Mailing List Archive

Dream Machine
Hello all,

I've been using Showshifter for 6 months now but would like to try MythTV.

I was going to build a new showshifter machine and now I want to make
sure that I'm taking MythTV into account when deciding system specs

I want to use dual TV cards and from what I've read the Hauppauge 401 is
the one.

So what would you recommend?

Below is what I have planned can you see any problems?

2400+ AMD XP Processor?
ASUS A7N8X MB?
1GB Samsung 2700 DDRRam?
ATI 9000 Radeon 64mb w/TV out Video Card?
2 Hauppauge 401 cards
120GB Maxtor 5400 (for noise reasons)
Onboard LAN
Onboard sound
Distro Redhat 8.0 or Gentoo
I want to be able to use MythTV to its fullest

Thanks

Brad
RE: Dream Machine [ In reply to ]
As far as RedHat or Gentoo; I use Gentoo and I really like it quite a
bit. Nice, fast, easy to manage. I'm sure you know the downsides of
having to compile the entire system from source.

I had a lot of trouble getting xmltv to work. There were a lot of
dependency issues (some of xmltv's dependencies don't work on perl
5.8..) Eventually I just downgraded perl to 5.6.1, and I had to muck
around with moving some of the perl stuff to the right directories. It
wasn't too hard, and I don't use perl for anything else except Webmin.

Overall I'm still very happy with Gentoo, and if you're looking to
squeeze every last ounce of power out of your machine, Gentoo will help
provide this. Might be worth it for MythTV.

And once you're running it's very easy to keep it up to date. You never
have to upgrade to the latest "release" since all you have to do is run
a simple command and you'll have all the new stuff =) (well, maybe 10
hours later...)

-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Sagowitz [mailto:sagz@sagz.dynip.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2003 12:04 AM
To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
Subject: [mythtv-users] Dream Machine

Hello all,

I've been using Showshifter for 6 months now but would like to try
MythTV.

I was going to build a new showshifter machine and now I want to make
sure that I'm taking MythTV into account when deciding system specs

I want to use dual TV cards and from what I've read the Hauppauge 401 is

the one.

So what would you recommend?

Below is what I have planned can you see any problems?

2400+ AMD XP Processor?
ASUS A7N8X MB?
1GB Samsung 2700 DDRRam?
ATI 9000 Radeon 64mb w/TV out Video Card?
2 Hauppauge 401 cards
120GB Maxtor 5400 (for noise reasons)
Onboard LAN
Onboard sound
Distro Redhat 8.0 or Gentoo
I want to be able to use MythTV to its fullest

Thanks

Brad

_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users@snowman.net
http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: Dream Machine [ In reply to ]
>>>>> On Fri, 04 Apr 2003 23:04:24 -0600, Brad Sagowitz <sagz@sagz.dynip.com> said:

[...]

b> Below is what I have planned can you see any problems?

b> 2400+ AMD XP Processor?
b> ASUS A7N8X MB?

I think you'll need to build your own kernels to get support
for nForce2 IDE. I've been using 2.4.21-pre5-ac1 for my 2500+/A7N8X
system.

b> ATI 9000 Radeon 64mb w/TV out Video Card?

An ATI card is not the best choice right now for TV out.
There was a thread on video card recommendations a few days ago.
Check the list archives. I went with a cheap GeForce2 MX that's
supported by "nvtv" (to get overscan) and use nVidia's latest drivers.

b> 2 Hauppauge 401 cards

Your system might not be powerful enough to handle two decodes
and one encode at 640x480. A single encode occassionally hits 50% CPU
on my system. 480x480 will probably be okay.
--
Gregorio Gervasio, Jr.
gtgj@pacbell.net
RE: Dream Machine [ In reply to ]
> 120GB Maxtor 5400 (for noise reasons)

Skip the maxtor and get a seagate barracuda V. It's the quietest drive
available and has fairly good performance. There are benchmarks for this
sort of stuff at www.storagereview.com. It's worth your time to look into
quieter CPU fans, case fans, and power supplies, especially if the box is
going to be on all the time.


-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Brad Sagowitz
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 9:04 PM
To: mythtv-users@snowman.net
Subject: [mythtv-users] Dream Machine


Hello all,

I've been using Showshifter for 6 months now but would like to try MythTV.

I was going to build a new showshifter machine and now I want to make
sure that I'm taking MythTV into account when deciding system specs

I want to use dual TV cards and from what I've read the Hauppauge 401 is
the one.

So what would you recommend?

Below is what I have planned can you see any problems?

2400+ AMD XP Processor?
ASUS A7N8X MB?
1GB Samsung 2700 DDRRam?
ATI 9000 Radeon 64mb w/TV out Video Card?
2 Hauppauge 401 cards
120GB Maxtor 5400 (for noise reasons)
Onboard LAN
Onboard sound
Distro Redhat 8.0 or Gentoo
I want to be able to use MythTV to its fullest

Thanks

Brad

_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users@snowman.net
http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: Dream Machine [ In reply to ]
On Saturday, April 5, 2003, at 02:49 PM, Dan Conti wrote:
>> 120GB Maxtor 5400 (for noise reasons)
>
> Skip the maxtor and get a seagate barracuda V. It's the quietest drive
> available and has fairly good performance. There are benchmarks for
> this
> sort of stuff at www.storagereview.com. It's worth your time to look
> into
> quieter CPU fans, case fans, and power supplies, especially if the box
> is
> going to be on all the time.

That site doesn't have the Maxtor DiamondMax 16 120GB drive (4R120L0)
listed. But all reports I read said it's one of the quietest drives
around.

James
RE: Dream Machine [ In reply to ]
I have a 120GB Maxtor 7200 RPM drive in my Xbox, and it's extremely
quiet. You can barely hear it. The CPU fan (which is pretty quiet too)
is louder.

When the drive is being accessed, it doesn't click very loud either.
And the drive, even after hours of running, is only luke-warm to the
touch; even when enclosed in the plastic house in the Xbox.

My friend got the same drive for his Xbox and it's just as quiet. Just
thought I might chime in a little.

-----Original Message-----
From: James Knight [mailto:foom@fuhm.net]
Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2003 3:22 PM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Dream Machine

On Saturday, April 5, 2003, at 02:49 PM, Dan Conti wrote:
>> 120GB Maxtor 5400 (for noise reasons)
>
> Skip the maxtor and get a seagate barracuda V. It's the quietest drive
> available and has fairly good performance. There are benchmarks for
> this
> sort of stuff at www.storagereview.com. It's worth your time to look
> into
> quieter CPU fans, case fans, and power supplies, especially if the box

> is
> going to be on all the time.

That site doesn't have the Maxtor DiamondMax 16 120GB drive (4R120L0)
listed. But all reports I read said it's one of the quietest drives
around.

James

_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users@snowman.net
http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: Dream Machine [ In reply to ]
> On Saturday, April 5, 2003, at 02:49 PM, Dan Conti wrote:
> >> 120GB Maxtor 5400 (for noise reasons)
> >
> > Skip the maxtor and get a seagate barracuda V. It's the quietest drive
> > available and has fairly good performance. There are benchmarks for
> > this
> > sort of stuff at www.storagereview.com. It's worth your time to look
> > into
> > quieter CPU fans, case fans, and power supplies, especially if the box
> > is
> > going to be on all the time.
>
> That site doesn't have the Maxtor DiamondMax 16 120GB drive (4R120L0)
> listed. But all reports I read said it's one of the quietest drives
> around.

Is this a 5400 drive? I have a barracuda IV and it was v quiet when new, but
after a year it has some idle whine about it, and I am worried about heat
putting it in a "silentdrive" thing. However, I have an older 5400 disk in
an AMD 450Mhz (with a slow 80mm fan on the CPU), and that is completely
silent in comparison....

I think speed is less important than noise, I wonder if anyone does a super
silent 5400 drive...? A Barracuda 5400 would be great...

(Actually I just looked up the specs on this drive and the claimed noise is
the same as for the Barracuda V I think...)

Tricky...
RE: Dream Machine [ In reply to ]
Seagate has the barracuda U series drives which are 5400 rpm, but the
performance is a bit sub par.

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Edward Wildgoose
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 1:50 PM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Dream Machine

Is this a 5400 drive? I have a barracuda IV and it was v quiet when new, but
after a year it has some idle whine about it, and I am worried about heat
putting it in a "silentdrive" thing. However, I have an older 5400 disk in
an AMD 450Mhz (with a slow 80mm fan on the CPU), and that is completely
silent in comparison....

I think speed is less important than noise, I wonder if anyone does a super
silent 5400 drive...? A Barracuda 5400 would be great...

(Actually I just looked up the specs on this drive and the claimed noise is
the same as for the Barracuda V I think...)

Tricky...


_______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users@snowman.net
http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
Re: Dream Machine [ In reply to ]
Hmm, what about the 300GB Maxline series from Maxtor... Put one of these in
a SilentDrive enclosure with rubber washers...

http://www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/data_sheets/maxline_data_sheet.pdf

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Conti" <dconti@acm.wwu.edu>
To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users@snowman.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 10:14 PM
Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] Dream Machine


> Seagate has the barracuda U series drives which are 5400 rpm, but the
> performance is a bit sub par.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@snowman.net]On Behalf Of Edward Wildgoose
> Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 1:50 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Dream Machine
>
> Is this a 5400 drive? I have a barracuda IV and it was v quiet when new,
but
> after a year it has some idle whine about it, and I am worried about heat
> putting it in a "silentdrive" thing. However, I have an older 5400 disk
in
> an AMD 450Mhz (with a slow 80mm fan on the CPU), and that is completely
> silent in comparison....
>
> I think speed is less important than noise, I wonder if anyone does a
super
> silent 5400 drive...? A Barracuda 5400 would be great...
>
> (Actually I just looked up the specs on this drive and the claimed noise
is
> the same as for the Barracuda V I think...)
>
> Tricky...
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>