Hello all, a few questions...

My parents are remodeling their home, and both are quite techno-savy even in their relatively old age. My dad would like me to build him a MythTV machine for his home theatre setup, and I'd eventually like to include a cablecard tuner when they're available so he can also use it as a DVR.

In talking to my dad about this, my mom decided she wanted such a beast in her kitchen to also be able to use as an internet terminal to pull down foodtv.com recipies, IM, etc. as well as watch TV, DVDs, listen to music etc. I plan on working with the architect to build my mom's setup into the kitchen and would like to use a touch screen LCD monitor. I was wondering if this is possible and what options we have for screens. I'd like to have something around a 19-21" LCD for the application.

Next, is it possible to have two MythTV machines talk to eachother such that I can set one up as the DVR with a couple tuner cards and have the other one (ie the one in my mom's kitchen) be able to play TV recordings (or maybe even live TV through the network?) from the main DVR setup?

finally, I'm looking to build a mythTV setup out of my old computer. I've done some reading through here and am slightly confused about some issues, so I figure I'd ask if I can work with what I have to be able to record 2 HDTV streams while playing 1 back, along with whatever scaling, etc might be required. I'd also like to route all sound through a coax or optical output.

CPU: AthlonXP 1600
Motherboard: ECS 'Elite Group' K7S5A. can handle up to an AthlonXP 2600, and would have no problems upgrading.
Video: AGP GeForce3. I forget which model exactly, I can look when i get home if it matters, but I'm pretty sure it has 64mb of ram on it and it does have an HDMI output plug.
RAM: 512MB
TV: 480p and 1080i native
Sound: I have a Hollywood Plus with excellent coax digital output circuitry that I have been able to use in the past as my "soundcard", ie. as my main audio output for all applications, and am hoping to use that if possible. I have a Sound Blaster Live as well, but from what I understand none of the SoundBlaster cards have a true digital output (ie they all convert to analog then back to digital for their outputs). I also thought if I use the H+ card I could route its output to a second standard tv and use the Live! card for its audio.

thanks for the help guys!

This is EXACTLY what mythtv does. your talking about a 'frontend only' system in the kitchen. I pulls the programs from the LAN.

As for the touch screen....I would guess a 19-21 touchscreen LCD would cost a good pile of cash, let me know what you find. Keep in mind that MythTV is not mouse driven, infact there is no mouse pointer anywhere..either keyboard or remote control (which mimics keystrokes) Most of the touch screens interfaces emulate mouse clicks/motions.

So within myth the touchscreen wont help, but it may be useful for other apps on the box....plutohome comes to mind....mythtv, phone, security...whole house automation.

keep us upto date with your progress.

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R5F1 - Dell P4 2.4Ghz 500MB - PVR250 x 2 - GeForce FX 5200 - Onboard sound/NIC 80GB ATA/250GB ATA/400GB SATA

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R5F1 - Dell P4 2.4Ghz 500MB - PVR250 x 2 - GeForce FX 5200 - Onboard sound/NIC 80GB ATA/250GB ATA/400GB SATA

Great, because I would like to have the setup for my dad be both a frontend for the home theatre as well as feed my mom's kitchen setup for recorded shows, etc.



I've found a few touch screen LCD's, they are more pricey than a regular LCD purchase, but not so bad if it works in linux and can be used to interact with everything. The idea being, a keyboard or a remote can get dirty and is hard to clean, a touchscreen can be cleaned easily; thus great for use in the kitchen while cooking! I'm going to look some more into plutohome and see if that allows for the entire interface to be mouse driven.

anyone have an answer to my hardware question?

Thanks!

I think if you do some searching through this section of the forum and the HDTV section, you'll find the answer, and that answer will be that anything short of a 3GHz processor can't adequately play back a HDTV recording. Pentium-based mobos seem to do a better job than Athlon-based ones. You can get by with less processor if you turn on XvMC but that can introduce its own problems. Furthermore, since your TV can't do 720p, you may have a problem with the most recent Nvidia drivers and 1080i (which is one reason why KnoppMyth comes with both the 6xxx and 7xxx drivers).

so does this Pluto thing use MythTV to handle all its media stuff?

Hi,

A relativley inexpensive touch screen to play with is available from http://www.magictouch.com/ I purchased a refurb unit for ~$100, works great with the "other" OS and it does come with linux drivers, however I think they are for the 2.4 kernal. I haven't had any success in KnoppMyth using the usb version.

Maybe it is some food for thought...
Mike

pluto does use mythtv....haven't really got into it to far... I have downloaded a Live CD but havent really played with it. dont know taht I would use it for more then a 'hobby' project. But, there are those that seem to be using it. Looks like ti would be pretty cool, but I dont think everyone in the house will be carrying a bluetooth phone around the house

I thought the security, mythtv, and phone might be fun. kitchen could have an 'Orbiter' if I undersand this whole thing

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R5F1 - Dell P4 2.4Ghz 500MB - PVR250 x 2 - GeForce FX 5200 - Onboard sound/NIC 80GB ATA/250GB ATA/400GB SATA

Hi,
I have dinked with pluto without much success however I am sure most of it is lack of skill on my part. It has progressed over the past several months. I found the myth implementation so weak after have been using Cecil & Dale's KnoppMyth.

I have also been trying to marry the Asterisk to be able to use the phone. That is a slick intallation using the http://asteriskathome.sourceforge.net/ iso.

Sorry, didn't mean to get off track
Mike