Recently, some of my workmates have started working on HTPCs of their own, which has spurred me on to try again. For a change, I succeeded, mostly through the really good MythTV distribution KnoppMyth. It takes out all of the hard work in configuring linux to work properly as a set top box, especially for obscure hardware like the VIA EPIA-M mother boards
So, I now have a working set up to record Digital TV programs.... Yay!
Here are some pictures
The hardware list:
- An old DVD-Player case (Thanks Peter!)
- Via EPIA-Me6000 Motherboard
- 60W DC-DC power supply
- 256 Mb DDR400 RAM (Thanks Mike!)
- 300Gb Segate Barracuda 7200.8 Hard Drive
- ATI RF Remote
- Logitech Di-Novo bluetooth keyboard/mouse
- Netgear WG311 802.11g PCI Card
- Hauppage Nova-T DVB tuner card
- The Hard Drive runs too hot, and you can hear it click when it seeks. I think I will replace it with a notebook drive
- The Tuner card is too slow.
- I think the power supply is a little too weak, as sometimes it struggles to boot up. I think changing the hard drive will help a lot
- The EPIA-M boards, even with their hardware decoder, can not decode HD (1080i) signals properly. I am considering building another machine using a Pentium-M solution
- No DVD Drive, but that is just a matter of buying one and sticking it in
