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First Time MythTV
http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3229		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  tjimenez87 [ Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:03 pm ]
Post subject:  First Time MythTV
So I'm really stoked that the case for my MythTv box arrives tomorrow. I have all the other parts, and I've been reading this forum and the KnoppWiki and Myth FAQ for the last month. I was hoping that someone could review my hardware selections and give me any tips that could save me some time when I finally get cracking.

Hardware specs:
Athenatech A100BB MicroATX Case w/ 230W PS
3 Vantec "Stealth" case fans (one extra and two to replace the stock fans)
ASROCK M266A motherboard (will I have DMA problems with this VIA bios?)
Celeron 1.8 Ghz with retail fan
ATI 9200SE w/ TV-out (I know I will have to get the GATOS drivers)
Hauppage PVR-250 w/ remote
Sony DVD+RW
Samsung 160 GB HD
Lite-On SK7551 Wireless IR Keyboard

Optional (laying around):
ATI TV Wonder VE
SoundBlaster Live!

I've done a trial install with KnoppMyth earlier with a bunch of old parts on this motherboard and it went smoothly. I didn't do the ATI TV-out setup though.

My main question is should I use the ATI TV Wonder VE to be able to record two shows? Is there a noticeable difference in recording quality between the two cards? Will it have enough CPU power with an old Celeron 1.8? Is there anything in particular that I have to do to have both cards installed? Can I make the PVR-250 have precedence over the ATI VE? I plan on archiving seasons of shows to DVD, so it would be nice if the recording quality stayed the same, and I did get those extra case fans to keep it running cool.

I plan on working these details out, but if anyone can share their own experience working with this hardware to steer me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.
Author:  tjc [ Tue Jan 11, 2005 9:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
The CPU load from recording with a PVR-250 is so light (while watching live TV on my system top shows under 5% CPU usage) that you should have plenty of juice left for a software encoding card. I don't remember if that particular tuner card is supported or not.

As for the motherboard, did you find a success story for it? Did you check it's specs http://www.asrock.com/product/product_m266a_r3.htm to get the exact Via chipset used and search the forum with that information? If not, why take the risk if you don't have too? There are plenty of cheap motherboards and chipsets which are known to work well.

From the wiki: http://knoppmythwiki.homelinux.org/index.php?page=PickingComponents
Quote:
Choosing a motherboard that is a known quantity will make your life easier and your KnoppMyth system work far better. The absolute best advice on this count is to look for success stories in the KnoppMyth Tier 1 and Tier 2 forums at: http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/index.php If you can't find a success story for the motherboard you're considering there is a good chance that you'll be breaking new ground with all the difficulties that entails.
Author:  tjimenez87 [ Tue Jan 11, 2005 9:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
It's because I'm salvaging it from an old system. It has 512 MB of SDRAM (it supports both DDR and SDRAM) and the Celeron already in it. If it will work, then I won't have to spend the money on a new MB and RAM. (and if I go with an AMD board with built in tv-out, a new CPU, too)

It's the same reason that I'm using a harder to setup ATI 9200SE instead of a nvidia solution, because I can salvage it. Worse case scenario, I'll go buy a 7NIF2 with a new CPU and RAM.

My only concern is that some VIA BIOS's have a DMA problem. Well, at the very least I can let everyone know if this one will work or not.

I know that the software card will work, since I've read about quite a few people using it (no btaudio support). I'm just worried that the recording quality will be different.

Has anyone used the digital out on the SoundBlaster Live? My receiver has a digital audio in that uses a standard RCA plug, so I was hoping that there was a converter from the 1/8" to the RCA plug for digital audio.
Author:  tjc [ Tue Jan 11, 2005 9:20 pm ]
Post subject: 
I seem to remember this being a chipset related issue rather than a BIOS issue, however a BIOS update might provide a work around, in which case you should follow the link given, look for BIOS updates for the board and (even if what you have is current) read the BIOS release notes. They're often next to useless, but they may actually say something meaningful. (BTW - I just looked, and it doesn't... :( )
Author:  DrGonzo [ Wed Jan 12, 2005 2:03 pm ]
Post subject: 
I went from an ATI TV Wonder VE to the PVR250. The difference in video quality was night and day. I was originaly going to put one 250 and keep using the 2 VEs that I had. When I saw the difference I bought to more 250s.

Gonz
Author:  tjc [ Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:39 pm ]
Post subject: 
BTW - Many TV-Out solutions don't do the PVR250's capture quality justice. I was floored when I played shows I'd burned to DVD back on a real DVD player and realized just how good they were.
Author:  tjimenez87 [ Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thanks for the info, guys. Especially about the ATI VE quality difference.

tjc, I have heard that about tv-out quality, so thats why I'm excited about the ATI 9200SE card, since I heard it has substantially better tv-out quality over nvidia, its just more of a pain to setup.

Well, all the parts have been put together, (sans the ATI TV Wonder VE). I did stick in the Soundblaster Live, because it does have digital output and I'm hoping to enable that for my stereo receiver. (any tips on this?)

My next step is booting from the KnoppMyth CD.
Author:  tjc [ Wed Jan 12, 2005 11:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
tjimenez87 wrote:
thats why I'm excited about the ATI 9200SE card, since I heard it has substantially better tv-out quality over nvidia, its just more of a pain to setup.

That's a rough, rough road, and if you get it working I hope you keep good notes, because a lot of people are going to want to know all the details. ;-) Heck, I've got one of those in my workstation box which would get moved to the KnoppMyth box in a heartbeat if it would give better quality TV output and setting it up wasn't an open ended exercise in frustration.
Author:  tjimenez87 [ Thu Jan 13, 2005 4:08 pm ]
Post subject: 
So 4 things are not working out of the box:

-Hauppage Remote Control
-DVD Playback
-ATI TV Out (not expected, software still needs to be loaded)
-DVD Burning (not expected, software still needs to be loaded)

As for the Hauppage Remote Control, I did select the lirc installation option, but it seems that I am still missing .lircrc configuration files. Which is slightly puzzlingly. I'm debating about reinstalling lirc or just manually entering the configuration file in by hand (which isn't too appealing).

DVD playback has me stumped. I have run the "examples\install" script and I was suffering from the "utmp" group ownership problem so I changed /dev/scd0 to the cdrom group instead of the utmp group. Myth still can't play a DVD, but it seems willing to try to rip it. My next step is to add the mythtv user to the utmp group to see if permissions are still holding it up. Then I'll try installing xine to see if its an mplayer problem.

Oh, I should mention I haven't plugged any speakers in so I don't know if sound is working or not (/me crosses fingers).
Author:  ceenvee703 [ Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:39 pm ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
Myth still can't play a DVD, but it seems willing to try to rip it.


If this is a Hollywood DVD, there are libraries missing (due to their dubious legality under the DMCA) that provide for encrypted disc playback. If you nose around for Certain Simple Solutions, you should be able to find some "examples" of how to get that working.
Author:  tjc [ Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
tjimenez87 wrote:
So 4 things are not working out of the box:

-Hauppage Remote Control.

They started shipping a new model recently. Search for recent threads about "Hauppauge grey remote". Someone even took some nice pictures to help you identify which one you have. The same thread has a the config files you need.
tjimenez87 wrote:
-DVD Playback.

You do know that commercial DVD's are encrypted right? And since this is a U.S. based project, it has to deal with a little abomination of a law you may have heard about called the DMCA... If not you should fire up your favorite search engine and do a little research on the topic. I'd love to give you a more helpful answer but Cecil has asked that we not do anything that will endanger this site.
Author:  tjimenez87 [ Fri Jan 14, 2005 3:05 am ]
Post subject: 
I was mistaken about the missing lircrc files, they were there, but just the wrong ones as highlighted by the above mentioned thread.

I did know about the encryption problems and already ran the "examples" script as I tried to allude to already. The problem turned out to be that with my ATI card, xv was not supported. And the call to launch mplayer wanted xv. Taking that off allowed it to run.

As for installing the ATI Tv-Out card, I got it to work following the steps here:
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... 35032c2b55

It was a long process, and I wouldn't really recommend it, since I'm not that impressed with the tv-out quality. My card is underscanning my tv set. I would be surprised if anyone knew how to adjust the underscan on this card, but if anyone does, please let me know. I'll probably buy an Nvidia card to replace it.

The last thing I need to do is reinstall ivtv since I must have a new card (along with the new remote) so its just giving me snow currently.
Author:  tjimenez87 [ Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
It turns out there is a utility called tvo_set that will allow me to adjust my tv screen. However, it requires xv to work. And for some reason the GATOS drivers I installed isn't providing xv, though they should. This is the reason why my DVD player wouldn't work initially. xv is required to play DVD's at a decent rate, and to adjust the tv output.

Grr... getting ready to spring for an Nvidia FX5200.

From what I read, that's the best card to get for Myth... any disagreements?
Author:  tjc [ Fri Jan 14, 2005 9:52 pm ]
Post subject: 
tjimenez87 wrote:
Grr... getting ready to spring for an Nvidia FX5200.

From what I read, that's the best card to get for Myth... any disagreements?

That's what I'd buy. I would expect it to be better than what I've got now, but not perfect.
Author:  tjimenez87 [ Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'm thinking about buying a PVR-350 instead, so I would have the highest quality tv-out and an extra tuner.

So I have everything setup (well, except for the DVD burner). The only remaining problem is the lack of xv, which breaks watching anything fullscreen by causing it to drop frames (DVD's, recordings, live tv).

But its recording things really well. Ah, to solve any problem you can always spend more money... FX5200 or the PVR-350?

I'd really hate to do a reinstall at this point, which getting a new video card will most likely make me do. (Or can I just rebuild XFree86?) Anyone know what happens when you swap out a video card?
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