Glenhawk
December 3rd, 2007, 09:01 PM
Hello all,
My old PC was a P4 2.66GHz with 2GB of DDR (not DDRII) and a 256MB Nvidia AGP card. Because my new PC is 64-bit architecture with DDRII and PCIE all my old bits were set aside to be used for a MythTV box.
My AGP card did not have composite out (for our crap TV) so I had to go back to my old 64MB Nvidia. The system worked ok, I could watch HD without lag (after a few seconds) but I thought I was at the limit of it's capabilities. The picture was a little blurry and I would occasionally get a skip or unsynchronised audio and video so I thought that I would try running the backend on my new PC to free-up my frontend PC.
(I later found out that the blurry picture could be fixed by de-interlacing and perhaps the split system was unnecessary)
I became committed to the split system when I found a tiny PC box that is ideal for our TV cabinet... but it could not contain a HDD because it was designed for MiniAXT not MicroAXT (anyone else ever wondered why they used mini for a board smaller than micro?).
So, the system:
P4 2.66GHz
2GB RAM
64MB Nvidia
8GB CF card for OS
From what I have seen so far works great as a mythbuntu front end; it is quiet, compact and serves all the video I throw at it as long as I don't install any more overheads (I tried installing GNOME desktop and I got processor lag).
Now my questions are about the VGA card. I am using a 64MB VGA card and all seems to work ok. Would that be because the rest of my system is overspec? What impact does a VGA card have on a frontend?
I was planning to put my 256MB card in when we get a new TV (with VGA or DVI) but now it won't fit in the box because it is a full height card. When the new TV comes I will immediately use either the VGA on the 64MB card or the onboard Intel VGA. What sort of improvements would I be likely to see if I find a half height 256MB card? At this stage the easiest half height card to get my hands on is an ATI card, should I do that?
I am happy to say if it ain't broke don't fix it but while it looks ok on the small CRT, maybe it won't look good on the big LCD? Maybe it won't be able to handle big enough resolution?
I see recommendations for hardware for client/server installs of MythTV but what about just for the client?
My old PC was a P4 2.66GHz with 2GB of DDR (not DDRII) and a 256MB Nvidia AGP card. Because my new PC is 64-bit architecture with DDRII and PCIE all my old bits were set aside to be used for a MythTV box.
My AGP card did not have composite out (for our crap TV) so I had to go back to my old 64MB Nvidia. The system worked ok, I could watch HD without lag (after a few seconds) but I thought I was at the limit of it's capabilities. The picture was a little blurry and I would occasionally get a skip or unsynchronised audio and video so I thought that I would try running the backend on my new PC to free-up my frontend PC.
(I later found out that the blurry picture could be fixed by de-interlacing and perhaps the split system was unnecessary)
I became committed to the split system when I found a tiny PC box that is ideal for our TV cabinet... but it could not contain a HDD because it was designed for MiniAXT not MicroAXT (anyone else ever wondered why they used mini for a board smaller than micro?).
So, the system:
P4 2.66GHz
2GB RAM
64MB Nvidia
8GB CF card for OS
From what I have seen so far works great as a mythbuntu front end; it is quiet, compact and serves all the video I throw at it as long as I don't install any more overheads (I tried installing GNOME desktop and I got processor lag).
Now my questions are about the VGA card. I am using a 64MB VGA card and all seems to work ok. Would that be because the rest of my system is overspec? What impact does a VGA card have on a frontend?
I was planning to put my 256MB card in when we get a new TV (with VGA or DVI) but now it won't fit in the box because it is a full height card. When the new TV comes I will immediately use either the VGA on the 64MB card or the onboard Intel VGA. What sort of improvements would I be likely to see if I find a half height 256MB card? At this stage the easiest half height card to get my hands on is an ATI card, should I do that?
I am happy to say if it ain't broke don't fix it but while it looks ok on the small CRT, maybe it won't look good on the big LCD? Maybe it won't be able to handle big enough resolution?
I see recommendations for hardware for client/server installs of MythTV but what about just for the client?