Hey everyone.

I'm planning on putting together a set of hardware for a (very) small business I run. I've got various setups for productivity and gaming computers that I build for people, and I wanted to add a Myth box to the list, but I'm having trouble ensuring that the hardware will work well without actually buying and building one. Here are the parts I'm planning on using:

PC Chips A11G V1.0 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Orleans 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor
FREETECH PX6200TD-128M GeForce 6200 128MB Video Card
pqi TURBO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
LITE-ON Black (Do-Everything) IDE DVD Burner
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular recording) ST3500630A 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive
2x Hauppauge WINTV-PVR-150 PCI Interface Tuner Card

Is there anything that you guys can see going wrong with this setup? What I'm looking for is a box that is fairly quiet and fast, with plenty of storage space.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

I would recommend going with a GeForce 6150 based motherboard and using the on-board graphis as opposed to a GeFroce 6100 based board and a add-on GeFroce 6200. You can always add a more powerful card to the 6150 based board if you need it.

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)

These boxes are meant to be hooked up to a TV instead of a computer, so I need the TV-out options that the graphics card provides. Since those are the only graphical requirements, I went with a nice, inexpensive 6200. Would there be a better card to use instead of the 6200 for this?

I prefer the NVidia 5200 cards, Passively Cooled. Completely silent, and plenty powerful for a MythTV.. Then even come in Half-Height form (for better airflow), and they're less than $40.

That would be good. The only problem I can see with the 5200s is that all the ones I'm looking at are AGP and only have a Composite-out, instead of that 6200 which has composite, s-video, and hdtv out.

So, am I to understand that I won't run into any trouble configuring Myth to work on this setup so that it is both front- and back-end, and displays on the television screen it's hooked up to, using a remote hooked up to one of the hauppauge cards to control the box?

Thanks again for your help and suggestions, and I apologize for not laying out my goals more clearly in the first post.

Why not go with the 500 instead of 2 150's?

I really like not having to use an extra splitter and 2 more cables in my machine.

I was under the impression that with two tuner cards, one could record two things simultaneously on two different channels, whereas with only one, you could not. So, the ability to record two programs simultaneously would be why I selected two 150s instead of one other card, such as a 500.

The PVR-500 is a dual tuner card that requires a single PCI slot and a single CATV input.

Regarding Martian's point, why not use a motherboard with onboard TV out, such as the Asus M2NPV-VM? Gives you all the outputs: http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3 ... odelmenu=1 I have 2 of these in frontends, 1 for my HDTV setup. No problems with them so far. Take a peek through these forums, you will find a number of folks using this board.

Just a clarification.

The PVR-500 works fine for recording two separate things IF it's the effective tuner. This means that it's connected "straight to the wall" for the cable or antenna.

On the other hand, if you're using a cable box or boxes, those are the effective tuners, and it's another story. You need some way to pass the seperate inputs to the capture cards.

I like that motherboard!

Okay, switching the setup to that mobo and a single 500 instead of two 150s. I can't forsee any further problems with chipset, graphics device, or tuner, which I understand to be the three spots where trouble arises most.

So, I'll make that the setup I'll use. Unless, of course, anyone sees a problem with the setup.

Thanks again, guys, for all your help.

It's a good MB, I've got it working nicely. One bug-a-boo with it is the RAM. Do you research on it, but I think you need a 1.9v stick. I'm using the RAM here just fine.

What kind of remote are you going to use for it? Everyone has their own favorite, from internal to external, to connected by wireless keyboard.

Speaking of that, a wireless keyboard would be handy for anyone who likes to edit commercials out while sitting on the couch.

Oooh, I like that MB too.

Wow. $85 on newegg?

Is that an svideo port I see on that thing?

Do I get any karma points for suggesting the 500?

I'll have to research remotes later tonight. Do you guys have any suggestions?