I'm just getting started with making a mythtv box. First time building a machine, so have a few sanity checks before I finalize my order.

Going to get the chaintech 7nif2 card, and the hauppauge pvr-350. Since it is my first time doing this kind of thing, I figured I could initially set things up to use the onboard video out, and encode using the 350. I figure once support is a little better for the 350 video out, I can upgrade/switch to that. Is this a reasonable plan of action? I'm hoping by going with the built in video out, I'll avoid some initial headache.

I'm going to order a 160 GB HD. I'm questioning whether I need to get a DVD burner. I'm a bit confused about how big the various formats end up. My assumption is that I'll watch and erase most of what I record, but I will have some series that I want to archive, or keep around for long periods of time. From what I understand of transcoding, I can make the files I am interested in keeping around into a smaller format, like mpeg4, and save disk space. If I do that, do I lose much quality? How do the various formats compare as far as the output I'll get on-screen? Is a cd burner good enough, or do I need a dvd burner?

Finally, will I be able to archive my existing VHS tapes such that I don't need to keep my VCR around? I have some movies I bought before I got my DVD player, but my VCR is on its last legs. If I could archive those to the mythbox directly, I would pretty much have no reason to retain the VCR. Is this supported? Will the various copy protection mechanisms like macrovision or whatever get in the way, or will it work alright? What about DVDs? DVDs is not really a show stopper, as I have a player that works fine, but I'm curious either way.

One last thing, although more of a usage question than a hardware one, if I have samba shares on the network, can I store recordings in several different places on the network, and access them all? If so, will they show up as one repository, or several? Any issues here?

Thanks, in advance. I'm really looking forward to getting this going, and this project and the forums here have really given me the confidence to take the plunge and give it a go.

-swc