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i am finishing up an AS degree in network security. i have been taking some linux class for the past couple semesters. lately i have been playing around with mythtv in a vm. for my class i need to do a linux project (just about anything i want using linux). i want to build a mythtv box. i was looking to do this on the cheap. what would be the bast way to do this? i was thinking about an athlon x2 with a 785g mb. would this be a good way to go? i am very unsure about linux driver support. would an older nvidia mb with their igp be a better choice? also what would be a good remote to go with? any help would be greatly appreciated.
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i was also planning on running mythubuntu 10.10 if that matters. if there is a better version please share it with me. -
This is NOT a project worthy of a grade. I would give you an F for "Failure to do anything challenging".
ANY old hardware.
Shove in the latest Fedora disk, add in RPM Fusion repo, and yum install MythTV. There is absolutely NOTHING challenging about this.
As for this mythbuntu.... that would be grounds for expulsion for cheating. Everything is already done FOR YOU.Comment
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ok i get your point. i plan on keeping the machine for my self to use after the project. that being said i would like to have hardware that will be able to handle 1080p. from what ive been reading i will need to use an nvidia gpu (igp 8200) for hardware acceleration. i would rather use a newer amd (785g) chipset but the drivers suck (from what ive been reading). What would you recommend for hardware and a remote?Comment
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You can make it into more of a project if you do at least the following:Originally posted by trick0502 View Post
either run a old-school distro like Slack or Arch, compile mythtv trunk, follow it, write good bug reports, test out patches, become familiar with the version control systems, and participate in testing out v4l trees that apply to your hardware.
You could still use a more modern distro if you did the above, plus you got into packaging.
If you could successfully run mythtv-trunk (built from source), patch and manage source trees, build new v4l drivers from source (and source trees), do basic debugging & produce good bug reports, and even get into packaging a complex program like mythtv, that would be a decent project. You'd be a decent asset to the community as well.
Not knowing how strict your school/program is, I don't know if this is enough either, but if not, it's a good start.Comment
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this sounds like a good project. i have a few months to work on it. but before i build the system i need to pick out the hardware. what should i use? i have a lot of drII around that i would like to use up. also, i dont want to spend a lot on this build. i was thinking an am2+ mb with a athlon II dual core. do you think that would be good? and the gpu is were i am really unsure what to get. nvidia or amd? i would like to go with am amd 785g but from what ive been reading their linux support isnt as good as nvidias. what would you use?Originally posted by dashcloud View Post
and the remote, i dont want to have to return it cause it will be a pain. remote suggestions?Comment
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We use a dual-core Atom for the backend and a dual-core Atom + Ion for the frontend. That records and transcodes SDTV and plays HDTV so long as it's in a format the Ion supports.Originally posted by trick0502 View Post
So I'm sure an Athlon II and integrated graphics would be more than enough for SD, but I don't know whether it could play back highly compressed HD.
We got a cheap USB MCE remote, which works once it's going but sometimes we either have to reboot or wait five minutes before anything starts coming through from lirc. I don't know whether it's a problem with the Nvidia USB ports or the lirc driver.and the remote, i dont want to have to return it cause it will be a pain. remote suggestions?Comment
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Originally posted by trick0502 View Post
Depending on exactly what you want to do with it, MythTV can be run on some pretty darned old hardware.
- If all you want to do is set up a basic DVR system for standard-def TV, really all you need is a PIII or Athlon in the close-to-1 GHz range, 512 MB RAM, a PCI MPEG-2 encoder card such as a Hauppauge! WinTV PVR-150, a PCI SATA controller card and decent-sized HDD, and a graphics card that can output to your TV. The GPU can even be a cheapie PCI unit as SD video doesn't take up a lot of bandwidth.
- If you want to store and play back OTA HDTV, I'd up the HW specs to something supporting an AGP 4x or PCI Express slot and a 2 GHz+ P4 or a 1.5 GHz+ Athlon XP. You'd want to get a GPU that can do HW MPEG-2 decode assist, such as an NVIDIA GeForce 5xxx/6xxx/7xxx for AGP or GF6xxx or later for PCI Express. If you want to do all of the video decoding in CPU, get yourself a ~3 GHz P4 or a 2 GHz+ Athlon XP or better and pair that up with whatever AGP 4x/8x or PCI Express card you like. RAM requirements are still 512 MB or better, you'll want an HDD of at least 1 TB (which may require an add-in SATA controller), and a suitable ATSC capture card.
- If you want to store, play back, and archive HDTV to something smaller than MPEG-2, you probably want a quad-core or better CPU to handle the encoding; everything else is the same as above.
An Athlon II X2 would make for a very good and relatively low-power machine that is suitable to play back pretty much anything. Onboard graphics are fine to play back anything, except you would want to go through the trouble of installing the proprietary AMD graphics drivers and getting XvBA to work if you want to play back H.264 1080p stuff.Comment
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Forget everything you've read before....
Get one of the following three mainboards;
Socket S1: http://www.avalue.com.tw/products/EMX-M690S1.cfm
AM2[+]: http://www.avalue.com.tw/products/EMX-M690AM2.cfm
AM3: http://www.avalue.com.tw/products/EMX-780E.cfm
Slap on a GB of RAM and a Sempron, and one of these:
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Might be easier to find (and cheaper)....
Jetway NC84[E]-LF
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