Understand the situation

Dedicated system

Understand that this MythTV computer is going to be an appliance, like a telephone, or a VCR. You should not think of it as a "dual boot" system -- to reach its maximum potential, the system will be "on" all the time, running the MythTV software all the time. So no Microsoft Windows on the MythTV box. Likewise, this is not the best way to learn about using Linux for general purpose computing. It's job will be to record and play-back TV programs, not write letters to relatives or do your taxes.

System erasure

You should also understand that there should not be any data or programs that you consider valuable on any of the disks in the system. Not only will we not be responsible for erasing any of the data on your system, we do not want to have to "dance around" any data that you would like to retain. When you leave with your new MythTV system, all of the disks in your system will probably have been erased and re-formatted, ready to hold MythTV recordings.

No warranty

Although we have done a lot of testing, investigation, trials, etc. we can not guarantee any type of success with an individual system. You may bring a system to the "InstallFest" and walk away with a set of cold iron. If you follow our instructions we feel confident that this will not happen, but there are no guarantees. After all, these are computers.

Likewise, while we will certainly try to help out, we cannot promise to be there to provide technical support after the fact. If it works fine for six months and then abruptly stops working, we might not be able to help. If you need professional support, buy a mass-market DVR and pay the monthly support fee.

THIS PROJECT IS UNDERTAKEN STRICTLY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Hardware Requirements

General

We realize that the system recommended may not be the system that you have laying around the house, but we do recommend that the system you put together fit your plans for how you are going to use it. We are sure that most of you will figure out ways to use any extra memory or CPU that your unit has left over. Probably you will soon need more disk space. Fortunately there are things like "network storage" and external USB drives.

Due to the "always on" requirement, you may want to consider systems that are lower in electrical usage or audible noise output.

In particular think about the video card that you will be using to display your TV. We recommend GeForce 6000-series video cards. They come in both AGP and PCIe, can be found in fanless varieties (for quiet running), and are fairly inexpensive.

For a list of hardware suppliers both Internet based and local, please see the GNHLUG MythTV page.

Tuner/capture cards

Likewise the tuner cards and mechanisms we are recommending are known to work with MythTV, and we have actually installed them and tested them before. Others may work, and we may introduce these over time, but in order to increase the likelihood that everyone goes home with a working unit, we have to limit the configurations.

We recommend either the pcHDTV HD-5500 card, or one of the Hauppauge "WinTV" PVR series, particularly the 250 or 500 models. There seems to be some confusion in the packaging of the 150 model, leading to an incompatible model 1600 in a box labeled "150", so we recommend staying away from a Hauppauge 150 unless you are very certain it is that model.

Remember that MythTV can handle several tuner cards, but each one takes a certain amount of CPU power to have it working at the same time. Some cards have hardware that takes the load off the main CPU, but some do not. And High Definition TV usually takes more CPU to transcode, commercial-cut and play back, as well as more disk space to store the video.

If you have multiple tuner cards, you will have to have a splitter to allow you to hook your one feed (cable line or antenna) to the various cards.

If you want to watch "live TV" though the MythTV box, the system will use a tuner card to do that. So if you want to record two other shows at the same time you are watching a third program, you will need three tuner cards.

Remote controls

Maybe you are not a couch potato, but even if you are not, you can control all of the functions of MythTV with one of these remotes. Again, others work but these are the ones that are "tried and true".

Already assembled

Please do not show up with fifty boards in a cardboard box and ask for a screw driver. We would like to step everyone through the software installation and get people home on time, so we ask that you have all the hardware installation done ahead of time. If you do not know how to take a PC box apart and stick some boards into it, please find a friend of your children who can do this for you, or take your PC to your friendly neighborhood PC store and pay them to do it for you. Either way, it would be good to run on your system afterwards and see if your currently installed operating system still works, and if it sees the boards. If you do not have a currently installed operating system, don't worry, you will have one soon.

And if you get your system to the "InstallFest" and a board is not seated right, we will get out a screwdriver to help you. It is just that we can not do this for everyone, and we will frown on people showing up with the boards still in the cardboard box and not installed in the computer.

We will have monitors, USB keyboards and USB mice at the "InstallFest", so you do not have to bring those. We will also have the ability to hook OTA and a cable provider (although not necessarily yours) to your system to test it out. But we will be able to help you set it up for your home situation before you leave.

Other Requirements

Register for the event

No one likes filling out forms, but we would like to know a little bit about you for our files...oh, sorry, shades of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" came back to me.

What we really need is information to make sure that we can help you set up your MythTV box for your cable provider and your area. We also want to make sure that your configuration will work before you stuff it in the back of your car, drive a long distance and carry it up a flight of stairs. We will not be using this information for anything else, will not be selling it to any vendors nor even adding you to our wonderful, witty, interesting GNHLUG mailing list. We will let you do that for yourself.

We also are limited in space, and we want to know how many are coming and how much space we need. If you sign up, then do not come, PLEASE call us to tell us so someone else can take your place.

Register with Zap2It

This information needs to be filled in so you can receive FREE program information about the programs that you would like to record. It is simple and takes just a few minutes, but you may want to read the MythTV pages first.

Pack a lunch

While there is a cafeteria at the New Hampshire Technical Institute, this is the weekend and its hours are limited. You can assume that you will be at the school over the lunch hour, and sooner or later you will get hungry. There is a soda machine available, but you may also want to bring a few drinks too.

Get there on time

Again, we would like to step everyone through at the same time. This allows people to help each other, and make sure that we finish in a reasonable time. We have families too, and they like to eat supper at a particular time. We expect the InstallFest to be over at 5 PM. With luck, many will leave sooner.