[mythtv-users] Special needs dad with MythTV hardware questions

Sat Nov 23 20:47:24 UTC 2013

Yeah, I’m playing the sympathy card right away.  I’m a special needs
dad of a girl with Dravet syndrome (scientifically speaking this falls
into the craptacular category of pediatric illnesses).  Dealing with
her unique and challenging situation (along with my three other
normally abnormal kids, work, etc.) leaves me with no free time.  This
why I’m hoping someone will take pity on my and answer a few basic
MythTV related questions for me instead of just telling me to go
research it myself.  I don’t have time to properly research this
myself (like I would like to do).  If I no one is willing to throw me
a bone I may have to go through the shameful process of buying a Tivo
Roamio instead. :’(

Note that I’m not against doing any of my own research.  For example
if you can direct me to one or two websites per question I’m happy to
go read those websites.  However telling me to simply “search the
archives or google it” is not what I’m looking for.  I hate to be
lazy, but I simply don’t have the time to research this myself.

I would really appreciate if someone could either tell me my reasons
for wanting a MythTV box are invalid or answer my questions on
building a MythTV box.  The two main reasons I would like to build a
MythTV box instead of a Tivo are:
1)  Ability to copy shows to my other PCs for viewing or burning to
DVD.  If Tivo Roamio can easily do this, maybe this isn’t a valid
reason?
2)  Ability to install game emulators for classic systems (like C64).
I’m almost certain that Tivo can’t do this.  However if the Tivo can
easily copy shows to DVD, then I could give up on reason 2 and resign
myself to building a “living room TV game emulator PC” later.

I am technically adept.  I’m a Cisco network engineer, so the network
aspects won’t be a problem for me.  I’m also comfortable working in a
Redhat/CentOS/Fedora OS environment (I’m a RHCE on Redhat 8, but I
haven’t used Linux a lot since Fedora 8).  I’m confident I can follow
the http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Installing_MythTV_on_Fedora guide and
get MythTV installed and working on Fedora 19 (I would actually prefer
a CentOS based distro because of the longer support timeframe, but I
imagine that good CentOS specific instructions are harder to find and
that CentOS isn’t as well supported/popular with MythTV).  If using
another distro (like Mythbuntu) is really the easiest and/or best way
I’m open to that as well.

Where I really need help is determining which TV tuner(s), video card
and remote to buy.  Money is always a concern, but it’s not my primary
concern.  I figure the money I save by not having cable for just one
year easily pays for a $750ish DVR.  Having said that, I’d prefer not
to throw money away either, so if there’s negligible difference
between two items I’d take the cheap route.  But given the choice of a
quality and/or easy to use product and an inexpensive product, I’d
rather buy the quality item.

[Which tuner(s) to buy]
My only source of TV is an antenna in my attic for receiving digital
OTA TV.  We receive about a dozen channels.  Are any tuners known to
perform better at OTA reception?

I only need two tuners, but would consider more if there’s no
technical downside (splitting my coax connection is a big downside)

Can you get a dual (or multi) tuner that only uses one coax input
connection?  Every time I split my coax connection it degrades my
signal.  I can probably afford to split my antenna to give my DVR box
two coax connections, but a single coax connection to my DVR would be
preferred.

Can any of the tuner cards do a pass through of the coax to my TV?
That would save me from having to split my antenna to give my TV its
own direct coax connection.

The last time I tried to research this (a year or more ago) these two
tuners seemed popular:
1) SiliconDust HDHomeRun DUAL High Definition Digital TV Tuner HDHR3-US
Since it’s network connected that could be a plus for me, being able
to stream the stations directly to other devices.  I’ve got ethernet
wired throughout my house, so bandwidth shouldn’t be a concern.
It looks like this is a dual tuner solution (does it need two coax connections?)

2) Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 (dual tuner, does this need two coax connections?)

[Which video card to buy?]
-I have a (cheap) 720P TV that I would like to connect to via a HDMI connection.
-It sounds like I want a VDPAU card?
-I really don’t need a lot of graphics power for any non-myth things.
For example any retro gaming I’d do with this PC would be basic 2d
graphics

[Which remote to buy?]
I’d prefer an infrared one so I could program a universal remote to control it
Some sort of wireless keyboard mouse recommendation would also be nice

[Which case to buy?]
-I’m 99.9999% sure I’ll just go with a single computer install for
simplicity’s sake.
-I already have a “AMD Phenom II X4 905e Deneb 2.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2
Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 65W Quad-Core Processor” and a “GIGABYTE
GA-790FXTA-UD5” motherboard laying around that I could use.  To use
these I’d like a home theater type of case that can accept a normal
sized motherboard.  I already have a quiet power supply as well, but
if a good case required a special power supply type I’d be open to
buying a new power supply.

--
Jim Johnson
http://littleluella.blogspot.com
Help find a cure for kids with Dravet syndrome (like my daughter
Luella) by donating to http://dravet.org or
http://dravetfoundation.org