[mythtv-users] Hardware Selection for backend

[Michael T. Dean]

Steve Adeff wrote:

>there are very few nforce 4 boards with agp and 5x pci, and the ones that 
>exist are expensive. I've recently been working on putting together a machine 
>for 3x HD3000 cards and a PVR500. 
>I've found newegg.com to be the best prices for the convenience of buying all 
>in one place. I might be able to save ~$20 shopping around, but screw that...
>Anyway, the best bang-for-buck for my needs is an nforce3 board for $70, and 
>an Athlon64 3000. I've already got an AGP fx5200 so I'd basically get in for 
>about $500, then get a nice HTPC case. I plan on buying a new 320gig SATA 
>drives specificaly for MythTV as well (and prbly a few more to replace some 
>aging and smaller ATA drives on my file server), they can be had for $140 w/ 
>a 3yr warranty. 
>
>I've currently got a an Athlon64 3200+ on an nForce4 board, it runs great and 
>was a snap to get MythTV running, so as long as I can do the 3x HD3000 cards 
>and get them working with a PVR500 I'll be good to go!
>
>what I need to do is see if its worth it to rent a few more DCT6200 boxes from 
>Comcast and use firewire instead of paying for the HD3000 cards. now that i 
>think of it, I think it might be....
>  
>
If you're going to have that much junk, why waste money on an "HTPC 
case?"  Just get a case with plenty of room for good airflow and hard 
drives/capture cards and put the computer and the several DCT6200's and 
the 10+ miles of cables in another room.

No matter what people tell you, you can't make a stack of cable STB's, a 
computer (in any case), various UPS's, and all the wires required by the 
bunch look good sitting next to your TV.  On the other hand, if you put 
the mess in a different room and leave only a TV and speakers in your 
viewing room, you have a guest-friendly TV experience and never have to 
worry about fans on your power supply, CPU, video card, motherboard 
chipset, etc. detracting from the viewing experience.

Mike