Greetings,

I just received a free HP Pavilion 8590C which is built off of an ASUS Model P2B-VT motherboard (proprietary to HP), it has a PIII 600mhz processor, 384mb of ram. I plan on getting a PVR-250 to handle the video processing. I am thinking about using a radeon 7000 (64mb) card to distribute video to the tv (via svideo). I have a few questions that I hope that I can get answered:

1. Does anyone know of problems with this proprietary motherboard and KnoppMyth?

2. Should I flash a new bios to the board before I attempt to install KnoppMyth (it doesn't seem to be updated since the computer was new)?

3. I would like to send the audio via digital (prefer coax) does anyone have a recommendation on a card that would work well?

4. Could someone assure me that this setup should be enough to (a) watch a show while recording it and (b) to watch an earlier recorded show while recording a second show.

Thank you in advance for any advice you could give,

Michael

I can assure you that that system IS NOT enough to watch a show while recording it.

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Have a question search the forum and have a look at the KnoppMythWiki.

Xsecrets

I'd recommend using a nVidia card NOT and ATi.

1. I don't know.
2. Find out what the updated BIOS fixes, don't flash it you don't have an issue.
3. SB Live
4. I've no personal experience w/ a system slower than an XP 1800 and a PVR-250. Some have reported success with older systems. Search the forum for great details.

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cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

I've always found the HP boxes problematic to install linux on. At least back in the days when my old company bought them as managed PC's. Oddball hardware adds extra complexity. Sticking to mainstream hardware makes things go much easier.

Also this is a bit light on CPU power. The PVR 250 will help, but you may have playback issues.

Finally the overwhelming message you'll get around here is that getting TV-Out working with Radeon cards is a difficult if not impossible. I can point you to a dozen recipes in the forums for setting it up with an Nvidia card and many times that number of success stories, but none if any for ATI cards.

Probably not a bad idea.

Search the Tier1 and Tier 2 forums. There's one soundblaster card that's problematic and many that are OK.

I think you'll probably find it underpowered for this. The general CPU recommendations start at about twice the clock rate.

BTW - Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but it strikes me that we've been getting a lot of odd queries like this lately. Is it just my imagination or has this got something to do with recent articles like the one at Anandtech? I'm thinking either people who saw it or people writing follow up articles "testing" the support in the forums?

TJC (and all),

I'll dispell your conspiracy (as far as I'm concerned) in that I started this project with a free xbox that I couldn't get to play games. I stumbled onto mythtv as an option to keep it out of the landfill. My timing must be just impecable.

I am now questioning my logic as I installed linux through a software hack onto the xbox and couldn't get it to read any burnt cds to install the front end for mythtv. I am now doubting whether I should attempt to use this hp box (after the cautionary vibe I am getting here).

So here I am heading back to step 1. I am searching the dreck piles for something to start with.

Michael

You won't know if it doesn't work on the HP until you install it. The install doesn't take too long... At least you'll know if it works (or how well it work) or it doesn't.

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cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

Cesman,

I thank you for the encouragement. I think I'm going to give it a try over my weekend to see if it works. My current theory is to sell the motherboard, processor, power supply, ram and cd burner to go toward something more modern. I have to drive to Phoenix to get the PVR-250, so I might as well poke around for the motherboard/processor there too.

The only thing is that the HP takes a smaller motherboard (don't know the proper word for it) which could present a problem. I have read people use smaller motherboards in their electronics rack (tivo or receiver sized) myth boxes; does there seem to be a smaller motherboard that would be recommended above others?

Sorry for the continued questions and "quizing" (just for you, tjc),

Michael

You probably mean micro-ATX. Standard sized mother board is ATX.

This is an ATX motherboard known to work with KnoppMyth (See the Tier 1 and Tier 2 topics for lots more):
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-166&depa=1

This is a micro-ATX known to work with KnoppMyth (as above for more):
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-152-020&depa=1

A microATX board only has 3 PCI slots and 1 AGP with a maximum size of 9.6"x9.6". Where a standard ATX board has 5 or 6 PCI slots and 1 AGP and a maximum size of 12"x9.6".

There are several other less common options... c.f. - http://www.pcguide.com/ref/case/formATX-c.html and http://www.pcguide.com/ref/case/formMicroATX-c.html

I love this forum! Fast, concise and friendly.

The links were a perfect explanation. As a Mac-Switcher (to Linux), I am finding my learning curve a little higher than I want it to be. I also posted before I had dinner (always a bad idea). My current board is actually ATX (not microATX); I was just thrown off by it only having 4 pci slots.

After reading the forum for several hours; I know I have more threads to read before I try to even make an intelligent purchase.


Michael

Well what are your priorities for the box? Cost? Size? Quiet? Expansion? Capabilities?

If small is important look at microATX motherboards and compact cases. The previously mentioned Chaintech 7NIF2 is as close to a reference platform as KnoppMyth has. Pair it up with something like this for a nice small box: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-146&DEPA=1
If that's too pricey, I've heard ots of mentions of this case: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-190-005&depa=1 However both of these will restrict your options somewhat.

If quiet is important look at the case first and then make sure the other components match. A bigger case will work better with passive cooling on the motherboard chipset and a video board if you need one, and may also muffle sound better. This case is big and moderately pricey but is also supposed to be VERY quiet: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=11-129-127&DEPA=1

Also, if you're even considering still using the xbox as a frontend, the 600 'may' be fast enough to be a backend only box (and I stress may). That way the pvr250 will handle the encoding and all the HP has to do is file access (more or less). Like cesman said, you can just try the install and see what happens.

Also, I think I probably mentioned this before, but the softmod stuff is a PITA for the xbox. Do yourself a favor and have a stab at TSOP modding it. Check out the following for some useful guides:

http://xbox-scene.com/tutorials.php?p=14|22|#22

If you can put in a new motherboard, you can probably do it. If you fear the soldering iron, you can even get solder sticks that let you draw a conductive line across the points. Very simple.

Good luck,
Gonz

Well I broke down and sold the motherboard, ram, cd burner, cpu, and the power supply from the HP and some spare parts that I had laying around the house to help fund the project. I just ordered a pretty generic knoppmyth box from newegg:

a. Athenatech A301 case (I like that it is larger (cooler) than the A100 and came with a larger power supply)
b. Duron 1.6Ghz processor (will be more than enough to watch a recorded show while recording another show)
c. Chaintech 7NIF2 motherboard
d. 256MB PC2700
e. Speeze 80mm Fan (as the second fan in the A301 case to keep it nice and cool)
f. Arctic Cooling "Copper Silent 2TC" CPU Cooler (the reviews on this site seem to say that it will keep the Duron cool enough)
g. WinTV-PVR-250 (ordered directly from Hauppauge for $99)

I will put in a cdrom drive, my 40gb Samsung hard drive and the canibalized Seagate 10.2gb hard drive from the xbox.

When it all arrives, I am going to have the seagate as the master drive (partitioned as follows: part 1 /. (3gb), part 2 as swap 256mb, part 3 as cache (the remaining 6gb). The samsung will act as part 4 or /myth. I know I need to make sure that DMA is set to 1 (on) on both drives.

Because this installation will require a manual installation, I am sure that it will take me quite some time to do it right. I read through the "Aunt Elaine" manual installation guide and the Wiki's install recommendation. Although I am daunted by the "advanced users" warning, I am willing to give it a try. I do have a few questions though:

1. Will 6+gb be enough for the pvr-250's cache? I read that it should have five, but at what gb is it overkill?

2. When I partition the hard drives I should format them as follows: ext2 for part 3, ext3 for part 4 (this should also be journaling), but how should I format part 1 and part 2??

I am sure I will find other questions once I start, and I will post in the installation forum for those questions.

Thanks again guys for all the helpful advice,

Michael

The auto install made mine about 6Gb. This is where live TV is spooled so that you can pause, rewind, skip forward (if you're behind real time). Figure about 2.2 Gb/hr for the PVR 250 and that's enough to skip back to the beginning of a 2-2.75 hour long movie.