[Wolves] MythTV

[MatthewRevell.3247378 at bloglines.com]

Posted this to my blog:

In his LinuxWorld post, Jono makes mention of his
new project: building a MythTV box. Now, I've been toying with a similar idea
for a while. Initially, I'd planned to buy an Xbox and turn it into a media
centre. Then I realised I could spend a bit more - quite a lot more, actually
- and build a hard-disk video recorder, music player, tv web browser and DVD
recorder all in one.

I have some spare hardware lying around, but it's
all very beige and large. I want something black/silver and sleek, that won't
look out of place next to the video recorder and DVD cable box.

So, I'm
planning to buy:

    * Morex Venus Case - good trade-off between price,
looks and practiciality
    * VIA EPIA M1000 Nehemiah motherboard - is this
overkill?
    * Hauppage WinTV PVR350 - built-in MPEG2 chip, but then so
has the Nehemiah motherboard, so I'm not sure if I need it
    * Some form
of DVD writer
    * 120 GB hard drive
    * Red Remote Serial - plugs into
serial port and beams infrared commands to your cable box, to switch channels.


So, is this everything I need? Is this right system to go for? I think
it is. I want to be able to do much of what Tivo or Sky+ would do for me,
plus a lot more. I imagine this is possible. I have concerns, tho'.

Will
MythTV change cable channels for me?
Will it be quiet enough to sit in the
living room?
Will MythTV be an absolute nightmare to get working?

Anyone
got any experience of any of this?