I read several threads about the Pundit and the PVR350.

However, I consider to buy the following hardware:

- ASUS Pundit AB-P 2600
Since I'm a Linux noob: Is everything working from scratch with knoppmyth? Or do you suggest an other distro?

- Celeron D 330 (2667) 478, Intel, 256KB Cache, 533MHz FSB, Boxed
Is this CPU performant enough? I read several bad things about only 256KB cache... And most important: Is it quiet?

Any thoughts on this:
- DVD-Rom Asus E616, 16xDVD, 48xCD, ATAPI, Retail
- Hauppauge PVR350
- Kingston Memory DDR-Dimm 512 MB, PC-2700, CL2.5,
- HDD Samsung SpinPoint P120, 200GB, 7200RPM, 8.9ms, 8MB Cache, ATA133, 3.5"

Clock rate would have been nice... Having to go reseaerch Intel processor model numbers is irksome. OK, so 2.66Ghz (Duh-oh! Thats what that other dimensionless number was supposed to be!), which should be plenty fast for SDTV. The boxed fans tend to be very noisy however. Think about something like an OEM chip and maybe an Artic Cooling TC fan (they're under $20).

Don't know how much the Asus DVD drive is, but for ~$50 you can get the highly reviewed NEC double layer burner...

Everything else looks OK, although jumping straight to PVR-350 output is fairly bold.

BTW - I'm glad to see you've been paying attention and are avoiding SATA for you boot drive.

ok, thanks for your suggestions!



what card would you suggest? is the PVR-250 better?

What he is saying is that it would be better to get the output going with a video card first and then get the pvr350 output functioning later (since it is a bit non trivial). Does that motherboard have onboard video? Otherwise, you will want a video card.

ty Greg.

Yes, it's a ASUS P4S8L mainboard which has a TV out.

Is there a reason to get a 350 over the 250 if you have onboard TV-out? the 350 is a 250 with tv-out. No need for 2 tv-out options.

350 is more expensive
350 is (rumored to be) difficult to get tv-out working

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

Pros:
The 350 has a hardware mpeg-2 decoder chip (and decodes SDTV with little CPU overhead).
The 350 SDTV-out is supposed to be the best looking vs. video card TV-outs.

-brendan

ok, i just saw a used 350 for 20$ (2yrs old) and thought I'd take it.

hey if you are getting a working 350 for $20 jump on it.

a 350 will work just like a 250 right out of the box, and no harm not using the tvout portion if you didn't pay a premium for it anyways.

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

Xsecrets