Hi all -

I'm sure this gets asked all the time but I I've got a few questions...

Firstly, I want to mention that I am a decently proficient linux user, but by no means an expert. I have a TiVo, but haven't use any of the opensource equivelents, yet...

My goal is to make a machine that can do the following:

1) Record a show at a 'medium' resolution 480x480 or there-abouts, at a decent bitrate... nothing amazing... for those who have one, I am fairly satisfied with the 'Basic'/standard TiVo settings, for most things, and the next highest (not thte maximum setting) for sports and such. I'd like to get about 1gig/hr on average, and I am happy with fairly low bitrate sound (192kbps)...

2) Watch a previously recorded program (while recording something live) or watch Live TV with the 'standard' PVR controls (pause/rw/ff/commercial skip/instant replay/etc).

3) Play DVDs.

4) Rip a DVD or burn one W/O degrading recording quality. I would be OK if it prevented me from watching anything while it was being done, but it would be really slick if it could be done in the background without effecting either.

5) Archiving older or manually designated programs in a smaller/lower quality format, such as MPEG4. I'd like to be able to watch a program, and if I decide to save it afterward, have it automatically be converted into a MPEG4 that is about 1gig/3 hours. (with the obvious reduction of quality). Also, shows that are older than a week that haven't been watched yet would get converted as well.

6) Browse, view, and play music files and photos locally and on a network.

7) The backend can be a regualar sized PC, and will also serve as a frontend, but I would like to build a second, small frontend for the bedroom... I would like to make that frontend simply play recorded files from the backend (as well as program it) and also play DVDs. Is an 802.11b wireless network suitable for MythTV or is .11g required?

Ok, sorry for that long list, but I assume that I am going to sink some decent cash into this, so I want to be sure I can get what I want out of it.

I am thinking about using my current PC as the basis for this project, and putting myself together a cheap little linux machine until i can afford to buy a new Mac for my normal desktop needs...

Here is what I have at the moment and what I am GUESSING i will need to buy, please let me know if i am heading in the right direction...

P4 2.4ghz, Asus MoBo with SiS chipset w/ integrated ethernet and sound
512MB ram
ATI 9500pro video card w/ TV out (Is this supported in MythTV??)
80GB HD (7200rpm 8MB cache)
100GB HD (5400rpm 2MB cache - currently in the TiVo, will come out once the system is completely ready)
DVD-RW (Toshiba 2x)

Planning on getting...
PVR-250 (would like to add a second tuner at somepoint in the future)... That would complete the backend and the 'main' frontend... Would it be advisable to get a SB Live or other sound card, or are the on board sound systems generally good enough?

Now, for the second frontend, I have read here that the mini-itx boards have some driver issues, but it is the only board I think will fit into the case size I have in mind and still leave enough room for a DVD-rom... MicroATX MIGHT make it, if the board isn't too tall, but the mini-itx would be nice... Also, how fast does one need to be to play back MPEG4 video? Has anyone had any success with the miniITX boards for frontends?

Again, sorry this is so long, but maybe it will help come up with some good stickies to answer questions like these.

Thanks,
Rob

ok don't have much time right now, so I'm only going to touch a few issues.

Avoid ATI only thing ATI that works right is the remote control.

If you are wanting to run a frontend 802.11b is not enough bandwith, unfortunately not many 802.11g wireless cards are supported in linux, so choose wisely.

The problem with weak frontends is not playing back MPEG4 its playing back the MPEG2 from dvd or pvrX50. epia video supports MPEG2 hardware accelerated playback, unfortunately the only drivers with support for this do not work in debian, and therefore knoppmyth. A 1G epia board should be fine for playing back mpeg4.

_________________
Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

Hm, looks like its quite a convoluted path this will end up taking... From what you said the mini-itx boards problem has to do with support under linux, not so much mythtv. Assuming that I used a distro that supported the various features on the miniITX, mythTV should work, right? I'm quite comfortable setting up a system manually.

Ok, I will avoid using an ATI card, any suggestions on a card that will offload most of the work from the CPU. I've read thru a ton of the posts here and NVidia seems to be the favorite, is there a chipset/model that is favored? I am going to use the pvr-205 combined with a seperate video card because of the problems with DVD and other media playback people have had, which is important to me.

Thanks,
Rob

As Xsecrets points out the ATI card and the wireless networking will be the main issues. A replacement video card is relatively cheap, say $60 for a basic Nvidia FX5200 from NewEggg. The wireless networking...

The rest of the hardware sounds fine, and KnoppMyth will let you do all the things mentioned (mine does). My generic advice on building a MythTV based PVR goes something like this:

An Athlon XP is plenty of CPU, and the amount of money you'd save going with something slower or less capable is limited. The Intel CPU you have is also plenty powerful for the job but not as cost effective.

For RAM, 256Mb is minimal, 512Mb is plenty.

Lots and lots of HD space on the backend. 200Gb drives seem to be the sweet spot for Gb/$, get at least one of these.

Get yourself a DVD burner, the price of these has dropped dramtically, it'll let you archive to as well as watch DVDs.

Make sure your Mobo and case provide some room for expansion. Don't go below the micro ATX 3 PCI and 1 AGP. The case should be big enough to acommodate at least 2 HDs as well as a DVD drive. On the Mobo the NForce2 chipsets are the best supported, assuming the Athlon above and have almost everything integrated.

I'm less than completely happy with the IGP video in my Nforce chips set so would recommend a cheap Nvidia FX5200 based card with DVI out even if you don't need it now.

TV tuners - The Hauppauge PVR-x50s are nice since the hardware encoding saves lots of CPU cycles. the 350 is also supposed to give you the best TV Out quality.

I'd go with 100Mbit wired networking, gigabit is overkill and still pricey.

For a purely front end box, you still need the CPU, the RAM, the Mobo and possibly a graphics card as discussed. Decoding and streaming video is fairly demanding. Leave some expansion space in case you decide you want a better sound card too.

Hi,

The VIA mini-itx boards can be setup to run knoppmyth, see the wiki for details, although not for the faint of heart as it involves a few screens of instructions. For just a front end http://linpvr.org/ has a diskless distribution that does everything but the dvd playback. On the epias this is currently the hard bit as VIAexp a hacked version of xine by VIA seems a bit touchy as to the distributions it will install and work on.

I think its worth getting the P4 box working first and playing with that to see how you like mythtv before spending money on another frontend.

Is wired ethernet not possible? it can be tucked under skirting and made very descreet.

As the ATI is not going to be very easy for the tv out a 350 may be better although check with others as I've not tried one.

Onboard sound is generally good enough for tvs which don't have high quality speakers anyway, getting a sound card is often about moving to digital out and getting 5.1 from the dvds with proper speakers.