hi everyone. i've been reading up on mythtv and knoppmyth and a really would like to undertake this project. i'm new to all of this, though, as i've never built a computer before in my life. anyway, i've come up with some hardware specs (all from newegg), and I wondered if there was anything else i might need:

ASUS Pundit Barebone
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6856110026
INTEL Celeron 1.8GHz
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6819112172
pqi 256MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM (x2)
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6819112172
ASUS IDE DVD-ROM Drive
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6827135112
HITACHI Deskstar ATA100 Hard Drive
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6822145069
Hauppage WinTV-PVR250MCE
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6815116616

Is this sufficient for Mythtv? Do I need anything else? Does everything here work with each other? Do I really need both sticks of RAM? Should I get a TV Out card as well? Do I need a heatsink? Etc, etc.

Thanks in advance for the help. These boards have been a great help so far.

Hard drive space is king with Myth. 80GB is only going to give you about 30ish hours of recordings. I would not recommend that you go with anything less than a 120. Cost being as low as it is, a 160 or a 200 or even more should be considered. I just built a system for my father in law and I used a Maxtor 300GB drive. It was only Can$259 or about US$200. That gives him about 140 hours of recording. I think it is overkill but he travels a lot and doesn't want to miss shows.

Defintely get a bigger drive.

Also the 250MCE does not include a remote (MCE cards don't come with remotes). I would recommend either a regular PVR-250, although I just used a PVR-150 with nice remote in my latest install and it worked fine with the docs I got here and some additional detail I posted to help others.

I haven't done a Pundit build in a while, but if its your first time it may not be the way to go. The Pundit has evolved since it was introduced an I'm not sure of the current support for the onboard TV out and if the chipset has changed. Also, it has very little space in the case and there can be issues wedging the tuner in there. Hopefully someone with more pundit experience can offer their thoughts. A lot of people like the Antec Sonata cases and other, slightly larger but very nice cases.

The system I built only has 256MB of RAM. If you can swing it 384 or more is better, but you can get by with 256.


Also, do you have ethernet at the TV? If not you'll want a wireless card. I used a DLink DWL-520G with R5A12 and it worked great (but R5A15 has an issue which Cecil has pending to fix).

-Jeff

There were some isues with the Pundit vs. the Pundit -R. I think they've been worked out but check on the MythTV users mailing list at:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/

Fine.

Go to the ASUS web site and check to see if this brand is certified with the Pundit. If they don't list it check from the other direction by going to the memory makers website. This is what we'd have to do to advise you...

Probably fine.

Potentially hot and noisy. You want cool and quiet for a Set Top (or Side) Box, especially in a case as tight as the Pundit. Also more space is definitely better and I don't think the Pundit has room to pull the stunt I did with my SFF case and add a second HD where the floppy normally goes later.

No remote! You'd be better off with a PVR250 WinTV or the PVR150 with a remote if you can't find one on the 250s. However the150 still takes a bit more effort to set up.

Since you're getting a boxed processor it should come with a heatsink. You can probably get away with just 256Mb or RAM but it' doesn't save you enough $ to worry about and the extra may save you some hassles. As for TV out check here and at Gossamer Threads on the Pundit as previously recommended. If the Wiki was up I'd refer you to a page there about picking components which has a list of all the things you need and various decision factors related to them.

Other off the cuff thoughts... Cables (internal and external), a wireless keyboard with a built-in pointing device ($20-$60), a small UPS (~$60), ...

Here's an updated system. I should have said that I wanted to keep it under $500. People have been quite happy with the Pundit (but not the Pundit-R) as far as I can tell. Here's what I have once again:

ASUS Pundit
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6827135112
Intel Celeron 1.8GHz
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6819112172
Seagate Barracuda 200GB
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6822148032
Rosewill 256MB RAM
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6820223005
ASUS DVD-ROM Drive
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... 6827135112

And of course, the Hauppauge PVR-250, if I can find it anywhere for cheaper than $145.

If I get the OK from enough people here, I'm going to go ahead and buy this system and build it as soon as it shows up.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=PVR ... &scoring=p

_________________
* v2. NZXT Duet / ECS G33T-M2 / Intel C2D E5200 / 2GB RAM / 1TB HD / Nvidia 7200GS / PVR-250 / SiliconDust HDHomeRun
* v1. Shuttle SK41G - AMD 1.4GHz / 768MB RAM / 300GB HD / PVR-250 / Nvidia 5200
* Samsung LN52A650