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ciphergothNow 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)
- 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
- 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
| 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?
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 07:16 am (UTC)I'd say your other option for quiet is going to be water cooling - you really sont want fans in it for a media center
no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 07:19 am (UTC)You're also paying for RAID on the motherboard but only having one hard drive...
no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 07:38 am (UTC)http://www.dealtime.co.uk/xPP-Motherboards--amd_athlon_64~S-213
Have you seen this link?
Date: 2004-12-02 07:49 am (UTC)How-To: BroadCatching using RSS BitTorrent to automatically download TV shows - Engadget - www.engadget.com
Have you been to www.doom9.net? There's a lot of info about encoding and DVD matters there, which have a lot of relevence to that kind of PC.
I've had good luck with the ASUS motherboards, and I've heard nothing but good things about the Hauppage decoder cards. I would consider putting in two decoder cards however, as sometimes being able to records two shows at once is a livesaver.
myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-02 07:52 am (UTC)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 ----
Date: 2004-12-02 08:13 am (UTC)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!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 08:43 am (UTC)If I could get a much quieter system for relatively little extra money, I'd be interested, but we currently use a fairly noisy PC for watching DVDs and no-one seems to mind.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 09:09 am (UTC)I've got an ATI Radeon All-in-wonder TV and Graphics card, and it is excellent - though it's a) all in one, and b) terrestrial - though of course you can plug digiboxes etc. into it.
Otherwise looks fine, though if you're recording TV onto it your hard-drive cannot be too big.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 09:14 am (UTC)It has to be a DVB card to be any good - otherwise the computer can't flip channels and so it won't work as a PVR. There's only one other candidate, the Avermedia, but most say the Hauppage is better under Linux.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 10:04 am (UTC)They do give you a warranty on the value RAM, and aren't too arsey about replacing it, which is nice.
Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-02 10:11 am (UTC)http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-pvrhwdb.php
alex
Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-02 10:13 am (UTC)[spam at blex dot co dot uk]
alex
no subject
Date: 2004-12-02 05:37 pm (UTC)possiblymore faff than a normal machine, but it's a very, very cheap option, and works surprisingly well. A friend of mine runs one, and it's damn good if done well.Also plays x-box games, but most of them are shit.
Anyway, thought I'd mention it as an option.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 12:58 am (UTC)For that to really work I'd have to buy several TV cards; since DVB channels are multiplexed together, six is enough to get all of them at once.
xbox
Date: 2004-12-03 03:04 am (UTC)alex
Re: xbox
Date: 2004-12-03 03:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 03:24 am (UTC)If you wanted cheaper and quiet watercooling is one way - probably about £150 for a cheap setup - maybe less - that would do your CPU, north bridge and HDD - you could then fill the case with foam pieces that would shut out the rest of the noise.
other options include going for a passively cooled PSU, zalman silent heatsink for the CPU (possibly consider underclocking the CPU aswell if you dont need full speed and it will run cooler)
www.quietpc.co.uk is a good place to look round
Its the old rule I'm afraid though: cool, quiet, cheap - pick 2
no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 03:51 am (UTC)The HT-400 is very appealing but very expensive. Maybe I'll upgrade to it one day - the case is £200 and the power supply would be another £60!
no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:35 am (UTC)These people seem to sell them. The ST62K is (whisper it) the quietest...
no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:39 am (UTC)On the other hand, then I couldn't use it to try out my ideas for fast crypto on the latest generation of processors.
As a cheap sop to quiet, I'm thinking of buying this. I'm very tempted by this case but that makes the whole thing more than half as expensive again.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:41 am (UTC)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Video
no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 06:34 am (UTC)Hmm.
Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-03 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 07:25 am (UTC)I'm currently thinking I'm going to do exactly what Alex did and get a Pundit.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 11:52 am (UTC)Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-04 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 03:04 am (UTC)Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-04 03:06 am (UTC)Hmm, maybe I want a pundit too...
Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-04 03:47 am (UTC)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 ----
Date: 2004-12-04 03:51 am (UTC)I suspect if BBC2 and Channel 4 were on the same multiplex I'd be less concerned...
Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-04 08:47 am (UTC)Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-04 08:50 am (UTC)Re: myth tv ----
Date: 2004-12-04 10:11 am (UTC)Re: xbox
Date: 2005-01-07 12:17 pm (UTC)http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1579197,00.asp
People are already hacking mythtv onto it.
Linux Entertainment
Date: 2005-01-28 08:03 pm (UTC)Speaking as a user of --yes-- OS/2 Warp 4, I have to say it is entirely possible to do this in linux, but I'm still converting from OS/2 to Linux. I would greatly appreciate knowing how it all works out for you, because I'm doing this too!! I have some OS/2 commandlines for sound recording that I want working in Linux for scripting purposes, for example.
The current bottleneck I have is my new Soundblaster Audigy 2 (including the drive bay). Apparently, it won't output line-out, so I have to feed the headphones to my amp! Worse, I have to use the headphone port on the bay, which, incidentally turned out to NOT be shielded from CPU noise. GRRRR ...
Anyway, do let me know how it works out for you :) One idea I have is to get a whole stash of EEPROMS for music backup, since I keep killing off the CDRs da da da...
Re: Linux Entertainment
Date: 2005-01-28 08:27 pm (UTC)..eh?
I bought the components and put them together, installed Linux and brought it home before Christmas. I am currently stuck on one very frustrating problem:
it is *deafeningly* loud!
I bought what was supposed to be a "quiet" case, but I can't bear to work with it for very long at a time before the noise brings me down.
It starts off quiet, then gets louder ... and louder.
I don't know whether this is because:
a) my case is defective
b) this brand of case is shit
c) this brand of case is good, but the TV capture card being slightly too tall is screwing everything up
d) it's all good except that I haven't configured the fans on "not sounding like a hurricane" mode properly.
Bah!
Re: Linux Entertainment
Date: 2005-01-29 04:45 pm (UTC)I found your journal in a pass-by-commentary-read of this:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/lj_dev/670215.html
Since I have no physical feel of your system, I have to guess for C and D, if D is possible for your system. An interesting alternative would be to encase the system in a box of acoustic absorption panels, such as those used to cancel echo and airconditioning noise inside brick buildings, such as VT's campus:
http://www.unirel.vt.edu/buildings/bldg.php?name=Torgersen+Hall
Inside this building, acoustic panels all embedded all along the hallway walls. If you walk close to the wall, you can hear the "white noise" of the building's air system against the brick, but absolutely nothing when you pass by these panels!
Or, you replace the case :p