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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 have a pretty simple setup: Standard Def (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.
Computer
eMachines with AMD Sempron, 256M RAM, 80G disk, onboard nVidia 5200 video and 17" monitor with built-in speakers. I added another 256M RAM soon after, and want to add a bit more soon - I'd like to have 1G. A new (free!) 300G drive this summer gives me loads (for me) of recording space. |
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$360 |
Capture Card
Hauppage PVR-500, a dual-tuner card I got in kit form so I would get a remote control too. With two tuners I can watch/record 2 channels at a time. For live TV (which I rarely use anymore) this allows Picture-in-Picture. For recorded TV it means twice as much scheduling flexibility: no need to choose between what to record, if either program has other showings. |
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$180 |
Software
Fedora 7 initially, and now Fedora 9. I use the proprietary nVidia drivers from the Livna repository, and MythTV from the ATrpms repository. |
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Free! |
Schedule Services
Originally Zap2It, but when that was discontinued, SchedulesDirect. I get 2 weeks of downloadable listings, and it's essential for automating recordings - no need for the TV Guide! |
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US$20/year |
Content Provider
Shaw Cablesystems, Basic plus Tiers 2 and 3. |
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$25/month |
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