Well as the title states im a complete newbie to linux (other then a few succesful instals of Redhat and SuSe in recent years... but other then that no real knowledge of linux)

After recently my gf's VCR having eaten some of her vcr tapes and her getting mad at video taping over a show of Prisonbreak when trying to tape some Desperate Houswives. i figured there had to be something i could come up with to solve it.

So i remembered about myth tv and thru some digging ran across Knoppmyth (cuz it seems easier...)

now i need some hardware clues as i know it can run on fairly low specs but i wanna make sure i got everything i need since im kinda just pulling out spare parts from the closet (since she would about strangle me if i went and spent "new PC" money on something she thinks is trivial...)

I have on hand

a 500watt psu

an amd athlonXP 1900+

wintv card (im not sure what model as i bought it a long time ago and lost teh box but it states (NTSC 44371 REVC233) on the tuner portion. (has fm in, tv in, line out, line in, a dtv/s-vid port and an ir port)

i also have 2x 40gb IDE drives

(and possibly if i could locate it a soundblaster audigy card)


now i recognize i need still a motherboard. (and to avoid VIA chipset ones?) and quite possibly may need to buy one hardrive that is larger then the two i have... (and i know i need to buy a case but that shouldnt prove too hard i beleive)

Do i require any further equipment? (would integrated graphics be good enough?) and the primary tv this would be connected to only accepts RF and rca ( vid and R/L audio). So would it be cheaper/easier to just get a video card instead of an IGP solution

i know i also require some ram but thats trivial as well...

Again the main purpose for this will be an easy to use PVR for my gf. With the added functionality of playing DVD movies with ease (autodetecting when a dvd is put in and pullin up the menu?) and the ability to burn any programs recorded onto dvd (preferably ony dvd-rw or dvd+rw media)

from reading reviews and posts here i havent been able to tell if Knoppmyth is what im looking for but it seems the closest (and since its for my gf i would prefer something tha just flat out works, since she is less tech inclined then i am)

Is Knoppmyth also the kind where you hit the power button and it boots right into it? or do you have to go thru some other screens first?

Also as far as controls, will it require a keyboard/mouse combo? or is there a way to use a remote for the setup?

i know i threw alot of scatter in there but any help/hints would be appreciated.

Some days I'm so glad I wrote this up.
http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=PickingComponents

LOL guess i shoulda clicked more links thanks that answers most of my questions!

Ok next question i couldnt find, can i purchase a remote that will work or do i have to get one specific to my tv tuner card???

Tsk, tsk, tsk. The wiki has lots of information on remotes. Not to mentions Cecil's sticky thread about remotes:
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6232

In a nutshell: The non-MCE Hauppauge PVR cards (150, 250, 350) come with one. If you don't like the actual remote itself there are a number of 3rd party programmable/learning remotes that will work with the receiver. The ATI Remote Wonder (remote & receiver) will also work. There has also been some talk about the Irman and USB based remotes. If you have an IR keyboard (like this one http://www.directron.com/ack570.html for example) you can even train many 3rd party remotes to send the same "keycodes".

Frankly I tend to use my IR keyboard other than when I'm moving around or sitting somewhere unusual.

Yea i had read that first link earlier today but couldnt really amke heads or tails of it (this would be my first attempt at grasping most of the language you all are using hehe)

But thank you for your responses they are defeintly giving me a direction in which or what to be looking for and where. All the links are a bit overwhelming when you dont know where to go

Thanks again for your time! (and yes i did find quite a bit of good how to info on the wowwiki that i KNOW i woulda been asking about later lol