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Mon Oct 30 22:48:16 UTC 2006


handling HD in the future.

The most important things you want to look at for this are:
1) CPU -- It's important to keep in mind that the necessary processing
work is on the frontend, not the backend. It doesn't take much CPU to
record HD material, since the only way we have to do that at the
moment is via OTA antenna (ATSC), unencrypted HD over cable (QAM), or
unencrypted HD over firewire. All of these involve basically dumping
MPEG-2 streams to disc.

But to play the content back, you'll need a poweful processor. For any
HD playback, you'll want the strongest and fastest CPU you can get.

2) Storage -- Get a lot. Using an MPEG-2 encoding card like the
Hauppage PVR series means 2.2 GB per hour before transcoding. HD means
7-8 GB per hour. Make sure you have plenty of storage capabilities. I
prefer to use a single HDD for recordings and several other volumes
for more permanent storage, but many Myth users will swear by LVMed
drives and RAID setups. But you can't have too much space. One way or
another it will be full soon enough.

> In the future I'd like to upgrade for instance:
> - CRT TV -> LCD TV
> - stereo sound -> 7.1 sound

Turtle Beach cards are golden. They work out of the box with alsa, are
quiet, support various surround modes, and are very reasonably priced.

> - regular DVD -> HD-DVD or Blueray

It's inevitable that HD-DVD and Blueray will be supported on Linux,
but don't hold your breath. By the time that solid compatibility
exists, new drives will be under $100 and will read (and likely write)
both formats. Until then, both formats are non-starters and better off
ignored.

>
> Processor:
> What would you ppl suggest about the processor, is it any idea to buy a 64
> bits processor at once or buy a cheaper processor with a better motherboard
> that also supports 64 bit processors?
> -          AMD or Intel, thinking in terms of heat production etc?
> -          Duo Core or Duo Core 2?

Plan for the next 3 years or so. As far as Myth goes, multi-core is
probably a lot more effective than 64-bit (since AFAIK most of what
Myth needs is 32 bit anyway). I wouldn't buy a MB or CPU with the idea
of swapping out in the future. The HD-capable CPU you buy today will
still be HD-capable in the future. You may find in three years that
you need something more robust, but today's system will cartainly be
able to play a role without needing a complete overhaul.

See the wiki for processor HD capability with and without Xvmc.

> Graphics / Tuner cards:
> Are there chipsets out there that are better avoiding?

Graphics: Buy Nvidia, avoid ATI. This is simply practical advice.

Tuners: For SD, buy Hauppage PVR x50/500 cards for SD, pcHDTV cards
for HD. There are others that work, but you'll want to consult the
list archives and the wiki for the best choices. (I have very little
experience with HD, but I've seen the cards praised often).

> The HTPC is planned to be a combined MythTV Frontend / Backend that will be
> sitting in beneath the TV.

This is probably the most common setup, and the one that I use --
MBE/FE next to the TV (plus a remote FE in the bedroom).

The most important thing to realize is that MythTV is a process, not a
product. You could try to build a system today that is perfectly
future proof, but you really don't know yet how you'll use it.

It's a great idea to leave room for expansion, and to have a built-in
plan for the expansion that will inevitably occur. One piece of advice
I would give is to not plan on an initial box that is small and
attractive -- this will be your foundation, after all. Your first box
should be big with plenty of drive bays and PCI slots (which leaves
lots of room for HDDs and capture cards as you expand) and feature
large fan bays (which will keep it more quiet). Most of your expansion
will then be in FE units rather than  having to rebuild the BE.

Good Luck,


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