[mythtvnz] Basic hardware help

[Nick & Ann Read]

matthew pearce wrote:
> First of all the RAM. Part of the fun in my case is to try and build
> the mythbox for as little cost as possible. So currently I have only
> 192Mb in there. I do plan to upgrade this in the near future to at
> least 256Mb. If anybody has got some spare 256 or 512 Mb sdram pc100
> or 133 dimms lying around I would be very interested.
> This seems to be a paticually hot topic. I know more RAM the merier
> but for the moment it is a "proof of concept" box as Toby said. I am
> happy to go with an underpowered system as long as it will not be
> compleatly useless as a mythbox. i.e it will work well enough to do
> basic things well.
> If this goes well and I really like my mythbox then I may buy new
> hardware but at the moment it is an expirement and I want to spend as
> little as possible.
>
>   
One data point. My main (only) machine is a PIII 966MHz with 384Mb. 
256Mb was usable though. I have both a PVRx50 and a Skystar2. It stays 
on all the time, and transcodes to MPEG4 overnight. I have no problem 
with playback while recording from one card, but if both are recording, 
the playback stutters once in a while. Pausing for a couple of seconds 
cures it. I have a 200GB disk which I rarely fill up. It depends on the 
number of people you are recording for and how often the stuff gets 
watched. Any disk will fill up eventually if you record more than you 
watch/delete (doh!). I have a DVD writer which I use for archiving 
occasionally. I would say that as a proof of concept box, yours is 
perfect, as long as you don't run into any interesting linux support 
issues with your particular hardware. Personally I would get a PVRx50 
before a SkyStar2 because I have to have Prime. You can always get a 
SkyStar2 later (rather than a settop box) which will give you two tuners 
and Prime. My 0.02

Nick