Going to throw together a MythTV

flak

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Messages
215
I have a via c3 1.2ghz cpu/mobo and a 1.33ghz tbird + mobo. Dunno which I'll use. Tbird is a lot more powerful but puts out more heat.

Other parts:
Hauppauge PVR-350
768 megs generic pc133
120gb IBM drive
whatever nic is handy
whatever video card is handy

handy = at the top of my junk box
 
underclock the 1.3. The 1.3's get good and warm. Go for a good hsf as well.
 
END said:
underclock the 1.3. The 1.3's get good and warm. Go for a good hsf as well.


i'm using the old el cheapo one that i got a long time ago. it's aluminum but MASSIVE. i do like the underclocking idea...
 
Why are you getting the PVR350? I've heard that it's not worth the extra $$$ over the 250 or 250MCE.
 
djskankho said:
Why are you getting the PVR350? I've heard that it's not worth the extra $$$ over the 250 or 250MCE.

this way i don't need to spend the extra $$$ for a vid card with a tv out. i think i have some kind of trident pos, a virge pos, and a banshee lying around. oh, and a gf2mx-200 w/o video out.

edit: i was also expecting to use the c3 board which has no agp slot. smaller form factor, less heat, etc
 
flak said:
this way i don't need to spend the extra $$$ for a vid card with a tv out. i think i have some kind of trident pos, a virge pos, and a banshee lying around. oh, and a gf2mx-200 w/o video out.

edit: i was also expecting to use the c3 board which has no agp slot. smaller form factor, less heat, etc

I've been using a M10000 for my HTPC for a few weeks now. I definatly reccomend the 350 over the 250 if you use the via board. I'm not that impressed with the overall quality of VIA's tv out nor do I like their drivers very much. The C3 will be nice and quiet no doubt but be prepared to tweak everything as to not make it struggle. Playback on the C3 might not be quite as smooth as it would be on the tbird.
 
flak said:
all the encoding/decoding should be in hardware tho...

yea it is ... but i still get hiccups every now and then during playback which is no fun :( ... i've been playing with it for weeks with no solution, im just about ready to try a more powerful setup myself ... if you go with the via setup post how you make out ...
 
flak said:
I have a via c3 1.2ghz cpu/mobo and a 1.33ghz tbird + mobo. Dunno which I'll use. Tbird is a lot more powerful but puts out more heat.

Underclock the tbird to like 900MHz. I ran a 1700+ at 1GHz with the stock cooler and no fan for a while. It gets REALLY hot, but it was perfectly stable(only case airflow was provided by the PSU).
 
Flack... I don't think anyone has said this yet, and it *may* go without saying, but when ya underclock, make sure to undervolt, too... will tak you a while to figure out what will work for you, but the heat savings will be excellent.


-Skystalker
 
The pvr350 only outputs the mpeg2 stream, this may not be a problem with myth, but you won't see your desktop or anything like that
 
Hi, I have just been doing the same thing, setting up my mythTV. Anyway I was wondering if you are a linux kind of person, eg do you know what you are doing? It too me a while to get my head round it being a secondtime user and I still cant get it to work with the help of my linux friend. So if you are a first time set up make sure you have a book or a friend that knows what they are doing.
 
Jiffylush said:
The pvr350 only outputs the mpeg2 stream, this may not be a problem with myth, but you won't see your desktop or anything like that


actually i hear you'll get the menus and such. i have no need for a desktop
 
flak said:
actually i hear you'll get the menus and such. i have no need for a desktop

actully you will get your full X11 desktop including all plugins and menus for myth to display.. the tvout from the 350 is superior to any video card.. hands down..

you can also get divx and dvd's to playback thru the card with some voodoo and magic dust..

also you'll have a hard time keeping any VIA based chip stable using IVTV.. (x50 linux driver)
 
(7\) said:
actully you will get your full X11 desktop including all plugins and menus for myth to display.. the tvout from the 350 is superior to any video card.. hands down..

you can also get divx and dvd's to playback thru the card with some voodoo and magic dust..

also you'll have a hard time keeping any VIA based chip stable using IVTV.. (x50 linux driver)


via chipset or via chip?
 
I'd have thought the via would be enough, because of the PVR350, but I have no personal experience with the via or PVR. been running myth on a celeron 2ghz pundit with a leadtek tv2000
 
well, i got it all put together. a while ago i had live tv from the tv-out but no X. Now I have no live tv but X. X is a bit overdrawn tho. I wonder how i make it fit...
 
oki, i've made some progress. I now have X on the pvr-350's tvout, and all overdraw issues are fixed. quality is excellent. i'm having some sound problems with livetv but i understand that i just need to recompile one little thing. *crosses fingers
 
Ok, Flak finally got this shit working. I ended up having to buy new ram/mobo/cpu, but this thing seems to be stable. Here's what I have working: 1) Live tv (works great)
2) recording tv (works great)
3) mpeg 1 playback (works great - nice and smooth)
4) mpeg 2 playback (works great - nice and smooth)
5) divx/xvid playback (works great - nice and smooth)
6) ntp (for keeping teh right time on this thing)
7) remote control (I'm using the Hauppauge one because I felt the ATI was just too clunky
To do list: 1) DVD playback - shouldn't be a big deal
2) transcoding - shouldn't be a big deal
3) Samba - the Samba gods are friendly with Flak
 
Congratulations! I set up a MythTV box this weekend with a modest amount of difficulty (nothing severe, and nothing I couldn't get past). Unfortunately, sound in TV didn't work (although sound was present listening to CDs...), and I haven't had time to fix that bit yet. However, I can't watch live TV because of an underpowered CPU, so I'm replacing that soon with a beefier setup.

Good luck with the rest of your tasks!
 
Congrats :) Can I ask how you have audio setup? 350 out? sound card? combination?
 
I'm planning to go all out with a myth box, but I'm a bit more of a hardcore linux person. I have seven *nix boxen in my home. I'm crossing my fingers to do this towards the end of summer. Of course I'll report and have pictures!
 
Zuht said:
Congrats :) Can I ask how you have audio setup? 350 out? sound card? combination?

350 audio out goes to the sound card line in.
 
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