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Building a PVR/media center on a budget

Z

ZeGermans

Banned
Ok, I got a slimline case with microATX compatibility (proprietary 220W Antec PSU). I want to turn it into a media center of sorts. Here's what I plan to do:

Get a used socket A mobo/athlon in the 1.4GHz range
half-height, linux compatible tv tuner w/ hardware mpeg2 encoder <--- that'll be tough.
largest IDE hard drive I can find, probably 200 gig
DVD burner of some sort, probably the $40 benq
256 (maybe 512?) ddr266
MystTV OS (linux)

I'm not sure if the processor will be an issue with the hardware encoder on the tv tuner. Other than that, think this'll work?
 
Not sure about actually buying a socket A setup when there are lots of cheap Skt 754 sempron and A64 setups you can get in microATX. I am going to use a socket A in my HTPC but thats because I have two Barton 3200+ cpu's sitting around.
 
Happauge 150 or the older 250 are great cards. I have had the 250 for a few years and it works great. It's also Linux friendly. I agree with Spike on the socket A platform. Unless you already have an "A" on the shelf somewhere I would opt for a Skt 754. I used an XP1800 and a gig of 2700 RAM that I had in the closet and it works fine for capture and DVD burning, but if I had to drop one more dime in my media box I would go with a 754 Sempron and mATX board for around $125.

Regarding the HD... I have Maxtor \ Seagate \ Samsung and WD drives, and without a doubt the Samsung is the quietest of them all.


 
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