MB = Gigabyte S3 GA-P965-S3
Mem = 1 stick 512 DDR2 PC5400
Processor: 3.2 gig LGA775 Pentium
Video: Nvidia Geforce 7100 PCIE
PVR card: Hauppage PVR-150 x2
Storage: 500gig western digital IDE
Sound: Sound Blaster live! 5.1
DVD: lite-on
video source= cable



Any suggestions provided would be much appreciated
till tring to figure out best case

Thanks!,
=Eric

I'm not an expert, but I highly recommend going with 2 tuners if you can. You won't regret having 2 but you might regret only having one.

The same with 1gig ram instead of 512.

Don't forget a remote (I like the streamzap with infrared usb receiver for $27 from provantage)
http://www.provantage.com/streamzap-usbir2~7STRE001.htm

I bought 2 and they came in those ugly plastic hook type packages where you need a razor knife to get them out, but they are fantastic. I didn't have any trouble with the company or product either.

Don't forget a CD or DVD ROM drive. I suggest a DVD ROM drive. They are dirt cheap for the non-writers. (under $20 from newegg) I went with a CDROM drive on my first one and just finally replaced it.

I didn't bother with a floppy drive at all.

Find out now what kind of input you need for your tv and if the MB has an onboard soundcard. If you are using a stereo or if your tv has inputs for sound, great. But if you only have a coax input, you will need to get something to convert the nvidia svideo or component video and the soundcard output into a coax connector.

Hey thanks for the input I do have an extra PVR-150 card So dual tuners is possible I get what you mean one tuner can record while the other is free to let you watch tv?. The remote looks great I'll pick one up thanks! I just want to be sure my hardware choices will be compatable with knoppmyth I can't find any info if my proposed setup will work or not.

Thanks!,
-Eric
Anyone else using a gigabyte S3 P965?

If you are going to locate the PC next to the TV/stereo, you will probably want to consider how noisy it is. Check out http://www.silentpcreview.com and do your research.

In particular:

* You don't mention the WD HD model. Some WD drives can be extremely noisy. The HD was the first thing I replaced because of noise and it was a WD. However, the WD Caviar SE16 500G is very good (I just bought one).

* Pentiums tend to run hot - More fans, more noise.

* Power Supplies can be loud. Don't believe anything about silent on the box or how it sounds in a noisy store. My powersupply was the second thing I replace because of noise.

* A well designed case with good ventilation and space for nice big slow fans.

* I haven't been keeping up on video cards, but I understand there have been some driver issues with some of the newer nvidia cards. You probably want to do a search on this card in the forums to find out if it is a problem or not. Also, you want a video card that does not require a fan (not sure if yours does or not).

_________________
ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)

Two tuners minimum. And, put them in before you install KM. In fact, put in everything you think you'll want before you install, its just harder to add things later.



There seems to be a conflict between NVidia cards and USB devices. My unit crashed constantly with a USB remote or USB keyboard. I ordered a remote keyboard/mouse combo that uses PS/2 connectors instead of USB. Makes it real easy to do web surfing too. Good Luck!

Steve

Especially when the HDTV bug hits you!

More than that. You can record two shows at once. It will also cut down on the number of recording conflicts. I can't tell you how often I wanted to record 2 programs at once and had to use a vcr, or recorded one after another on a different station but the first ran a little long so the second didn't record.

Or the number of times I missed the first or last 30 seconds of a show because the broadcaster doesn't quite match the actual time.

With 2 tuners, you can set all of your recordings to record 1 minute extra at the start and end. With only 1 tuner, doing this risks more conflicts.



Sweet.

Really? I thought mythtv didn't mind if you added or swapped tuners? Maybe that's only if it uses the same drivers?

I know adding more drive space or changing the video card is probably harder later though.



I had no trouble at all with the usb streamzap remote. But I'm not using a usb keyboard or mouse though. I am using an nvidia card too.

Adding drive space may not be that difficult. But like on a PC it is a separate drive. Good thing you're starting with 500gb, my 250 filled up in weeks. And I had enough trouble getting my video card set up, I don't want to do that again!

One of the reasons you use Myth IMO is the multiple tuners. I started with one then added a second. The second one involved a bit of forum searching and digging through menus, fiddling with settings that I really didn't understand, numerous reboots, etc. Had I started with two all of this would have been dealt with during the install.

Anyways, since you're asking for advice, that's my advice. Start with at least two. Since you have cable, then you might want three. About the USB, if you didn't have problems, that's great. But I did and I know others did too, so thats why I bring it up. Best of luck to you!

Uh, yeah, I'm not the OP here. I was just interjecting that I didn't have problems with nvidia and usb, and hadn't realized anyone else did.

In fact, I thought that nvidia was one of the most common video card brands used here, and the streamzap was one of the most common remotes. Certainly it's able to detect it and autoinstall it.

hey guys thanks for all the great tips I pulled the trigger on the intel chip as I already had the board the only other thing is should I go ide for the hard drive or does knoppmyth support sata? Also the dvd writer will be sata.

-Eric

DOHHH!!!! My bad.

Yes it seems like most people are using NVidia cards. My "remotes" have been an undocumented one that came with my tuner card and a keyboard I bought from eBay, so that's probably part of my problem also.

The most recent releases support SATA. i have SATA for the hard drive, and IDE for the DVD burner. Honestly I don't know if SATA is helping the performance or not though. Good luck!

Steve

Hard Drive performance does not seem to be the limiting factor with any versions of KM I have tried.
I found that lower end CPU's in some cases and definitely Mobo Bus B/W became a bigger factor when the box was tasking with multiple I/O's. Those two mobo's have now been moved to sbe/fe units since they just couldn't keep up with recording, playback and a stream running to a networked windoze box. The HD at that time was PATA 66 on a Pata 100 channel and it moved to a new bigger box/mobo and the performance issues went away. That clearly points to a mobo b/w issue the drive just limps along.

Your Intel selection should be fine, just get a good quiet cooler for it and a case that vents the heat out well. The only choice I kind of wish I would have splurged on would have been a dual core cpu in my MBE, there are rare occasions where the second core would really be a benefit. taking captures to Xvid for my Pocket PC comes to mind.

I don't have experience with HDTV but given the similar performance characteristics with SATA vs PATA it shouldn't be a factor either for 2-3 streams.

The only real advantage I can see with SATA for an HD is prices for drives seem to be coming down better on SATA in the larger capacity drives.

Build it all together is definitely the easiest choice I agree with the group on that. But also having to build things one piece at a time and upgrade when the part became available isn't that hard.

I would have to say changing video cards is the hardest of the bunch, as the driver I believe is compiled on an individual basis per the video card.

Adding Hard Drive space isn't too bad under LVM, just the initial setup of LVM takes some time to move files around. there are great instructions for that.

I have changed Keyboards from an MS Wireless unit, PS-2 and USB to one of the infrared units recommended elsewhere here. both PS-2 and it came up just fine through a restart.

Next H/W upgrade for me is to move around some DVD drives so I have my burner in the correct box and a reader in my main htpc box. We will see how that goes..

Regards!

_________________
KnoppMyth R5.5
MBE: AMD64 3400+, K8N Neo4 Plat., 1Gig, Asus Extreme N6200, 320G pata, 2x320Gsata, 750Gsata, PVR-150 Retail w/Blaster
SBE: AMD XP2000, GA 7ZMMH, 1 Gig, XFX 256M 6200, 20 Gig, PVR-150 Retail w/Blaster
SBE: AMD Dur1800, 512M, PVR500

Again thanks allot guys the information you have provided really helps no substitution for direct experience. Well what I'm shooting for is also a quiet solution this is why I choose a casse with 120mm fans and researching a quiet cpu cooler. Most likly with 120mm fan Also the reason why I choose a fanless video card.

One quick note I find that I have to restart samba everytime I reboot myth is therre a way to make samba start automatically?

Yes I'm choosing sata for the price and availability not for the performance

I'll keep you guys posted as soon as my hardware arrives hopefully by the end of the week so far

-Eric