Building a Mythbox

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haroldthesage

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I'm Planning on building a mythbox (MythTV) or something similar to it and I was wondering 1. what could everyone recommend me to buy, and 2. how would I go about setting it up so I could use it with a Wiimote (point and click style), and what I would need for that. The computer I will be using has an AMD core, not sure which type as I don't quite own it, and I believe the motherboard has 1 agp slot, and 5 pci slots, and it's newer so it has stuff like onboard usb 2.0 ports, and onboard graphics however I would prefer not to use onboard
 
ok well if I was building a mythtv box I would use mini-itx so that the computer was only a 6"x6" box next to my tv.....

You will need
Cpu: 1.6ghz+
mobo: (the one your getting sounds old with agp at least by 4 years) I would use itx form perhaps micro-atx
Ram: 512mb-1gb
hdd: 500gb+ seagate barracuda 7200.10 or .11's depending on whn your making this box
psu: 300W
gfx card: depends what your connecting it to and how..... if via hdmi then there are a couple of specialist cards which output true hdmi or via a dvi->hdmi cable which you will want a low-end 7 series card
optical drive: any make
tv tuner card: most people swear by the haupage brand
Casing: whatever fits the mobo and you like the look of
 
I woul;d not use mini-itx as I would want more than 1 or 2 hds. I would want to be buying 500gb HDs every couple weeks till my space totalled outrageous amounts. :D

Bluetooth (what wiimote uses) is not line of sight...your media center pc could be anywhere. I would put it under my chair. MythTV runs on really low specs, so I'd save money there and just buy HDs. Plus you'll need the bluetooth card, not sure how much those cost.

They make "Media" cases for PCs that look alot like Tivos...but I wouldn't want that...like I said...I'd use a full tower and lay it on its side...

Could fit a lot of HDs into that thing.
 
You'll probably want an Nvidia graphics card since you'll be running Linux and ATI is often a hassle

I know little about using the Wiimote with a computer, other than that it uses Bluetooth. Try Google.
wiimote linux - Google Search


Brinson - You might want to edit the last line of your post before you get another infraction :D
 
haha, thanks...I never remember...this is like one of a dozen forums I browse...the only one that gives infractions...

Same word I got my last infraction for, even, haha
 
"Brinson"

hdds= noise

best bet for silence is get a mini-itx case and get one with slot load drive bay (slimline 5.25") and an internal 5.25" bay. In the internal 5.25" bay add a hdd cage and place a operation harddisk e.g. a 40gb sata drive to house any temprorary files and operating system place this harddisk into the hdd cage then use a wireless or even bluetooth linkj to connect to a file storage computer which is alieanated from the main machine the storage computer can be very low spec e.g.

cpu: intel pentium (600mhz)\
ram: 512mb
hdd: all hdd space you would need say 1.5tb in raid0 or raid 5 (bear in mind raid 5 adds data protection and speed increase combining all disk space but you need a minimum of 3 disks and the largest hdd is subtracted from the combined hdd space so 3x750gb = 1.5tb of usable space whilst 6x750gb = 3.75tb of usable space
psu: 200W
OS: your preferred linux as its free.......
network card: depending how you create the file share connection could be bluetooth, wifi, lan, infrared lol whichever (infrared would not be pratical mind)

you can make network folders default so in essence you never have to save anything on the mythbox except the boot os
 
most tv tuners have software decoders that depend on cpu strength to record video. i would get a stronger cpu, unless you want to shell out extra for a tv tuner with hardware decoder... which go for a couple hundred bucks.

amd x2 3600 or if you go mini itx you can get a core duo laptop processor.
 
A PC wouldn't be loud enough to be heard over decent speakers anyway...

*shrug* I don't mind a little noise, myself. I'd prefer to have the option of adding HDs later without removing my current ones with all my shows.
 
mini-itx does all the intel c2duo's not just the mobile cores although the mobile cores are designed for lower power usages but as there isn't going to be the need for a high power graphics card you can use the spare wattage to get a desktop C2D like the e4300
 
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