Hi.

I've got an old pc that's been laying about in my loft for a couple of years and i'm interested in 'KnopMythafying' it.

Specs:
AMD Duron @ 750MHz
384MB of RAM
ABIT KT7A Motherboard with VIA chipset
400W Power supply (replaced today. old one was dead)
Geforce 2 MX (No TV-Out)
I'm not sure about the sound card. "C Wave media device" springs to mind.
DVD Writer (had it laying about)
20GB IDE Hard Drive

That's all it is atm. My plan was to get another graphics card with TV-Out and a DVB-T card and possibly another sound card.

I've install KnoppMyth on it and it's up and running playing DivX files off a DVD quite well. There doesn't appear to be any sound but I assume this is because the sound card is not supported.

Now the question; what DVB-t card, sound card and graphics card would you recommend for Myth? I'm new to Linux. And also, is it worth it?

I've been looking at the GeForce FX 5200 (AGP) but i'm not so sure on the DVB-T card and sound card. I also want to avoid spending more than i'd need to as i'm a 16 year old on a budget! I'm not really after and dual tuner cards (don't think the pc is fast enough). Both cards also have to be PCI.

TIA!

EDIT: deleted my nonsensical post.

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Retired KM user (R4 - R6.04); friend to LH users.

For DVB-T cards, check here:

http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-T_Devices

You don't need anything fancy. Note that support is sometimes firmware related. The first dvb-t card I bought was supposed to be "supported", but had a firmware that was too new.

For graphics, that card should work fine.

Note that your box probably won't be able to play HD without significant upgrades.

Allen

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ASUS AT3N7A-I (Atom 330)
TBS 8922 PCI (DVB-S2)

Definitely won't play hidef. It looks like you are planning to record over-the-air channels -- is this corret? If so, I'm under the impression that the majority of those will be hidef after the Feb cutover.

Marc

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Marc

The views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Thanks very much, Allen. That list helps me a lot. I'm aware that it's not fast enough for HD (sorry, forgot to mention that i'm after SD).



Hi Marc. Yes, I'm planning on watching and recording OTA channels. I'd like to plug the pc into my TV (it's far off HD) with no monitor and control it with a remote. I presume that the hidef OTA channels are in California? I haven't heard about it happening in the UK yet.

Thanks for input, both.

Hi Polo,
As a UK KnoppMyth user, I have found great success with the Hauppauge Nova-t card. They work well with the multi rec feature, the ir is easy to set up and they are cheap these days. Here

If you are trying to get to tv via svideo they are cheap as chips as well now. I had a Nvidia 5200 running for a few years. Worked a treat. here

I bought a Nova-T 500 which I've some issues with, but others have not (I guess the one I bought was a bad one).

HTH

Regards

Chris

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Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

Cheers, Chris. I've got a Nova-t card on order.

I'll let you know how I get on.

I'm afraid your going to run into nothing but problems with that board. MythTV has very well known and well documented issues with the older VIA chipsets (such as your KT133A).

I'm not saying that it won't work but there is a very good chance that your system won't be stable and will be prone to "random" lock-ups. I've tried running Myth on both a KT133A and a KT333 chipset and had major stability problems with both. I had better luck with a KT400 board but finally just took the advise of many who have came before me and steered well clear of VIA chipsets with Myth.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I'd prefer warn you than have you banging your head against the wall thinking it's something you did wrong in setup.

Best of luck to you.

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

Fingers and toes crossed then. I did read that somewhere but decided to risk it (i was thinking that was with newer motherboards). I have a plan B if things don't work out.

Is this VIA problem just with the DVB cards or KnoppMyth itself? The machine has been running ok so far with no DVB-T card. I've spent a lot of time getting it and XP to file share and play DVDs and basically fiddling and learning linux.

Thanks.

The VIA problem is not related to the capture cards. I believe it is an bug in the IDE controller with regards to DMA which crops up during heavy disk access. You may not have encountered the bug yet since I don't think you are doing any recording or playback.

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)

There was (still maybe) an issue w/ some older Via chipset and IvyTV tuners (Hauppauge PVR line).