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Cheap! That was my design target. For my first foray into digital TV I wasn't going to invest heavily. Plus, I started with a pretty simple setup: analog Standard Definition (SD) over cable, on a screen that's "big enough" for me. You can do waaaay more with MythTV than I do, and it's built for it! Here's what I use, and what I remember paying for it.
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Computer
Intel Core2 Duo E4500 2.2G with 4G RAM. nVidia GeForce GT-520 to let me use VDPAU for playback, letting my CPU do other things like commercial flagging. 2 Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB drives for lots of storage and distributed disk load. |
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ex work desktop |
Old Computer on standby for now
eMachines from an EOL clearinghouse with AMD Sempron 3100+, 256M RAM, 80G disk, onboard nVidia 6100 video and 17" IBM CRT monitor with built-in speakers. I added another 256M RAM soon after, and 300G drive. |
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$360 |
Video Capture
Hauppauge PVR-500, a dual-tuner card I got in "MCE kit" form so I would get a remote control and other accessories. |
TV Tuners
Motorola DCT-700 digital SD STB that I've kept boxed since the beginning of the analog-digital switch in July 2013 and finally pulled out and hooked up when analog went away completely in December 2015. It uses one of the two PVR-500 tuners over composite, with the kit's IR blaster for channel-changing.
Arris DCX-3200M P3 (aka Motorola DCX-3200M) digital SD/HD STB. I'm currently using Firewire for channel-changing and recording. While the former is very robust, the latter is tantalizingly not quite satisfying - I can't get a couple channels I really want, and some others are unstable. Apparently I'm lucky to have Firewire capture at all, but I'm likely going to have to use a Hauppauge HD-PVR to capture component video from the box, which is supposed to be more reliable. |
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free from
my cable
provider |
Display 1
Samsung SyncMaster F2380M (23"), the multimedia variant of the F2380, with a white bezel, HDMI input (though I use DVI), built-in speakers, and headphone jack. Rather unusual, from my attempts to provide a link. This page and this page are one of very few with anything in English. That could explain why I got a deal on it as a floor display model. |
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$280 I think |
Display 2
BenQ GW2265 (21.5") for my dining area, connected with a 25-foot HDMI cable. |
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$110 |
Software
Operating System: Fedora 7 initially, then Fedora 9. Now Fedora 22
Desktop: The Fluxbox Window Manager, a very bare-bones system with only a custom root-window menu.
MythTV: Initially 0.20 then 0.21. Now 0.27.6 from the RPM Fusion repository. |
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Free! |
Audio
Analog from my onboard soundcard split 1 leg to Display 1 and 1 leg to a SONY STR-DE197 stereo receiver. HDMI from my video card to Display 2, with a pair of powered computer speakers off the headphone jack for better sound. |
Schedule Services
Schedules Direct gives me 2 weeks of downloadable listings, and it's essential for automating recordings - no need for the TV Guide! From what I've seen of EPG in commercial PVRs, immensely preferable and worth every penny. |
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US$25/year |
Content Provider
Shaw Cablesystems, Tiers 1, 2, and 3, all digital now. I get about 110 channels, about 30 in HD. |
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$25/month |
Extras
A network connection to my Gigabit LAN. A UPS to provide smooth power and ride out power drops. |
In a decade I have gone from a piece of coax out of the wall into the back of a computer to 2 digital boxes with all their wires and chances for failure. I suppose that's progress.
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