Starting from scratch in 2008 please advise.

[jagallagher]

Firstly, happy belated New Year to you all.

I have decided to take the plunge and kick off the new year by building my own "MYTH-BOX", after some research I went ahead last week and ordered the following components:

1 X SILVERSTONE SST-LC17-B Black Computer Case = $130
1 X SeaSonic S12 II SS-330GB 330W Power Supply = $70
1 X Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 150 MCE 274 PCI Interface Tuner Card = $55
1 X pcHDTV HD-5500 = $130
1 X Seagate Barracuda HD 500G|ST 7K 32M SATA2 ST3500320AS = $120
1 X SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B $30
1 X GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 ATX Intel Motherboard = $65
1 X Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz LGA 775 65W Processor = $230
1 X GIGABYTE GeForce 8500GT GV-NX85T256H Video Card = $70
2 X CORSAIR XMS2 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) = $82
1 X Gyration RF Wireless GO 2.4 Optical Air Mouse and Kbd Suite = $100

TOTAL = $1082

I am relatively new to Linux, but have been dabbling now for about 8 months. Anxiety finally got the better of me when I ordered the above components, because I could not wait to get to the build and configuration stage. My intended distro will be MythBuntu 7.10.

I currently live in the USA and receive DirecTV (NTSC), however I work on boats and this often takes me to Europe, primarily Spain and France.

I have a few questions that I would really appreciate if anyone could answer any of them.

1. Does amyone see any conflicting hardware or bad decisions in the above config?
2. Will the above specs allow me to record DirecTV while I am home in the USA?
3. Is it possible in anyway to have the above system work in Europe also, because I would like to take it with me?
4. Could a similar system have been put together with a substantially lower budget?

Any other advice would be more than welcome. Sorry its a long winded post, but I just want to get this right.

Thanks in advance.

[newlinux]

Originally Posted by jagallagher

I currently live in the USA and receive DirecTV (NTSC), however I work on boats and this often takes me to Europe, primarily Spain and France.

I have a few questions that I would really appreciate if anyone could answer any of them.

1. Does amyone see any conflicting hardware or bad decisions in the above config?

I thin you might want a more powerful PSU. Also, I'm a little confused. If your signal is coming from direcTV why are you getting a pchdtv 5500? that is for cable and over the air digital and analog signals. I assume you are wanting to use the PVR-150 analog inputs and a channel changer to capture the DirecTV signal?

2. Will the above specs allow me to record DirecTV wile I am home in the USA?

You will want an IR blaster or configure a serial connection to your direcTV set to change your channels, but yes it will.

3. Is it possible in anyway to have the above system work in Europe also, because I would like to take it with me?

The only thing you really have to worry about are the tuner cards... I don't know if the ones you have will work for European signals - I don't think so, but not my area of expertise.

4. Could a similar system have been put together with a substantially lower budget?

If this is a dedicated linux box, yes, much less. If you only be capturing analog SDTV from direcTV in the U.S. (you can't capture HD from direcTV with this system) this system is way overkill. If you will be capturing HD Over the air or through cable with the pchdtv 5500 then this system makes more sense, but you still could save on the processor (any dual core will work). There are lesser expensive tuner cards that do what the pchdtv 5500 do (such as the kworld atsc 110 or 115).

Also if this will be used exclusively for Linux, the 8500GT won't give you much more than 5,6, or 7 series nvidia card because the Linux nVidia drivers don't take advantage of the hardware decoding features of the 8 series anymore than they do the 5,6, or 7 series (yet).

[jagallagher]

Thanks for the response.

1. I will keep an eye on the PSU. I want to experiment with DirecTV and cable, I have cable also in the house. You are correct about the PVR-150, I will use that for DTV capture.

2. Thanks for clarifying that.

3. I am still investigating this point.

4. I was unaware that I could not capture HD from direcTV with this system, I do intend to capture HD over the air. Thanks for the heads upon the Kworld series and the 8500GT.

Basically i am trying to put together a system that will generally cover my analog needs until 09, while having HD capabilities, and as mentioned if possible in Europe also.

My ultimate goal is to actually install this system on the boat which has PAL, NTSC, SECAM, HD capabilities, so that I can also enjoy it while I'm at sea.

[JEDIDIAH]

If you are going to be away for long periods of time, I would recommend getting as much storage as you can so that you've got lots of uncompressed recording time. You might also want to consider transcoding. Either way, you should be pretty agressive with the quality settings for the initial recordings. DTV runs at 480x480 and that causes a good deal of "signal loss" right there. An aggressive bitrate at 740x480 will yield respectable results.

[newlinux]

Yeah, those direcTV boxes are locked down. The only reasonable way to HD out of them is to actually hack the box (and this still won't work with myth). You can capture the HD channels in the PVR-150 via composite or s-Video inputs, but that will downconvert the HD to SD (but it looks pretty good - I do this with the premium HD cable stations on my cable box).


You can get the kworld atsc 115 for $65 bucks after a $15 rebate from newegg with free 3 day shipping. You can get the Avermedia A180 for 39.99 after a $10 rebate (doesn't do analog, only digital QAM and OTA). These are sale prices that could end any time, but even their regular prices are lower than the pchdtv 5500. I use both of these cards successfully.
Good luck!

[jagallagher]

Another issue will be making this all work with BSKYB (SKY) over in Europe. If I can overcome SKY issues, I will be very happy because SKY covers the main areas we cruse over there.

I agree on the storage and will be certainly looking into removable Terrabyte hard drives.

[barbex]

Don't forget that Europe uses PAL, not NTSC. There might be a way to configure the PVR150 but I'm not sure about that.

Would DVB-T be an option? At least near the coast with a good antenna you could probably pick up a signal. You just have to plug in one of those DVB-T-USB thingys, they are not expensive. Might be worth a try but it would be local TV only of course.

[jagallagher]

I forgot something in my order.

I don't have a remote control or IR blaster, can someone please tell me the simplest way to control my Hughes DTV box (model is a GAEBOA), it has an RF input socket and receives IR.

Can I buy something that will do both e.g control myth tv and send the channel switching signals to the SAT receiver?