Building / Buying a MythTV box

[Frank DiPrete]

sorry for the top post, but I happen to have a via mythtv set top box I 
used to connect to a basement rack backend.

Since it's a *brick* now I'll sell it cheap.


Greg Rundlett (freephile) wrote:
> I'm finally going to purchase the hardware to make my
> Myth(dora|buntu|TV) dreams a reality.  My goal is to have a free
> software Home Theater that does movies/photos/music/TV plus Internet
> browsing and email.  I'd even like to be able to use applications
> (e.g. gnucash) or games from the couch using a wireless keyboard and
> gyro mouse like the famous LinuxMCE video.  I don't have a big budget
> ~ $900 or so.  At that price point, the Monolith looks like a perfect
> match. http://monolithmc.com/techspecs.php  I guess one of the
> limiting factors is that I don't have an HDTV, so I'll need to add
> that (or monitor) to my list of things to buy.  I do have Comcast
> Digital Basic service (with a settop box).
> 
> I was thinking of getting the Dell Studio Hybrid
> http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-studio-hybrid?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19,
> or the System76 Koala Mini
> http://system76.com/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=83  They
> could serve as front-ends but neither of those has the tuner card nor
> the expansion space to add one + storage so I'd have to get a separate
> box for the backend.
> 
> I would build an all-in-one, but I am not a hardware geek and the
> choices seem limitless (meaning I'll mismatch components).
> 
> The eRacks people sell a nice-looking "studio" setup that you add a
> PCI tuner card to http://eracks.com/products/Quiet
> Systems/config?sku=STUDIO except that stretches my budget.  I
> configured an example setup as eRacks/STUDIO 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 Dual
> Channel 800MHz, 1 TB SATA II Hard Drive, HDTV HD-5500 TV Tuner Card
> which comes out to $1565.00
> 
> If I assembled a system similar to the eRacks studio using parts from
> NewEgg, would I end up spending less?  Anyone want to offer
> suggestions or share their success stories?
> 
> Also, I was going to add a tuner card to a PC that I own, but I bought
> the Hauppauge WinTV HVR 1800 which is a PCI-e card without realizing
> that my PC only has PCI slots.  Although the card can certainly be
> used in a new system, I'm re-thinking using my existing PC for the
> backend b/c it's only a 1.2GHz Athlon with 768MB of RAM with similarly
> old motherboard and only USB 1
> 
> I'm undecided about whether it's going to be easier/better/cheaper to
> run a single unit with maybe a USB external drive attached or run a
> front-end that is small and pretty with a backend on the rack in the
> basement.  I do have a wire shelf rack in the basement with UPS and
> the house is wired with CAT5.
>