Re: [SLUG] tv setup

[Michael Fox <fox.michael@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 1/20/06, Ken Foskey <foskey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Found a fairly comprehensive HTPC (TV) howto.
>
> http://www.linuxis.us/linux/media/howto/linux-htpc/

Plenty of sites around talking about it, just need to do the correct search.

>
> Worth reading as he talks a lot about power supplies, harddrive
> reliability and other stuff that I found interesting.  He seems to have
> destroyed more hardware than I have owned.
>
> Suggests 1Ghz to record and 2Ghz (3Ghz recommended) to playback.
>
> Standard TV is a lot less 1Ghz seems OK.
>
> Talks about Pentium Vs AMD and recommends Pentium, AMD tends to
> bottleneck a little.  Luckily my spare is a Pentium.
>
> 4Gb per show on the harddrive.  He also recommends that you leave you
> main harddrive non-LVM andset up the rest as LVM with as much harddisk
> as you can get.  For noise and heat reasons the larger the HD the
> better.

Depends on the channel, as some channels broadcast at different
bitrates and thus 30mins on one channel is not the same disk space on
another channel for 30 mins.

All I can say is that your disk fills rather quickly, especially when
you have 2 tuners doing a bit of recording. I was sitting at about
99gb used lastnight, however I watched about 2-3 programs and then
recorded another 3 overnight, so I reckon I am back over 99gb again.

>
> I am still reading, interesting stuff.
>
> Remotes the keyword seems to be lirc (Linux Infrared Control).
>

Some remotes dont work with lirc, like mine. Its just a USB HID
device. But you can certainly work around it. If anyone is handy with
a soldering iron, maybe they could have a go at making me a Serial IR
module so my remote will talk to my IR serial port (rather then the
USB IR thing I get with the cards).

Thanks