Build a MythTV Box Series

OReilly Digital Media has a series on building a MythTV box. Part 1 is out that covers the hardware. Here’s a quick review of the hardware that was chosen:

• The HD-3000 from pcHDTV is one of only two capture cards for Linux, and the direct descendant of what was once the only card available. I purchased multiple cards so that I could build a multiple-tuner system.
• I eventually decided on a Silverstone LC03V, which has a small vacuum fluorescent display.
• It was clear that for cost reasons I was buying an Athlon64. When the dust settled, I chose a 2 GHz Winchester core (AMD Athlon64 3200+) because it was slightly cheaper than the 2 GHz Venice core.
• Most Socket 939 motherboards have two SATA ports, but I wanted as many as I could get for future expansion. That, along with a desire for external FireWire connectivity, led me to the MSI K8N-Neo2 Platinum board.

It is relatively cheap to build a Linux MythTV box – you could use less powerful hardware than the list above. Getting the software installed and configured is always the fun part I can’t wait for the next part in the series …