
>  
>
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>
Wow,  Thanks for all the great and fast responses.

Several of you stressed the importance of the right hardware to make 
things go smoothly.  Here the PVR-250 was even mentioned.  However, I 
don't think I can use the PVR-250 because I don't think it can handle 
OTA HDTV.  And in the previous responses I don't think anybody mentioned 
using HDTV.  So maybe the first follow-up question should be, Are any of 
you using it successfully with HDTV?

Assuming the answer is yes, I would like to start specifying hardware.  
So maybe I should explain what I expect minimally from Myth.  I would 
like to setup _*ONE *_box that can record one HDTV show (probably 1080i 
or 720p) while being able to pause live HDTV (same resolution) for 
another show or watch a DVD.  I have seen some posts here that imply 
that MythTV/the hardware chokes under this kind of treasure.   Hopefully 
this is not the case for Myth and it is just bad hardware.  All of this 
needs to work with my Toshiba 62hm94 (in HD of course). 

So based on what I minimally expect from Myth. Please help me spec the box.
Minimal Processor speed?  Probably AMD (to cut down on heat and noise)?
HD Tuner Card (I'll start with just one to get things working.)?
Video Card?
I don't know if a specific DVD drive matters, but if it does please 
recommend one?

Thanks,

Chris Lopeman