I'm in the final planning stages of upgrading my combined frontend / backend MythTV system and have some questions I'd like to throw out to the Knoppmyth hive mind for review. The system will use my present PVR-500 for analog (US-cable) and I plan to add an HDHomerun for HD (QAM). I want to avoid using XVMC decoding for everything!

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Case - Antec NSK2400 ($90-100)

I was planning on going with the Antec Fusion until I saw this case.

Fusion vs. NSK2400
VFD - A nice feature but mostly bling IMO, besides it's a low end VFD and it does NOT have an IR receiver. Also heard it can be a pain to set up in Myth.
Volume Knob - My stereo has one, I never use it. Why do I need another...remote anyone? Beside I hear it doesn't work right with digital passthrough.
Hidden Optical Drive - This is a nice feature and really tempts me to go with the fusion but it isn't necessary and I've heard is prone to breaking (I have a 2 year old son) so I can live without.
Brushed Aluminum Finish - Again a really nice touch however I plan on painting the case black (why couldn't Antec make a black one?) to match all my other A/V equipment so the brushed aluminum starts to not really matter at that point.

All other features of the two cases are the same except the NSK2400 is about $90 cheaper. Thoughts?

Motherboard - Asus M2NPV-VM or the Abit NF-M2 nView - ~$90

I've decided that AM2 is the way to go as 939 is dead and 939 chips and boards are getting hard to find. I've also decided to go Nvidia 6150 to save on buying a video card and based on the rave reviews from other Myth users.

As I plan to use DVI->HDMI to drive my LCD HDTV I need a board with DVI out. That pretty much limits the choices to the Asus M2NPV-VM or the Abit NF-M2 nView. The DFI C51PV-M2/G Infinity looks attactive until you realize it's slightly bigger than mATX!?!? (10.4" x 9.6")

M2NPV-VM
+Good reviews from Myth users
+Has Serial Port header on board so I can wire up a Home built IR receiver in the case.
-Have to buy extra module (~$15 eBay) for SPDIF digital out (which I need)
-Very picky on memory (needs 1.9V) [I can deal with this]
-Virtually NO overclocking features (not necessary but....)

NF-M2 nView
+Optical and Coaxial SPDIF on board
+Full overclocking features
-No Serial Port headers! (would need to buy USB IR receiver)
-Not as popular with Myth?

The lack of the SPDIF on the Asus and the lack of the Serial port header on the Abit are the major drawbacks to each. Both can be worked around for a price. I don't plan to overclock but it's nice to have the option should I need a little more horsepower in the future. I'm leaning a little tword the Asus but would like to hear your opinions.

Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (65W) - ~$135

For the price I can't help but want to go dual core. I'm just concerned with the cores only running at 2.0 GHz that even with 2 of them I won't have quite enough Horsepower to do smooth HD and I don't want to have to use XVMC! Anyone have some experience with this chip?
I'm guessing with the Abit motherboard I could safely overclock to 4200+ speeds but I'm not sure I could with the limited overclocking features on the Asus board. Any insight you guys can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Will use stock heatsink / fan. May upgrade later.

RAM - 1 GB Corsair DDR2 800 MHz (2x512) - ~$120

I could probably get by with 512 but I like running the Blootube-wide theme and it is a RAM hog! Many reports of the Coarsair RAM playing nice with the Asus M2NPV-VM so I think it's the best choice.

Video / Sound / LAN

All onboard (will need to buy SPDIF adapter if I go with the M2NPV-VM)

HDD

Plan to continue using the 250 GB PATA Western Digital I have. I also have an 80 GB PATA Western Digital I use for storing videos. Not the quietest drives but I can live with it.

DVD-RW

Plan to continue using my NEC DVD-RW. Again, not the quietest but it works great!

Tuners

Will continue using my PVR-500 for analog.
Plan to add an HDHomerun for HD (no PCI slots FTW!)

Remote

I plan to continue using my Stereo's remote for everything. I have custom lirc.conf and lircrc files and they work great and the wife approves, no need to change.

If I go with the Asus M2NPV-VM, I plan to wire up an internal serial port IR receiver in the case using the M2NPV-VM's serial header.

If I go with the Abit Motherboard. I will probably buy a StreamZap for the USB IR receiver and shelf the remote.

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If you made it this far Congrats! (and Thanks!). I've been researching this upgrade for months now and I think I'm pretty close to buying. I greatly value the knowledge of the Knoppmyth community and appreciate any feedback you guys are willing to provide.

Thanks!

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

I'm planning to order tonight, any thoughts / comments?

I'm leaning toword the Abit motherboards now.

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

Something to consider is that Cesman (the main Knoppmyth developer) has a Asus M2NPV-VM, so there is good chance it will always be well tested with each new Knoppmyth release.

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Paul Turpie
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<--Is your location in your profile? Why not?

Looks like a pretty sweet setup overall. That whole NSK line of cases from Antec look very nice for building a quiet PC. If I were building a machine today those, the Solo and it's twin the P150 would be at the top of my list. Be sure to see the review at http://www.silentpcreview.com/ for some hints on how to get the most out of that case.

You may want to look at what remotes people are having the best luck with under R5E50, but since it sounds like you've already rolled your own once, you're miles ahead of the average user.

My other recommendation would be to install a quiet CPU HSF right off the bat since replacing them is such a hassle and you can easily do so much better than stock. Since that case won't have room for a big tower the Zalman 7000 or 7700 ALCu are probably your best bet, followed by the pricier Thermalright horizontal heatpipe (e.g. XP-90 and XP-120) heatsinks and a quiet fan.

Thanks for the reply tjc!

I did read that review at silentpcreview, in fact that is what really sold me on the NSK2400.

Lirc and I have worked out our differences and I'd say I've become somewhat of a "power user" over the years. My stereo receiver's remote has worked very well and I have all the hard work with irrecord done.

I've decided to go with the Abit board as I really like having the optical SPDIF on board and I like the idea of having full overclocking options should I ever want / need to squeeze a little extra out of my processor. It seems that the Athlon 64 X2 3800's are very overclockable and I just hate the thought of having a chip that can easily do more being held back by the board.

I going to pick up a Streamzap remote and just use the USB IR receiver with my present remote. All I should need to do is change the module I load on boot.

Your advice on the processor fan is well received. I planned to purchase a Zalman 7000 or 7700 ALCu as you recommend however they don't support the AM2 platform. Zalman just released the CNP-S7500 series that does support AM2 chips however it doesn't seem to be available yet.

I know I'll have to pull the motherboard in order to change the heatsink but that's OK. I'm going to work with the stock cooler for a while and then after a few months I plan to pick up a CNP-S7500 once they are available. I plan to also pick up some Nexus 120 mm fans for the case and maybe even replace the 80 mm fan in the power supply depending on if it has the "whine" that others complain of or not.

Well, I'm going to order - wish me luck!

Thanks,

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

Martian, thanks for the tip on the NSK case. I have virtually the same exact wishlist q'd up at newegg. Was getting ready to push the button on the Fusion, but going to go w/ the NSK, you saved me $90! Also, back and forth on the same 2 mobos, but going w/ ASUS since will be in bedroom, ie no real audio setup. Thanks again! - gc

You may have to upgrade to SVN or wait for .21 to get all the QAM channels. A SVN upgrade isn't too hard though.

http://cvs.mythtv.org/trac/changeset/12564

Make checks payable to Martian......just kidding . I figure if I ever really want a VFD I can buy a good one (with an IR receiver) and put it in the top 5.25" bay. I actually ordered the case from zipzoomfly as they were about $26 cheaper than newegg (first time ever I think )


Yeah, I've been looking into that. I believe there are some people who have the HDHomerun working under R5E50 with QAM but I'm willing to go SVN if I have too. I will admit that I decided to upgrade my box first and put off buying the HDHomerun in hopes that it and support for it in myth would improve.

To add insult to injury I have Comcast as my cable provider so I also get to manually tweak the frequencies to get it to work since they strip the PID data out.

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

Have you got it? How's it going? I have about the same setup, and I'm in the process of ironing out the kinks. Sorry I didn't see the thread sooner.

I have NSK2400/NF-M2/X2 3800+ 65W. I got carried away and bought 2GB of RAM, and it's wasted. I have 3 VMWare VMs running and I still don't use 512MB (not quite sure whether my VMs are causing audio-sync problems even though I have them reniced to 19).

You weren't tempted by the 65nm X2 3600+?

I've found that R5E50 / sensors_detect etc., still can't get temperature readings, which is a shame. I haven't resolved that...

I've also found that DVI-HDMI to my TV (Hyundai E320D) doesn't return available resolution modes, so I'll have to make a manual modeline. Haven't worked through that yet either. I don't know if it's my tv, or a limitation of DVI->HDMI. Currently running 1024x768 via VGA .

I take it you've seen the threads here about upgrading the Nvidia drivers, and tweaking settings for HD playback efficiency? Sounds like there's a major improvement available to CPU usage.

I bought the super-cheap AC Alpine 7 cooler, and it's excellent - inaudible, well controlled by the 4-pin output on the mobo. Not sure what temps I'm getting though - by loading it up with 2xk8burn for a while, rebooting and checking the BIOS, I estimate <50C at 30% fan speed (inaudible).

I'm going to change out the case fans though, as I find them too intrusive (i.e. they are audible). I got some cheap Yate Loons (more or less the Nexus with another badge), and I'm planning on wiring 2 together to use the controlled mobo header for both case fans. Unfortunately, the PSU has a whine that's not from the fan, but on the plus side, I don't notice it. Perhaps if I switch to silent case fans and swap the PSU fan it'll come to the fore!

Every time setup detects a change, I have to open the sound mixer and turn up the volume. Don't know what causes that.

Contemplating the HDHomeRun, but I have to resolve my display issue first. I'm slightly reticent to have to have another box and power supply. What I'd really like is a dual tuner PCI-Express ATSC card . I didn't realise there were issues requiring SVN...

I got the motherboard, processor, RAM, and Streamzap remote last night. My DVI to HDMI cable is "Out for Delivery" however I ordered the case from ZipZoomFly because they were about $26 dollars cheaper than Newegg . Unfortunately ZipZoomFly didn't get around to shipping it until last night (3 days after I ordered it) so I won't see it in time for the weekend. I got the Streamzap up and running last night (details = http://www.mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewto ... highlight=) but without the case I can't really go any further on the project. I will probably set up the motherboard, processor, and RAM on the bench this weekend just to check for DOA.


I figured 1 GB was probably the "sweet spot" for what I'm doing. It was a couple bucks cheaper to go with the dual channel kit so I went that route.


I thought about it, but there isn't enough data out on the Brisbane chips yet. It also only runs at 1.9 GHz as opposed to 2.0 GHz like the 90nm X2 3800+. I know for a fact that the 3800's overclock like it's their job but with the Brisbane's being a new process that probably isn't dialed in yet I'd say overclocking is probably a crap-shoot at best. I hope I'm wrong though.


This is a shame but I personally don't put too much faith in temp sensors. I usually rely on the "finger sensor", aka if it burns my finger...it's too #$&@ing hot! Sometimes "low-tech" justs gets it done.


I always generate my own modlines. There is plenty of info on the forums on how to do that. I think you will be very pleased with the results. Never rely on your TV to know what's best for it! Your the Boss.


Yes I have although I have to confess that I'm not presently running Knoppmyth due to unresolved Xorg lockups that I couldn't figure out. I am running 91.xx series drivers with the "other" distribution and have implemented this fix. It seems to have helped a lot! No complaints.


I'm going to stick with the stock cooler until the Zalman CNPS7500-AlCu is readily available. You just can't go wrong with Zalman!


I'll probably look into additional silencing when I get the Zalman CPU cooler. I'll need to pull the motherboard so it would be a good time.


Try running after you exit alsamixer. That should store your settings.


I don't know that SVN is strictly required. Some people report being able to use QAM on the HDHomerun on stock R5E50 while others seem to need SVN. I guess the take home here is that you should be willing to go SVN (or wait) if you want to use the HDHomerun with MythTV. Personally I'm more than willing to put in the extra effort to save a PCI slot.

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

FedEx tracking shows that my case should be here in a couple days. With the return for processors only being 7 days I decided to go ahead and put everything together in an old ATX chassis I had laying around just to make sure everything worked. The process went pretty smoothly. I had to change my audio device from ALSA:spdif to /DEV/DSP in order to get the audio to work (which I think might be the cause of my last remaining problem). I also spent several hours getting my xorg.conf set up right to display 1368x768 over my new DVI to HDMI cable. For some reason it only wanted to do 800x600 even though my modeline was for 1368x768. I plan to do a write-up on that later though.

Now for my problem. I can't seem to be able to use Mythstream any more. I really like being able to tune in to Shoutcast streams and the like to listen to music but for some reason when I go to a stream I get nothing. My old setup used an Audigy card via spdif output to the coaxial input on my receiver. My new setup uses the onboard optical output to the optical input on my receiver. All other audio works on the system but for some reason Mythstream doesn't and I can't figure out why. I've read that Mythstream uses mplayer for it's output and I don't use mplayer anywhere else in the system so I wonder if it could actually be something with mplayer that is causing my problem.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

I was trying unsuccessfully to get Myth to work on old PC I had lying around until I tripped over this case in a store. I bought it and then went out to get a board and cards.

Its micro ATX so I was limited to 3 PCI slots (might interfere with my plans to run multiple tuners) but everything went together real easy. It was a breeze in fact. Keep in mind I work in non-electronics retail sales and am approaching middle age. That's how easy it was to use this case.

Only downside (nitpicking here) is only one front LED, and no front firewire (most of our family's camcorders are firewire). I'd definitely use it again.

Steve

Ok, I'm quoting myself here, I promise I'll get my head examined in the morning.

I have Mythstream working and thought I'd share my results in case anyone else can benefit from my struggle.

I was definitely on to something with mplayer. In fact it turns out that mplayer was actually the problem. I needed to configure mplayer to use the proper audio output. I also set mplayer to pass AC3 audio if present although I don't think that makes any difference with Mythstream.

Here is what I did.

I added the following to /home/mythtv/.mplayer/config


In my case my audio device is hw#0.0. Other might have to use hw#0.2 or hw#0.4

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

I'd be very interested in this... I've played with modelines a bit so far, with limited success, and my DVI->HDMI is giving me 800x600 too, heavily overscan masked.

I'm not very confident of success, certainly not pixel-perfect success. My TV (Hyundai E320D) hides lots of 'overscan' and offers no controls to tweak it. Is it possible to fix overscan with a modeline, if the TV doesn't offer built-in controls? Also, whatever input I give it, the TV seems to display it as 4:3 and I have to tell it to stretch. My best result so far is hugely overscanned (or should that be underscanned?) 1368x768 via VGA with lots of ghosting .

I'm just amazed at how many hurdles there are to getting an LCD tv to display the pixels it's sent...

I started a thread in the "Tips & Tricks" section with info on how I got my custom 1368x768 modeline to work over my DVI to HDMI connection.

Thread is here: http://www.mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewto ... 2752#82752

Please note that I am running 91.xx series Nvidia drivers.

Martian

Updated my sig - WOOT!!!

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)