[mythtv-users] What is a "dual core processor"?

[Marc Barrett]

For the purpose of fitting the requirements for playing back files from
a Hauppauge HD-PVR.  Today, perhaps the quintessential "dual core"
processor is the "Core 2 Duo", and that is the one that most people with
HD-PVR's are probably using.  But there are others, and I have not
kept up with new processors very well.  (My systems all use Pentium 4s)

There are older processors which are still technically  "dual core", and I was
wondering if they would work.  There is the Pentium D, and the "Pentium 
Dual Core".  As well as many processors from AMD, but I admit that I know
very little about AMD.  Which of these older "dual core" processor lines
would work, and how fast of a system would I need?  For example, I saw
a Pentium D system at 3Ghz on Dell's outlet site for under $300.  The 
cheapest  "Core 2 Duo" is about $400, for a 1.8Ghz system.