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What's the best way to get started?

 

 

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wpdster at gmail

Nov 7, 2009, 7:18 PM

Post #1 of 5 (473 views)
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What's the best way to get started?

Hello All,
I am looking to replace my old (SD, analog, Series 2) TiVo with a
shiny new MythTV. I recently purchased a shiny new large-ish (37")
1080i LCD TV. I looked at MythTV a couple of years ago, and thought I
remembered a "Here's my setup" page, but I can't seem to find that
anymore.

If anybody has advice, I'd be glad to hear it. If anybody would like
to point me at the best (most recent) hardware recommendations guide,
I'd be glad to read through tath.

I know some of the specifications of what I want...

Since I want to replace my TiVo, I would like to build a combined
frontend/backend box. I would like it to be roughly the same physical
size of the TiVo. It would like it to have an integrated remote
receiver. I think something like the Thermaltake Mozart Media Center
looks like the type of case I want.

I (currently) only receive and watch OTA ATSC video. So I don't need
a whole lot of horsepower to encode the video, but I do need to
playback 720p and/or 1080i video. I'm not sure how to interpret the
"HD_Playback_Reports" page on the wiki, but if I buy a retail CPU
(that fits in the retail uATX motherboard I stick in the case), is it
likely that I'll get something that can't handle that? How much
memory is "enough" for MythTV?

Is there anything else I should be thinking about? Yes, I know I'll
need a disk, or two, or three, but I can figure out the size of that
later. Should I be (especially) concerned about the speed? I have an
ATSC tuner on the way, courtesy of WOOT.


Thanks for any tips or pointers.

--wpd
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jarpublic at gmail

Nov 7, 2009, 8:26 PM

Post #2 of 5 (447 views)
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Re: What's the best way to get started? [In reply to]

> I (currently) only receive and watch OTA ATSC video.  So I don't need
> a whole lot of horsepower to encode the video, but I do need to
> playback 720p and/or 1080i video.  I'm not sure how to interpret the
> "HD_Playback_Reports" page on the wiki, but if I buy a retail CPU
> (that fits in the retail uATX motherboard I stick in the case), is it
> likely that I'll get something that can't handle that?  How much
> memory is "enough" for MythTV?

I would highly recommend going with Nvidia and taking advantage of
VDPAU for hardware accelerated playback and deinterlacing
(http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/VDPAU). Pretty much any modern dual-core
CPU will be sufficient for mythtv especially with VDPAU. I would focus
on low power (ie low wattage). The most computationally intense things
will be commercial skipping, transcoding, and database. You would
probably be hard pressed to buy a memory kit small enough to be a
problem for myth. Just get the standard 2 GB kit and that will be
fine, even 1 GB would work.
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fatgerman at ntlworld

Nov 8, 2009, 4:40 AM

Post #3 of 5 (434 views)
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Re: What's the best way to get started? [In reply to]

On Sunday 08 Nov 2009 04:26:22 Johnny wrote:
> > I (currently) only receive and watch OTA ATSC video. So I don't need
> > a whole lot of horsepower to encode the video, but I do need to
> > playback 720p and/or 1080i video. I'm not sure how to interpret the
> > "HD_Playback_Reports" page on the wiki, but if I buy a retail CPU
> > (that fits in the retail uATX motherboard I stick in the case), is it
> > likely that I'll get something that can't handle that? How much
> > memory is "enough" for MythTV?
>
> I would highly recommend going with Nvidia and taking advantage of
> VDPAU for hardware accelerated playback and deinterlacing
> (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/VDPAU). Pretty much any modern dual-core
> CPU will be sufficient for mythtv especially with VDPAU. I would focus
> on low power (ie low wattage). The most computationally intense things
> will be commercial skipping, transcoding, and database. You would
> probably be hard pressed to buy a memory kit small enough to be a
> problem for myth. Just get the standard 2 GB kit and that will be
> fine, even 1 GB would work.

I concur with the VDPAU recommendation, I've been using it for a week or two connected via HDMI to a 37" TV. I can watch OTA terrestrial digital broadcasts using either the integrated tuner in the TV or via reocrdings from Myth as my antenna feeds both. Playback from myth has noticeably better picture quality. How this is possible I don't know...

Using VDPAU will also take a whole load of work off the main CPU so playing 1080p video won't be a problem.

Mark

> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
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>
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richard.e.morton at gmail

Nov 8, 2009, 4:55 AM

Post #4 of 5 (433 views)
Permalink
Re: What's the best way to get started? [In reply to]

Many people use an HDPVR in the US. This is so that they can use the
cable box to decode, the HDPVR to capture via component HD and encode
it into H264, then send it over ethernet to a storagedevice by nfs/smb
share.

In your case that sounds like too many boxes if you want it to be the
size of a TiVo. So you're looking at PCI or USB tuners; I am not sure
what tuners would be appropriate. I am sure someone else will say
which are the best for you.

So back to the box itself; it all depends on how noisy you are happy
with... I hate background noise, so my front/backend is in a closet
next to the lounge with a small hole in the brick wall for the cables
to come through. My seperate frontend is completely silent with no
hard discs or fans. hard drives and fans, for me are too noisy
especially when these boxes tend to stay on even when not using them.
Consider if you read quietly in the room and whether hard disc and fan
noise will be distracting for you.

So if you are serious about Myth; consider puting the box in an
ajacent closet so you can buy a big box with room for expansion - more
tuners and hard discs, plenty of CPU power for commercial flagging and
transcoding.

After that adding remote front-ends is a breeze and although they
maybe a little more sluggish - due to network latency and reduced CPU
power... they are fantastic.

If you are serious about a small completely fanless system for myth;
have a look at Tranquil in the UK, Hush Technologies in Germany. (I
have bought one of each an original Hush and a Tranquil T2e and they
are very well made - the Hush slightly better and more expensive than
the Tranquil).

If you are happy with a quiet fan, a silverstone tend to be very well
made and many look like HiFi equipment so will fit into your lounge
hifi stack well; they aren't fanless but take standard components and
tend to give you a bit of room for expansion; PCI cards etc. With a
little careful selection of fans you will get a system a little larger
than a TiVo with more expandability and similar noise levels.

Hope that helps.

R


Thanks And Regards,

Richard Morton

www.pidgin.im - MSN & Yahoo Messenger and many great features but
without adverts
www.kubuntu.com - 9.10 a free operating system thats pretty & damn good.
www.mythtv.org - Home media system




2009/11/8 Patrick Doyle <wpdster [at] gmail>:
> Hello All,
> I am looking to replace my old (SD, analog, Series 2) TiVo with a
> shiny new MythTV.  I recently purchased a shiny new large-ish (37")
> 1080i LCD TV.  I looked at MythTV a couple of years ago, and thought I
> remembered a "Here's my setup" page, but I can't seem to find that
> anymore.
>
> If anybody has advice, I'd be glad to hear it.  If anybody would like
> to point me at the best (most recent) hardware recommendations guide,
> I'd be glad to read through tath.
>
> I know some of the specifications of what I want...
>
> Since I want to replace my TiVo, I would like to build a combined
> frontend/backend box.  I would like it to be roughly the same physical
> size of the TiVo.  It would like it to have an integrated remote
> receiver.  I think something like the Thermaltake Mozart Media Center
> looks like the type of case I want.
>
> I (currently) only receive and watch OTA ATSC video.  So I don't need
> a whole lot of horsepower to encode the video, but I do need to
> playback 720p and/or 1080i video.  I'm not sure how to interpret the
> "HD_Playback_Reports" page on the wiki, but if I buy a retail CPU
> (that fits in the retail uATX motherboard I stick in the case), is it
> likely that I'll get something that can't handle that?  How much
> memory is "enough" for MythTV?
>
> Is there anything else I should be thinking about?  Yes, I know I'll
> need a disk, or two, or three, but I can figure out the size of that
> later.  Should I be (especially) concerned about the speed?  I have an
> ATSC tuner on the way, courtesy of WOOT.
>
>
> Thanks for any tips or pointers.
>
> --wpd
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users [at] mythtv
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users


jarpublic at gmail

Nov 8, 2009, 7:02 AM

Post #5 of 5 (427 views)
Permalink
Re: What's the best way to get started? [In reply to]

> I concur with the VDPAU recommendation, I've been using it for a week or two connected via HDMI to a 37" TV. I can watch OTA terrestrial digital broadcasts using either the integrated tuner in the TV or via reocrdings from Myth as my antenna feeds both. Playback from myth has noticeably better picture quality. How this is possible I don't know...

All LCD TVs are progressive by nature. They don't refresh in the same
way as CRT TVs do. So watching interlaced content on an LCD generally
requires deinterlacing. So that happens in the TV or it happens in
your computer. Some poeple with high end TVs report that the TV's
deinterlacer is better. It seems like for most people the VDPAU
deinterlacers do a better job. I have an SD CRT and sending that VDPAU
deinterlaced signal looks much better than just watching it straight
from the cable.
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