[mythtv-users] Help with picking motherboard

[Marc MERLIN]

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 09:13:31PM -0500, Shanon Swafford wrote:
> 
> Hi guys,
> 
> I've been lurking for a while and am planning to build a system for
> mythdora.  I've googled and googled but just can't make up my mind.
> 
> My Requirements are the following:
> 
> 1080i via HDMI to my TV.
> S/PDIF Out (Optical) to Sony Tuner.
> I have a Pinnacle 800i PCI tuner card.
> Will probably add a digital dual tuner card to have 3 tuners.
> 
> It will need to be an FE/BE and I want to watch and record OTA in the US and
> HD via Comcast Digital unencrypted QAM as long as it is available.  Drop
> cable if it that goes away.
> 
> So I'm stuck between 2 motherboard models:
> 
> AMD (GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128090
> 
> Intel (ASUS P5Q-EM):
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131336

If that helps, I just picked up a Asus P5E-VM HDMI G35, and have
the following working:
- hdmi 1080p to my receiver and HDTV (I installed the very latest intel
  drivers first though, from ubuntu intrepid) (*)
- alsa sound to spdif coax output

The board only has one PCI slot (the rest is PCI-E) but that's enough to put
a dual analog tuner card. For digital, you should pick up an hdhomerun and
talk to it via ethernet.
I also use the onboard firewire for digital to the comcast DCH-3200 cable
box and can get SCIFI-HD and friends through firewire.

As for horsepower, with a dual core 3G CPU it plays 1080p content just fine
so far.

(*) note that with the G35 board, you have to make sure you're playing XV on
the second visual or it'll be slow. See my other post about this. 
Looking at specs online, the G45 chip doesn't seem that much better than G35
(at least nothing that a mythtv box would care about), so you might want the
older one since drivers have a better chance to support it well.

Hope it helps.
Marc
-- 
"A mouse is a device used to point at the xterm you want to type in" - A.S.R.
Microsoft is to operating systems & security ....
                                      .... what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking
Home page: http://marc.merlins.org/