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Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board
Ok I'm in the process of building a new MythTV box from scratch. I'm
based in Auckland and will only be working with Terrestrial TV. I'm
starting this thread to keep track of my progress, and gather feedback
from other MythTV users here in NZ.

At the moment I'm looking at using a 32 bit build, and migrate to a 64
bit version at a later date. In part this is because there isn't a 64
bit version of Knoppmyth. Unless anyone can recommend a 64bit Linux OS
for MythTV.

I'd also be interested in catching up with anyone else using the new
Nvideo 6150/430 based boards.

Core Hardware
----------------
Motherboard - Asus A8N-VM CSM
CPU - Athlon 64 3200+ socket 939 Venice Core.
RAM - 512Mb DDR
Video - On-board Nforce 6150
TV-Out - Optional composite cable for on-board
Audio - On-board with optional SPDIF out cable
Case - nMedia HTPC100 M-ATX Home Theatre
Network - On-board Marvel Gig-E

Capture
---------
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE - PCI
LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
Freecom DVB-T USB Stick

Storage
--------
13Gb Base OS HD
200Gb Seagate 7200 RPM Media HD.

Software
----------
Knoppmyth R5A30.1
+ Nvidia graphics driver 8178 (or latest)
+ Nvidia nforce driver 0310 (or latest)
+ any tweaks needed for the DVB-T tuner and PVR 150 cards



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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 11:36:04 +1300
Steven Ellis wrote:

> Ok I'm in the process of building a new MythTV box from scratch. I'm
> based in Auckland and will only be working with Terrestrial TV. I'm
> starting this thread to keep track of my progress, and gather feedback
> from other MythTV users here in NZ.
>
> At the moment I'm looking at using a 32 bit build, and migrate to a 64
> bit version at a later date. In part this is because there isn't a 64
> bit version of Knoppmyth. Unless anyone can recommend a 64bit Linux OS
> for MythTV.
>
> I'd also be interested in catching up with anyone else using the new
> Nvideo 6150/430 based boards.
>
> Core Hardware
> ----------------
> Motherboard - Asus A8N-VM CSM
> CPU - Athlon 64 3200+ socket 939 Venice Core.
> RAM - 512Mb DDR
> Video - On-board Nforce 6150
> TV-Out - Optional composite cable for on-board
> Audio - On-board with optional SPDIF out cable
> Case - nMedia HTPC100 M-ATX Home Theatre
> Network - On-board Marvel Gig-E
>
> Capture
> ---------
> Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE - PCI
> LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
> Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
>
> Storage
> --------
> 13Gb Base OS HD
> 200Gb Seagate 7200 RPM Media HD.
>
> Software
> ----------
> Knoppmyth R5A30.1
> + Nvidia graphics driver 8178 (or latest)
> + Nvidia nforce driver 0310 (or latest)
> + any tweaks needed for the DVB-T tuner and PVR 150 cards


Hi, that looks like a nice collection of kit, I am thinking your biggest
problem will be noise. Just turn the speakers up a bit. WHAT? TURN THE
...." - you know what I mean.


Just curious what you are going to use the DVB-T card for - does anyone
broadcast DVB-T in NZ?

As far as distros go, I am a gentoo kinda guy. But I'll still help users
of lesser distros in any way I can ;-)




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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
Steven Ellis wrote:

>Ok I'm in the process of building a new MythTV box from scratch. I'm
>based in Auckland and will only be working with Terrestrial TV. I'm
>starting this thread to keep track of my progress, and gather feedback
>from other MythTV users here in NZ.
>
>At the moment I'm looking at using a 32 bit build, and migrate to a 64
>bit version at a later date. In part this is because there isn't a 64
>bit version of Knoppmyth. Unless anyone can recommend a 64bit Linux OS
>for MythTV.
>
>
>
I'll put in a shameless plug for UBuntu. Myth installs on it very easily.

Graeme

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
On 1/20/06, Steven Ellis <mail_lists@stevencherie.net> wrote:
> TV-Out - Optional composite cable for on-board

If you can get SVideo out (and into your TV) use it. I found a
significant improvement in picture quality when I switched to SVideo.

> Freecom DVB-T USB Stick

What can you get on DVB-T?

Steve

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
>Ok I'm in the process of building a new MythTV box from scratch. I'm
>based in Auckland and will only be working with Terrestrial TV. I'm
>starting this thread to keep track of my progress, and gather feedback
>from other MythTV users here in NZ.
>
>At the moment I'm looking at using a 32 bit build, and migrate to a 64
>bit version at a later date. In part this is because there isn't a 64
>bit version of Knoppmyth. Unless anyone can recommend a 64bit Linux OS
>for MythTV.
>
>I'd also be interested in catching up with anyone else using the new
>Nvideo 6150/430 based boards.
>
>Core Hardware
>----------------
>Motherboard - Asus A8N-VM CSM
>CPU - Athlon 64 3200+ socket 939 Venice Core.
>RAM - 512Mb DDR
>Video - On-board Nforce 6150
>TV-Out - Optional composite cable for on-board
>Audio - On-board with optional SPDIF out cable
>Case - nMedia HTPC100 M-ATX Home Theatre
>Network - On-board Marvel Gig-E
>
>Capture
>---------
>Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE - PCI
>LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
>Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
>
>Storage
>--------
>13Gb Base OS HD
>200Gb Seagate 7200 RPM Media HD.
>
>Software
>----------
>Knoppmyth R5A30.1
>+ Nvidia graphics driver 8178 (or latest)
>+ Nvidia nforce driver 0310 (or latest)
>+ any tweaks needed for the DVB-T tuner and PVR 150 cards
>
>

I was using Fedora Core 4 x86_64 when I built my main box (GigaByte
K8NS Ultra-939 with a Athlon 64 3200+) and I followed Jarod's guide
when installing (http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/fcmyth.php). There were
issues with the 64bit rpms for some of the plugins (mainly MythViceo
MythMusic, and MythGallery) at the time (Oct 05). Myth would SegFault
when starting the frontend if those plugins were installed. I was
also having random issues with audio and video corruption in some
recordings.

I think the 64bit rpm issues have been resolved now, however I
rebuilt the box at christmas using Fedora Core 4 i386, upgraded to
ivtv-0.4.1 and now have no issues with recording corruptions or
SegFaults. Again I followed Jarod's guide. So I'm sticking with a
32bit version for the forseeable future, but if you have time for
experimenting FC4 x86_64 may be worth a look now.

- Wade

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
On Fri, 2006-01-20 at 11:36 +1300, Steven Ellis wrote:

> Capture
> ---------
> Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE - PCI
> LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
> Freecom DVB-T USB Stick

There is some testing stuff on DVB-T in auckland, don't know how long it
will live for, but it is there in certain area's.

Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near a USB DVB-X device, your much
better off getting a PCI card.

:D


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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
On Fri, 2006-01-20 at 11:36 +1300, Steven Ellis wrote:

> Capture
> ---------
> Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE - PCI
> LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
> Freecom DVB-T USB Stick

There is some testing stuff on DVB-T in auckland, don't know how long it
will live for, but it is there in certain area's.

Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near a USB DVB-X device, your much
better off getting a PCI card.

:D


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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
> > Capture
> > ---------
> > Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE - PCI
> > LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
> > Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
>
> There is some testing stuff on DVB-T in auckland, don't know how long
> it
> will live for, but it is there in certain area's.
>
> Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near a USB DVB-X device, your much
> better off getting a PCI card.

I was under the impression that ivtv (the Hauppauge PVR drivers) and the DVB
drivers will not co-exist due to some differences in the tveeprom module...?

http://ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Howto suggests that some people have had limited
success getting the two to work together but there's a bit of jiggery with the
modules involved.

I had enough troubles getting BTTV and IVTV to co-exist (tuner module
inconsistencies) - you might break the camel's back trying DVB as well.

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
>...64bit Linux OS for MythTV.

> I'd also be interested in catching up with anyone else using the new
> Nvideo 6150/430 based boards.

No idea on that sorry.

> Core Hardware
All looks good.

> Capture
> ---------
> Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE - PCI
Loverly card - works very well. If you can afford the extra, get a
PVR-500 instead. The 500 is two PVR-150 cards on the same PCI card, which
allows you to record two separate channels at once, and to use the Picture
in Picture functions.

> LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
Got one - didn't have a lot of luck making it work with my mythbackend.
So I bought a 150 instead. That could have been that my backend was
underpowered (a problem you won't have!)

> Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
My gut feeling on this one is - don't spend a lot of money, and keep your
receipt. USB is nasty enough, but cross that with DVB-anything and you're
just asking for problems.

To separate things - have you considered a separate frontend to your
backend machine, and you could put the DVB hardware on a slave backend.


> Storage
> --------
> 13Gb Base OS HD
> 200Gb Seagate 7200 RPM Media HD.

mythbackend:/# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda2 37G 2G 35G 94% /
/dev/md0 112G 36G 77G 32% /mythtv

Sounds quite good. Supprisingly you don't need a massive disk for your
library.

> Software
> ----------
> Knoppmyth R5A30.1
> + Nvidia graphics driver 8178 (or latest)
> + Nvidia nforce driver 0310 (or latest)
> + any tweaks needed for the DVB-T tuner and PVR 150 cards

I have the ivtv stuff running fine with my 150 card. Can't comment on
anything else sorry.

Good luck!



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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
Nick Rout wrote:

>
>Hi, that looks like a nice collection of kit, I am thinking your biggest
>problem will be noise. Just turn the speakers up a bit. WHAT? TURN THE
>...." - you know what I mean.
>
>
>
Well I just powered this baby up and there is almost no noise. Very nice
and quiet

>Just curious what you are going to use the DVB-T card for - does anyone
>broadcast DVB-T in NZ?
>
>
Got TV1 & 2 on DVB-T in Auckland :)

>As far as distros go, I am a gentoo kinda guy. But I'll still help users
>of lesser distros in any way I can ;-)
>
>
Hey i'm no bigot, except when it comes to Windows :)

Open to options as I progress

Steve

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
Drew Whittle wrote:

>On Fri, 2006-01-20 at 11:36 +1300, Steven Ellis wrote:
>
>
>
>>Capture
>>---------
>>Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150MCE - PCI
>>LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
>>Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
>>
>>
>
>There is some testing stuff on DVB-T in auckland, don't know how long it
>will live for, but it is there in certain area's.
>
>Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near a USB DVB-X device, your much
>better off getting a PCI card.
>
>
Handy to play on the laptop. Not a long term purchase, more a toy at
this stage. Got it at Christmas to have a play in the UK, and hoped i'd
pick up something back here in NZ.

Steve

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
Steve Hodge wrote:

>On 1/20/06, Steven Ellis <mail_lists@stevencherie.net> wrote:
>
>
>>TV-Out - Optional composite cable for on-board
>>
>>
>
>If you can get SVideo out (and into your TV) use it. I found a
>significant improvement in picture quality when I switched to SVideo.
>
>
>
Silly me forgot to check for S-Video when I bought the TV 6 years ago.
So for now composite. The board has DVI which I plan to use in the future.

>>Freecom DVB-T USB Stick
>>
>>
>
>What can you get on DVB-T?
>
>
TV 1&2 at present

Steve


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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
On 1/20/06, criggie@criggie.dyndns.org <criggie@criggie.dyndns.org> wrote:
> > LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
> Got one - didn't have a lot of luck making it work with my mythbackend.
> So I bought a 150 instead. That could have been that my backend was
> underpowered (a problem you won't have!)

I've got one too, had no problems getting it working. I've also got a
tuner-less video capture card for Sky and with my current capture
settings (576x576 mpeg4 + mp3) I can just record a show on each
simultaneously. My backend has a 2800+/2GHz AMD Sempron (it's an
overclocked 2400+/1.66GHz part). So Steve should indeed have no
problem in terms of CPU power.

Steve

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 17:20, Steve Hodge wrote:
> On 1/20/06, criggie@criggie.dyndns.org <criggie@criggie.dyndns.org> wrote:
> > > LifeView Fly Video 3000 - SAA7134 based - PCI
> >
> > Got one - didn't have a lot of luck making it work with my mythbackend.
> > So I bought a 150 instead. That could have been that my backend was
> > underpowered (a problem you won't have!)
>
> I've got one too, had no problems getting it working. I've also got a
> tuner-less video capture card for Sky and with my current capture
> settings (576x576 mpeg4 + mp3) I can just record a show on each
> simultaneously. My backend has a 2800+/2GHz AMD Sempron (it's an
> overclocked 2400+/1.66GHz part). So Steve should indeed have no
> problem in terms of CPU power.
>
> Steve
>
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Good choice of gear... I went the Intel way with a CeleronD 2.8gHz that I can
throtle back to 350hMz to save power heat :-)

I use Gentoo as my base OS on this my main machine and my Mythtv box, only
problem I had was with the nVidia driver and xid errors, check the nvnews
forum for this, had to use a stock kernel and no preempt for it to work ok in
the end.

Only thing's I have left to do with my box is the remote (Logitech) and sort
out the side case fan of my Silverstone LC11, because it's hard up against
teh case it's too noisy for me.

Best of luck...

--
Regards
Tim, Donna & Erin Gibson

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
Steven Ellis wrote:
> Ok I'm in the process of building a new MythTV box from scratch. I'm
> based in Auckland and will only be working with Terrestrial TV. I'm
> starting this thread to keep track of my progress, and gather feedback
> from other MythTV users here in NZ.
>
> Software
> ----------
> Knoppmyth R5A30.1
> + Nvidia graphics driver 8178 (or latest)
> + Nvidia nforce driver 0310 (or latest)
> + any tweaks needed for the DVB-T tuner and PVR 150 cards
>
>
Ok I have a rough build working.

1. Install Knoppmyth R5A30.1 based on the NZ KnoppMyth wiki page.
2. Install nforce 0310 driver to get nvnet networking up
3. Install nvidia 8178 graphics driver to get video up.
4. Download and build 2.6.15 kernel based on the Knoppmyth build config.
5. Modify Lilo to boot new kernel using existing initrd.gz
6. Rebuild nvnet and graphics drivers using "-K" options to just build
kernel driver for new kernel
7. Download most recent alsa driver to get sound working.
8. Run alsaconf to detect onboard audio.
9. Install appropriate powernow module "modprobe powernow-k8"

Just need to tweak the video card settings and get a better program
guide source that has C4 and JuiceTV. Only going to get the PVR-150 and
SAA7134 based cards working for now. I'll look at the DVB-T USB tuner later.

A bonus would be getting the IR unit built into the case working. It is
a USB device and is detected, but I haven't got LIRC working with it yet.

Steve

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Re: Building a new box using an ASUS A8N-VM CSM board [ In reply to ]
Steven Ellis wrote:
> Steven Ellis wrote:
>
>> Ok I'm in the process of building a new MythTV box from scratch. I'm
>> based in Auckland and will only be working with Terrestrial TV. I'm
>> starting this thread to keep track of my progress, and gather feedback
>> from other MythTV users here in NZ.
>>
>> Software
>> ----------
>> Knoppmyth R5A30.1
>> + Nvidia graphics driver 8178 (or latest)
>> + Nvidia nforce driver 0310 (or latest)
>> + any tweaks needed for the DVB-T tuner and PVR 150 cards
>>
>>
>>
> Ok I have a rough build working.
>
> 1. Install Knoppmyth R5A30.1 based on the NZ KnoppMyth wiki page.
> 2. Install nforce 0310 driver to get nvnet networking up
> 3. Install nvidia 8178 graphics driver to get video up.
> 4. Download and build 2.6.15 kernel based on the Knoppmyth build config.
> 5. Modify Lilo to boot new kernel using existing initrd.gz
> 6. Rebuild nvnet and graphics drivers using "-K" options to just build
> kernel driver for new kernel
> 7. Download most recent alsa driver to get sound working.
> 8. Run alsaconf to detect onboard audio.
> 9. Install appropriate powernow module "modprobe powernow-k8"
>
> Just need to tweak the video card settings and get a better program
> guide source that has C4 and JuiceTV. Only going to get the PVR-150 and
> SAA7134 based cards working for now. I'll look at the DVB-T USB tuner later.
>
> A bonus would be getting the IR unit built into the case working. It is
> a USB device and is detected, but I haven't got LIRC working with it yet.
>
Ok I need to tweak the alsa driver to get the audio to work without a
horrible buz.

Managed to get the DVB-T USB card working, and the ivtv 0.4.2 build
installed for the PVR-150. I've pulled out the saa7134 based card for
now as I was getting interference using it and the PVR-150 at the same time.

Also managed to get the correct powernow profiles installed so most the
the time the CPU is tunning at 1/2 speed and I can also run the fan at a
low speed too.

No progress on the IR sensor yet.

Main problem is the tuners all work on the command line, but MythTV
isn't seeing them. I just get a blank screen when I select watch TV.

Steve


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