[mythtvnz] Hardware Recommendations

[Nick Wallingford]

My experience is that once you get MythTV up and running, there is never
any real advantage to watching LiveTV - and all sorts of reasons to set it
to recording and then watch the recording instead.

Nick

> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 12:59 PM,  <criggie at criggie.dyndns.org> wrote:
>
>> Consider a separate frontend / backend.  I've got a box running 24/7 out
>> in the garage, with the tuner cards etc connected.
>> The inside box is a little one that gets turned off, and the garage one
>> is a dual core with 4 disks etc.
>> Your combo machine has to be on all the time to do recordings, so noise
>> might be a factor in your place.
>
> If I put a separate backend in the garage, would 802.11g wireless to
> the frontend be sufficient or will it require a wired network
> connection?
>
>> LiveTV is not as useful as it sounds.  I only use it for testing.
>> LiveTV is just a stream off the current transponder, so if you had one
>> tuner and its recording, you can only watch LiveTV off one of the
>> channels on that transponder.
>>
>> Just get two tuners.
>
> I'll go for 2 tuners.  I'm hoping to change the way we watch TV from
> watching it when it is on to recording it and watching it when I want
> to watch it.  I'd still like the option though.
>
>>> I guess I'll need a video card that has component outputs to the TV.
>> Another box of worms.... you currently have an analogue CRT TV which
>> will probably have RF (old aerial) and composite (yellow) video in.  It
>> might have any of component (3 rca connectors in red/green/blue) , scart
>> (whacky oblong thing), etc etc.
>
> The TV has SCART and component connectors.  It might even have
> composite.  Are there any video cards with component outputs?  If not,
> I guess I can go with composite.  You mentioned VDPAU.  What does that
> give me, and is it really necessary for a system with SD content going
> through composite or component video?
>
>> How big is the current CRT?  You could use a VGA LCD short term.... a
>> 22" is about $300 or a 32" LCD with HDMI doing 720p is about $700
>> retail.   No point buying a 1080p capable screen if you're only using
>> DVB-S (other than DVDs/blueray etc)
>
> I may look to upgrade the TV later on, but right now I just need to
> get some way of recording stuff.
>
>> Speakers?  A stereo with line-in works well, or use the speakers in the
>> TV.
>
> The TV came with a home theatre system.  It does 5.1 from the DVD
> player, but I don't recall seeing any inputs for more than stereo.  I
> guess I just take a cable from the sound card to the 2 RCA connectors
> for left and right.
>
>
> Thanks
>
> David Kirk
>
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