My MythTV set up using Mythbuntu 11.10

This page details the myth tv set up I have and how it was implemented. My background is predominantly Windows OS based but I have dabbled with Linux over the years so I do have some experience but am by no means an expert. I hope the information in these pages is useful.

Backups

My first tip for anyone looking to build a mythbox is to take backups of the set up before making any changes. I have been caught out far too many times by the promise of some new shiny feature in a new release or some other config changes that results in hours of pain trying to undo the mess and getting the system working again. I take back ups of my boot (/boot), root (/) and home (/home) partitions to compressed files using fsarchiver. This is quite easy to do using System Rescue CD I will explain the details later on... fsarchiver backups.

Mythbox specs

  • Main board: MSI MS-7253 (K9VGM), mini ATX socket AM2
  • CPU: AMD Athlon 4000X2 (dual core) with a reasonably fancy Antec quiet cooler on top
  • RAM: 2GB DDR2
  • Video: NVidia 8600GT with Zalaman VF700 cooler hack sawed to fit
  • DVB-S2: TurboSight TBS-6981 dual DVB-S2 tuner card (for "Freesat" channels)
  • DVB-T: Hauppauge Nova-T PCI (later 90002 type) for Freeview channels
  • Audio: On board optical SPDIF out via DIY optical connector
  • PSU: generic 300W, 20pin ATX (old!)
  • HDD: WD 250GB and 1TB SATA drives
  • DVD-RW: Some Lite-on DVD-RW drive (not used)
  • Case: Lian Li all aluminium case
  • Remote: Windows USB Phillips MCE Remote
  • Keyboard/Mouse: MS wireless desktop

So, not exactly new hardware by any means (5-6 years old) but perfectly adequate for running MythTV at full 1080p. Most of the hardware is second hand; the mainboard, processor and RAM I picked up at the local tip for £15! The graphics card came from some other previous Mythbox build that suffered a main board failure, as did the Nova-T. The Lian Li case came from a car boot sale a few years ago and cost me £4. The most expensive thing in the case is the DVB-S2 card which was around £100 from Dabs/Amazon (can't remember which). I did have a Creative 5.1 PCI card and Drive installed for audio but I wanted to get rid of this to free up a PCI slot to be able to run the Nova-T to get a few extra channels from Freeview that are missing from the Freesat line up. This meant bodging together an optical output to connect to the main board's SPDIF connector. SPDIF connector bodge. I feed the SPDIF optical in to an AV amp that does all the work of decoding and D/A conversion so relying on the main booard's sound offering doesn't reduce sound quality (at least as far as I'm aware!).

I think this goes to prove that you don't need the latest and greatest hardware to build a good Mythbox. In fact, it probably makes more sense to go for older stuff anyway as it will have better support and been well proven.

AV specs

Again, not brand new kit by any means. The amp was an ebay find a good few years ago that I paid £85 for with a few other separates that I sold on to pay for the amp. The TV I bought new a few years ago and is capable of displaying full 1080p.

Partition set up

Software set up: mythtv, networking, dvb drivers and tuner.conf, udev rules for MCE remote

Network set up