Mailing List Archive: NEWBIE: Disk space vs. CPU speed

NEWBIE: Disk space vs. CPU speed

Nov 20, 2002, 7:37 AM

Post #1 of 3 (988 views)

Hello,
I would like to reuse a somewhat older Linux (Debian) box for
Mythtv. It's a P3-733. I have a couple of questions:

* After reading the requirements it seems that this speed might just not
be good enough for higher-quality video. My question would be if I can
trade off CPU speed for disk space? What if I put in a 160GB HDD or bigger
and drop the compression down to almost nothing, will this work? I am
wondering if the throughput to HD with record & playback might then become
a bottleneck.

* Is there a ballpark figure for how much space I need e.g. for 1hr of
video at default compression, how much would it be at a lower compression
setting?

* Can you also record at full NTSC DVD resolution (for this question I'd
be willing to assume a faster CPU)?

* Any recommendations on a VGA-to-TV (external) converter?

* How close do you feel is Mythtv to replacing a Tivo (e.g. stability,
ease-of-use, etc.)?

Thanks in advance for any input. Before I go spend money on additional
hardware I would like to understand Mythtv a little bit better.

Thanks again,
Stefan

Re: NEWBIE: Disk space vs. CPU speed [ In reply to ]

cedarmckay at mac

Nov 20, 2002, 2:52 PM

Post #2 of 3 (968 views)

Permalink

>
> * Is there a ballpark figure for how much space I need e.g. for 1hr of
> video at default compression, how much would it be at a lower
> compression
> setting?
>

My impression is that with mpeg4 and sound compression you can get good
looking stuff for about 1.5 gig/hour
I was getting pretty good looking results with a PIII 800 using the
rtjpeg encoder and sound compression off. With that setup I used 6
gig/hour.

> * How close do you feel is Mythtv to replacing a Tivo (e.g. stability,
> ease-of-use, etc.)?
>
really close. Except for the bearish install, and the inability to set
preference/settings through the gui I think it is right there with
tivo, In many respects it is more simple and elegant. If you are
willing to do initial setup through a terminal and have the ability to
set up a cron job to get listings every night, then the day to day use
of the system for girlfriend/mother/kids is great!

and getting better every day

Cedar

Re: NEWBIE: Disk space vs. CPU speed [ In reply to ]

ijr at po

Nov 20, 2002, 3:30 PM

Post #3 of 3 (990 views)

Permalink

On Wednesday 20 November 2002 04:52 pm, Cedar McKay wrote:
> really close. Except for the bearish install

And that's all easy and stuff now -- two lines to add to the apt sources list,
and a 'apt-get install mythtv'. =) Unless, of course, you're not using
Debian for whatever crazy reason..

Isaac