I've been a knoppmyth user for quite a few years now. I just started to realize that my analog tuner card and athlon xp based system are going to be obsolete (at least for mythtv) come next january.

For me the main use of mythtv is for time shifting. I've never been so much into the high quality/home theater angle and I still don't have an hdtv (though that will probably change in a year or two when prices come down more). I'm also on a fairly tight budget, but that doesn't seem to be a problem as computer hardware has gotten so cheap lately.

I'd appreciate the community's feedback on this potential system. Not sure about that case tho. For the tuner I'd go with either a pcHDTV or an HD Homerun. I also have an old Hauppauge WinTV-D that a friend gave me that I'd probably try to use as a second tuner for atsc.

_________________
R5F27 on:
Athlon 1800+
Asus A7N8X-VM 400, 512mb
Onboard video through Asus dongle
80G Hitachi HD
Hauppauge! WinTV 401

The case will only fit low-profile cards, so make sure your tuner cards will fit. (Not an issue for the HDHomeRun)

I'd try to swing a bigger hard drive if I were you. 250GB doesn't seem like much anymore, unless you're going to transcode your ATSC recordings down to something a lot smaller. I think you can get by with something less than a Athlon 5000+ if you need to adjust your budget accordingly.

Agreed - for $30 you can get a 500gb drive. With digital TV everything records at the broadcast quality - because you're simply copying a streaming file. Cutting down the file size takes some time, and sometimes some hassles.

I noticed some improvement with 2gb of RAM. And I'm using a much slower processor. I suspect with the onboard video extra RAM may be more useful than extra CPU, and the tradeoff should not change your costs, it might even lower them.

FWIW I'm all digital and ran OK with a Sempron 2800+. I'm now using an Athlon 3200. Maybe an HD Homerun, faster CPU, and extra disk drive are all you need?

You only need to leave the analog stuff next February if you are capturing OTA. if you are receiving via Satellite, Cable or other medium of that fashion, you will most likely still have some time.


YMMV but there are other threads on here talking about that issue.

jmckeown2 - yeah, low profile, that's why I said not sure about the case.

ceenvee703 & mogator88 - I've found it hard to find clear info on what cpu speeds are necessary for digital/hd. I understood there's little cpu power required for recording, but playback required something more beefy. I thought I remembered 2.3 GHz as being the knee of the curve with respect to digital playback. I'll see about trading some cpu for ram / drive space. The crazy thing is that this system is already costing less than my original mythbox did 4 years ago.

bigbro - That was my understanding, but I checked with my cable company and they said they are discontinuing analog next year too.

I realized I've commited the huge knoppmyth crime of posting without searching first (don't tell cecil). Actually I have searched on this subject, but it's probably been about 8 months so I'll look around again.

Thanks for the input everyone - very useful info. I'll update that wishlist as I go.

_________________
R5F27 on:
Athlon 1800+
Asus A7N8X-VM 400, 512mb
Onboard video through Asus dongle
80G Hitachi HD
Hauppauge! WinTV 401

Where??

I think they meant for an extra $30. The $/Gb sweet spot is now between the 500Gb and 750Gb drives, and the incremental $ to go from a smaller drive to a 500Gb is tiny.

Any input on whether myth benefits from a larger disk cache? Is it worth the extra to go for a 16mb cache vs an 8mb? My guess is its not.

_________________
R5F27 on:
Athlon 1800+
Asus A7N8X-VM 400, 512mb
Onboard video through Asus dongle
80G Hitachi HD
Hauppauge! WinTV 401