[mythtvnz] Hardware Recommendations

[criggie at criggie.dyndns.org]

David Kirk wrote, On 23/03/10 11:12:
> I have a satellite dish setup already and after a few adjustments I'm 
> getting a pretty good signal.  We don't have a flash LCD or plasma 
> TV.  We are happy with our CRT for now, so I don't need to bother with 
> DVB-T.  We only watch the Freeview channels.  We don't have Sky.
>
> Basically what I want is a small quiet PC sitting under the TV with a 
> dual DVB-S tuner card and a big hard drive for storing recordings.  
> I'd like to be able to record 1 or 2 channels at the same time and 
> also be able to watch recorded programs at the same time.  Front end 
> and backend will be on the same PC.
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.
> Firstly I'll need a PC to install on.  How grunty does it need to be 
> for what I am using it.  Should I get a full blown PC or is there 
> something less power hungry around?  I've seen the Zotac Ion, but it 
> doesn't seem to have any PCI slots for adding a tuner.  I assume 
> people use these as frontends only.  Is there something else similar 
> that might be suitable or do I need something with more grunt for a 
> backend/frontend setup?
Grunt is good for a backend, but not so important for a front end.   
Others have said a VDPAU nvidia card is recommended which is good 
advice.  Mine's an older AGP nvidia card which works fine for SD content.

> I'll also need some tuners.  I've had a quick look around and found 
> the TBS 6980 PCI-E DVB-S2 Dual Tuner Card 
> http://www.justtech.co.nz/shop/satellite-equipment/tbs-6980-pci-e-dvb-s2-dual-tuner-card.  
> It comes with a remote and IR receiver and it is apparently supported 
> by Linux.  Has anyone had any experience with this card, or is there 
> something else I should consider?
Never heard of that card sorry.  If you have a separate backend then the 
remote functionality of the tuner card is useless.
Many people prefer a USB remote for flexibility.
I was tempted to try this with a bluetooth dongle, 
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.32011
or one of these http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.34434

> Is it really necessary to have 2 tuners?  I've heard that a single 
> tuner can stream multiple channels at the same time.  Is this true?  
> Can I have a single tuner record 2 or 3 channels at the same time?  
> Will that allow me to watch live TV at the same time if I want to?
Just get two tuners.  Strictly speaking not required, but its much 
better.  I have recorded 10 different programs at once (as a test) and 
it worked fine using two tuner cards.    If you only have one tuner, 
then you are limited to one of the to transponders at a time.

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 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.    

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)

 > What else do I need to consider?

Speakers?  A stereo with line-in works well, or use the speakers in the TV.