I'm new to MythTV, but not to Linux -- so I thought I'd jump straight in with some questions.

I've got a Scientific Atlanta (can't remember what model) cable box, and want to setup a P3-500MHz with 128MB of RAM to be my PVR. All I want to do is be able to record cable onto the PVR, and then watch it later. I'm not even sure if I want to be able to playback & record at the same time.

So, my question is: can I do this with a SA decoder? I haven't got a tuner card yet, I was just going to go with a basic Hauppage model (but I want a remote) so that it will do MPEG encoding/decoding in hardware. That's why I'm hoping I can get away with a slow PC...

So I can do all this, right?

That is a very slow PC, and right at the edges of what you can use with full hardware acceleration. Even with that you're going to want more RAM, 256Mb is the minimum recommended, and more (up to 512Mb) is better. A box that old will probably only go up to 384Mb.

Back in the early days when I did the research for my first system in one of the old PVR hardware databases, there was an obvious correlation between peoples satisfaction with their results and a CPU of at least 1Ghz with 512Mb of RAM. Above that their ratings of the system didn't go up very much, but below it they dropped like a stone, with lots of outright failures.

Okay, thanks -- that's good to know. I was planning on putting more RAM in the machine; I think it will actually take somewhere between 768MB and 1GB.

What Hauppage card would best suit me if I want a single tuner, hardware encoding (or is it decoding?) and a remote? I should add that I'll need video out, too.

Your point re. CPU speed and RAM is well taken; I just want to see if I "like" the idea of a PVR. If I do, then I'll just buy a faster CPU + board and use that.

If you have linux experance and a slow CPU you want the hauppauge pvr-350. It has hardware encoding and decoding with tv-out built in, so very little cpu power and no video card is required. It can be confusing to set up the Xserver for the tv-out though. But you already said you know linux.

Okay, thanks. The machine takes up to a maximum of 768MB of RAM, so I'll probably add that in before I start. It's been a while since I configured X to do anything funky, but I've been using Linux since the kernel versions started with 1.

Where's the cheapest place to find a Hauppage card? In the U.S. preferably...

Probably mail order, and it'll change from week to week. Check one of the price comaprison sites and pick a vendor you're comfortable with, don't forget to factor S&H into the equation.

For a simple answer MWave is probably your best bet on the price and reliability front. They've got a decent rep and their price for the PVR-350 is the $135 range with S&H which is pretty good.

You can always try ebay. Not the preferred solution but if you get lucky you can catch a deal.