Building a PVR, need some help

Stang Man

2[H]4U
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Jan 19, 2002
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Well, I need to build a PVR for a friend of mine and need some help (i've never done it before).

Here's what we had in mind:

Intel P4 3Ghz
512MB Ram (Should I get more??)
Avermedia TV Tuner
Nvidia graphics card
Silverstone LC-13

Linux operating system is a must as well as open source software. Which leads to the question, What OS and what software is best?

He's also looking to have it pretty cool (in temp)
Anything else I need?
 
I'll throw in my two cents. First lets start with some of the hardware:
Intel P4 3Ghz
I wouldn't unless you mean a Northwood "C" core P4. The current Prescott generation of chips really suck for HTPCs because of the amount of heat that they put out. You'd need some monster like cooling for an HTPC and a Prescott. I'd highly suggest an A64 instead.
512MB Ram (Should I get more??)
Yeah an SD HTPC can easily do this with 512 (512 is considered the starting point for an HTPC) but HD tends to jump memory usuage up into the 700+ range so the suggest for that is about a gig of mem.
Avermedia TV Tuner
Their SD tuner are cheap and so is the signal quality from them, I'd go with a Hauppauge PVR150 instead (now that they work in Myth and since thats what you plan on using). I'm not sure what other cards Linux supports so I can't give suggestions for alternatives.
Nvidia graphics card
For sure, what TV is it? Knowing this is what matters when it comes to selecting a video card.
Silverstone LC-13
Good case and only $100 too. :)

Linux operating system is a must as well as open source software. Which leads to the question, What OS and what software is best?
It's been awhile since I've played with Myth (my HTPC is XP based) so I can't really make any suggest other then the obvious Myth+Linux.

He's also looking to have it pretty cool (in temp)
A64 ;)

You have a more detail idea on what parts you might use?
Anything else I need?
Remote? Or are you going to be using LIRC?
 
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