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<DIV align=left><FONT face=Verdana size=2><SPAN class=814235317-25072007>If
you're gonna be doing a lot of transcoding, i'd recommend a Core 2 Duo
processor. But that's not too low end now. To give you an example, i had my
master backend running on a Pentium 4, 2.8ghz hyperthreading, 800mhz bus speed,
1gb ram, and when i did transcoding with mencoder (slower than ffmpeg, but imho
better quality), it did about 6 frames per second, meaning a 2 hour video, took
around 8-10 hours to transcode. My core 2 duo E4300 overclocked to 2.4ghz can do
16-18 frames per second, meaning that a 2 hour video takes 3 hours to do
(because it cuts out commercials leaving me with a file that is around an hour
and a half). Now i do a lot of recording and a lot of transcoding so i need the
higher fps transcoding. I tried hooking up my celeron 2.x ghz (i can't remember)
as a slave backend and it did a lousy 2 frames per second, so i just didn't
use it cause it took forever. I would say that the most important thing in your
myth box is your processor selection because you will be doing transcoding. So
check this out to compare encoding times: <A
href="http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=946&model2=882&chart=429">http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=946&model2=882&chart=429</A> and
go from there (that's what i did anyways)</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Verdana size=2><SPAN
class=814235317-25072007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Verdana size=2><SPAN class=814235317-25072007>You can
get good myth apg and pci video cards for around $20-$30 those are cheap, so i
wouldn't worry about getting an integrated tv out in the motherboard. Also, you
can't upgrade that if need be in the future.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Verdana size=2><SPAN
class=814235317-25072007>-Steve</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Verdana size=2><SPAN
class=814235317-25072007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Verdana size=2><SPAN
class=814235317-25072007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
mythtv-users-bounces@mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@mythtv.org] <B>On
Behalf Of </B>Joshua Gottlieb<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, July 25, 2007 10:35
AM<BR><B>To:</B> Discussion about mythtv<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: [mythtv-users]
Seeking Advice<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>Well, yes, I do want to utilize the full
functionality of mythtv... I want to be able to burn dvd's straight from the
box... transcode down to divx or whatever... play divx encoded stuff, edit
stuff I've recorded... etc, etc... <BR><BR>
<DIV><SPAN class=gmail_quote>On 7/25/07, <B class=gmail_sendername>Steve
Peters - Priority Electronics</B> <<A
href="mailto:steve@priorityelectronics.com">steve@priorityelectronics.com</A>>
wrote:</SPAN>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid">
<DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff size=2>If you're gonna use the
latest Ubuntu edition (as i did), and you're gonna be running Gnome, i'd
recommend a minimum 1gb ram. I was running it on a P4 2.8ghz with 512mb ram,
and it did fine, but there was a huge improvement when i moved to 1gb ram.
Also, you can do just fine on as little as a 1ghz computer (or even slower)
but the slower you go, the slower the response time of myth will be. If your
computer has an AGP port, get an Nvidia FX5200 (i have an extra if you want
one), it works great, and if you want to upgrade to HD in the future, it
will work great for that too. Also, you prob want to get a tv tuner with
hardware encoding, like one of the Hauppague ones (PVR-250, PVR-150,
PVR-500). I have a PVR-500 and when recordings are in process, the cpu is
pretty much idle. I tried a tuner without hardware encoding, and the CPU was
around 25% when encoding, and that's with a P4 2.8ghz. On something slower,
the CPU would have been much higher if not maxed out.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff size=2>I recommend you don't get
a Celeron cpu if you're gonna be doing transcoding.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff size=2>Also, when you say a myth
setup, that can mean a lot. For example, that might mean that you watch just
a few hours of TV each week, and just delete the shows after you record
them, or it could mean that you are recording shows all the time and are
trying to save as much as possible via transcoding or
nuvexport.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN><FONT face=Verdana color=#0000ff size=2>Hope that
helps.</FONT></SPAN></DIV><SPAN class=sg>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Verdana
size=2><SPAN>-Steve</SPAN></FONT></DIV></SPAN>
<DIV><SPAN class=e id=q_113fe6549f436833_2>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original
Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> <A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@mythtv.org"
target=_blank>mythtv-users-bounces@mythtv.org</A> [mailto:<A
onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"
href="mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@mythtv.org" target=_blank>
mythtv-users-bounces@mythtv.org</A>] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Joshua
Gottlieb<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, July 25, 2007 9:23 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
Discussion about mythtv<BR><B>Subject:</B> [mythtv-users] Seeking
Advice<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><BR>Ok, so I'm a noob at all this. Now I
have tried to do a good deal of reading on the forums and what not trying
to get a feel for the recommended hardware etc.<BR><BR>I'm trying to build
a box from scratch, specifically for mythtv. Originally I had
planned on getting a Hauppauge PVR-350 so I could have the MPEG2
decryption on the card. This seemed like the ideal solution and I
could get very low end hardware as all the work would be done by the
card. However, then I saw various comments about how the card is
being phased out, soon to be not supported etc, etc... <BR><BR>So I
started doing more research and noticed that there are a few small form
factor motherboards that have TV-outs and built-in MPEG2 decryption, so I
thought maybe that would be a good path, but there didn't seem to be very
many folks having used the newer hardware. <BR><BR>Anyway, what I'm trying
to do is get advice from the experienced folks on here to setup a good
solid mythtv system.<BR><BR>I don't really need dual tuner right now, but
might in the future. I don't need HD support and most likely won't
in the foreseeable future. <BR><BR>So if someone were just going to build
a mythtv system and didn't need HD, what would the general best hardware
be?<BR><BR>I'm looking for something that is not going to be crazy
difficult to setup as well. So hardware that works well and is well
supported would be preferred. That said, I am a pretty solid Linux
user and would probably be building this under the latest Ubuntu distro.
<BR><BR>Any advice would be MUCH appreciated.<BR><BR>And yes, I apologize
for asking what is surely a much too frequently asked question, but I just
haven't been able to come to a good conclusion based on what I've read so
far in the forums...
<BR><BR>Joshua<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></SPAN></DIV></DIV><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>mythtv-users
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