[mythtvnz] Minimum specs for PVR

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 17:30:34 +1200

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Steve Biddle wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid1153889981.44c6f6bddabff@www.paradise.net.nz"
 type="cite">
 <pre wrap="">Hi guys... I've been lurking in this mailing list for several months and have 
played with several releases of Knoppmyth on my desktop PC but want to build up 
a dedicated PVR so I'm after a few tips.

I don't want to build a huge system at this stage, I basically just want to 
build up a system to play around with and use to replace my VCR. Ideally I'd be 
after an ITX (or similair) based system in a small(ish) case with a single 
channel PVR150 and remote and a largeish HDD.

Are any of the Via Mini ITX boards with onboard TV out any good with MythTV? 
Are these boards powerful enough to do a good job? What speed Via processor 
would I ideally need for a usable system or am I better looking at something 
else such as a P4/Celeron ITX board?

   Cheers

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</pre>
</blockquote>
Hi, 
 
a friend and I are running Knoppmyth R5C7 on Via Epia M 12000 boards.
I've got a PVR150 and he's got a PVR500 dual tuner. We've got 512MB
Ram, HDD and DVD writer. I got the PVR150 that came with the remote
that plugs into the back of the card - works perfectly fine with
Knoppmyth. I also got a wireless RF keyboard, the BTC 9019URF which is
great as it's got a mouse/joystick built in and is reasonably small. My
case is a bit naff though as it's the simple Via case for ITX MoBos
with a power supply. The trouble is that the power supply fan is rather
loud so it's not really the quietest system. However, my friend has put
his stuff into the Silverstone LC6 case that's got a passive power
brick hence is a lot more silent. Interesting thing is that we tried to
get his setup going under Windows MCE but it wouldn't work at all,
apparently a directX incompatibility with the Via display driver. Also,
SageTV worked but his CPU was constantly maxed out and navigating menus
was very slow. However, under Linux, the setup just purrs away. We
specifically went for the ITX boards since we wanted a system that
would minimise power consumption as it's an "always on" setup. My power
supply is 120W and his is around 80W. 
 
 All in all, these ITX
boards can handle all the regular PVR tasks without trouble. I can comfortably have the tuner
recording, while there is, say, a comflag process running in the
background and watch a video. Of course, if you want to convert stuff
to XviD or other, prepare for long transcoding times. Another
limitation is the number of PCI slots, you usually get a single riser
card so you can only stick the tuner card in there. If you want to have
more than one tuner, best go with the PVR500 straight away. 
 
HTH 
 
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
"While I thought that I was learning to live,
I have been learning how to die."

Leonardo DaVinci</pre>
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