Building my own media centre PC - advice sought!

[ciphergoth]

Now we have a jolly huge TV and a GBP 25 DVD player, I find myself very tempted to build myself a Linux-based Media Centre PC. I'd love some advice on what I'm thinking of buying.

I want:

• Linux-based media centre PC running MythTV.
• Fits on TV stand (thus desktop case)
• Fast enough for software decoding while doing other stuff
• Not too noisy
• Ideally one that doesn't use too much power (environmental impact)
• Cheap
• Slight preference for AMD 64 for coolness value. (given up on this one)

I don't want

• Games machine (will never run Windows so no point)
• Very quiet indeed (no-one in the house seems to mind PC roar)
• Lots of compatibility hassles making it work

I already have

• DVD +-RW rewriter (ATA)
• AGP graphics card with TV out (NVidia MX400 MS-8826)
• Cheap sound card if I can't make the onboard one work with Linux

I'm thinking of buying: (prices include VAT) Updated with cheaper, quieter, slower choices.

56.09	Processor and fan	2.66GHz Intel Celeron 330D, 256K L2, socket 478, 533MHz FSB
97.98	Motherboard, case, PSU	Black ASUS Pundit barebones system
45.88	Memory	Ebuyer 512mb DDR PC3200 400MHz Tesco Value Ram
76.73	Hard drive	200 Gb Seagate Barracuda
62.64	TV card	Hauppage DVB-T PCI Nova 909
6.68	Video cable	Belkin PC-DVD to TV Cable Kit
5.86	Postage and packing
352.76	Total cost

So, what have I forgotten? What am I buying wrong? What won't work with what? What do I need to check about my existing bits of hardware? Where should I be saving money/spending more?

Comments

myth tv ----

[retrogoth.livejournal.com]

This is my pet product :-) I am currently running mythTV [www.mythtv.org] over fedora though it runs on genntoo debian to name just a few,
I have machine with the Hauppauge pvr250 , Hauppauge DVB-T PCI Nova 909 and the avermedia 777 dvb-t card... The Hauppauge DVB-T PCI Nova 909 and the avermedia 777 dvb-t both perform just as well, though the Hauppauge DVB-T has better support from linux-dvb and video4linux... so easier to install...


I run a pundit [http://www.asus.com/products/desktop/pundit/overview.htm]
with 250 GB drive , the PSU and cpu fan are both activilty controlled by the mother board so 90% of the time the case runs V silient.... comes with onboard video / TV out as well and has a pcmcia slot [handy for wireless ]... My system has been running for 1 year now [with 2 upgrades] and is rock solid..... dvb generall produce 2 - 3GB per 2 hour movie... so get the largest HD you can get.......
total cost:
£120case [includes mother board]
£80 processor [I am running pentium 4 1.4Ghz]
£80 200Gig HD
£80 dvb-t card
£30 256 Ram
~£400 pound :-)

http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-page.php :this lists other users setup and hardware configs......


Myth TV is WELL supported with a active mailing list [that is also available on line] see the links below.....

The Beauty of DVB is the files dropped to your HD are already Mpeg2 format so very easy to turn these into .VOB files to produce DVD backups....


Sites of interest are:
www.mythtv.org --
http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/
http://www.linuxstb.org/dvb-t/index.shtml
http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html
http://www.ethics-gradient.net/myth/mythdvb.html
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/
http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-page.php


later

Alex

Re: myth tv ----

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Wow, *very* cool, thanks! I'll read all these properly tonight.

200Gb hard drives give the best bang-per-buck at the moment. When this one fills up I'll buy another. I'm going to set up LVM so I can extend onto new drives seamlessly.

http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-page.php doesn't seem to work for me - I get "Error: No page indicated".

Thanks again!

Re: myth tv ----

[retrogoth.livejournal.com]

try this
http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-pvrhwdb.php
alex

Re: myth tv ----

[retrogoth.livejournal.com]

if you have any questions you can email me off line at:
[spam at blex dot co dot uk]

alex

Re: myth tv ----

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

How hard is your CPU working at peak times? Have you ever wished for more computing welly or do you already have more than enough for everything you need?

Re: myth tv ----

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

OK, looks like I'm building myself a Pundit-based system then! Has any of the hardware given you trouble under Linux? The video card, the Ethernet port, the sound card? With only two PCI slots I'll be using one for the Hauppage and I may want to put an ADSL card into the other and make this machine double up as the firewall, so I don't have room to fit a card to replace any onboard hardware that won't play nice.

Re: myth tv ----

[babysimon]

I'd be more tempted to keep the second PCI for a second DVB-T card if/when needed. That's what I'm currently worrying about with the shuttle - only one PCI slot.

Hmm, maybe I want a pundit too...

Re: myth tv ----

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

You might need up to six cards:

http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/dtt_channels.html

but you stand a good chance of being able to watch one channel while recording another even with one.

Re: myth tv ----

[babysimon]

I feel quite confident in saying that I will not need up to six cards.

I suspect if BBC2 and Channel 4 were on the same multiplex I'd be less concerned...

Re: myth tv ----

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

The Shuttle also doesn't appear to support S-ATA - only UDMA/ATA. On the other hand, it has room for two hard drives (assuming you don't want a floppy drive).

Re: myth tv ----

[babysimon]

Or a card reader. Increasingly drifting over to pundit as it does sound like it's very quiet. Are you getting yours really soon (or at least in 2004) so I could have a listen, or should I just take the plunge?

Re: myth tv ----

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Increasingly thinking I'm going to place an order as soon as Ebuyer let me (they make you send your first order to their home address, and I can't work out when they consider that order "finished" and allow you to send one to somewhere useful ie work)