[mythtvnz] hardware recommendations for dedicated box

[Stephen Worthington]

On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:23:47 +1200, you wrote:

>
>
>
>----- Original Message Follows -----
>> Warren Stuart wrote:
>> > I am thinking of building a dedicated mythtv box in the
>> > next month or so to pick up the terrestrial freeview. I
>> > have not played with mythtv before and it has been a few
>> > years since I built a computer system and am a bit lost
>> > with all the new numbers/features. 
>> > I would like a small case and if possible and a case
>> > with buttons that can be used in lieu of the remote. The
>> > box would need to be quiet or silent as I do not like
>> > fan noise. 
>> > Does anyone sell pre-made units in NZ? or where can I
>> > get a nice case and a TV-tuner card?
>> > 
>> > I also want the system to replace my home theatre system
>> > so is this as easy as plugging in a speaker set into the
>> > audio out plugs on the motherboard?
>> 
>> Do you just want an appliance?    Or would you prefer to
>> build your  system to suit you?
>> 
>> I don't know of cases that have control buttons.  There
>> are "home  theatre" styled ones, but they don't have
>> buttons as such.  Have you  thought about a wireless
>> keyboard and/or a remote control?
>> 
>> There are absolutely no cases that have integrated amps. 
>> You will need  a separate amp.
>
>I saw this a couple of months ago:
>http://www.legitreviews.com/article/674/3/
>it has an amplifier add-on card, good idea I thought.
>
>
>> 
>> -- 
>> Criggie
>> 
>> http://criggie.dyndns.org/

I would wonder about the quality of the audio from an amplifier inside
a PC.  There is a *lot* of interference inside a PC for audio signals.
Personally, I have the SP/DIF output from my audio card connected to
my CD player which has digital inputs and acts as a DAC too.  It feeds
my audio pre-amp and from there to my class A amp.  But I only do
stereo, not 5.1 or 7.1, and I can't stand to listen to crappy sound.