[mythtvnz] Hardware Recommendations

[Nick Rout]

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 9:50 AM, David Kirk <davidrkirk at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey everyone,
>
> Thanks for all your responses.  You've all been very helpful.
>
> I've found a DVI to component cable, so I'll get an NVidia card with
> VPDAU and DVI output and connect to the component sockets on the TV.

Danger Danger Will Robinson: There are at least two types of DVI,
digital and analogue. I THINK that a DVI->component connector will
only work with DVI-A whereas the output from most DVI graphics cards
is DVI-D.

You probably really are stuck between modern video cards, very few of
which support analogue out, and an old TV with no digital inputs.

SCART may have some options, but you need to know what options your
scart in supports. scart has a number of options, s-video, RGB and
component, but not all are necessarily supported in a given device.
There is a method, I believe, of doing VGA to SCART-RGB. It involves a
small amount of electronics.


> The video card will have HDMI as well, so I'm future proofed there.
>
> I've done a bit of searching about the TBS 6980 tuner card.  Mixed
> messages about it working with MythTV, but I'll make sure I can return
> it if it is not suitable.  This link says it should work
> http://www.tbsdtv.com/english/product/6980.html.  That page even has a
> MythTV logo on it.  I just really like the idea of having both tuners
> on the same card so it takes up less space inside the PC.  I'll make
> sure the PC I choose has room for 2 individual tuners just in case.
>
> I know it would be preferable to have a backend system in the garage,
> or in the "Harry Potter" cupboard under the stairs, but while I'm
> still dealing exclusively with SD content, I think I'll just combine
> them in to one box in the TV cabinet.  As I understand it, when I
> start dealing with HD content I'll need a gruntier box and maybe more
> storage.
>
> Now I just have to find the right PC and case to put it all in.

The beauty of the split approach is that your grunty backend can be as
ugly as hell, and you have a nice, eg, revo in your lounge.