Building a Linux PVR, Part 2: Microsoft's MCE 2004

Hardware

We made a few changes to our Linux MythTV system since Part I:

AnandTech Linux Device		Price
CPU	Sempron 3100+	$125
MOBO	DFI K8M800-MLVF	$81
Audio	Integrated (VIA)	-
Ethernet	Integrated (Realtek 10/100)	-
VGA	Integrated	-
Tuner	2 Hauppauge WinTV GO	$100
HDD	Western Digital 80GB WD800JB	$60
RAM	512MB Corsair DDR400	$75
Optical	BenQ 16X OPAL-OC1	$24
Remote	Included with WinTV GO	-
Case	SuperFlower SF-101BK	$38
OS	SuSE Linux 9.1	-
Total		$503

We figured that we could chop the total price down by at least $100 using a WinTV GO card at $50 instead of the PVR-250 and also getting a hold of a much cheaper case from SuperFlower, the SF-101BK at $38. We used the same DFI board as in our original configuration from Part I. We went with the DFI K8M800-MLVF as an excellent low-cost solution for our MythTV platform; we get integrated graphics and sound, but we can still utilize the power of an onboard memory controller with socket 754. Since our MythTV setup is not 64-bit, going with a Sempron 3100+ over an Athlon 64 2800+ saves us a few bucks. With the money saved on this revision of the MythTV machine, we are actually able to use two WinTV GO cards - two tuners - allowing us to watch and record different signals at once. Both of these are software recording cards, but with the power of our Sempron 3100+, Myth is able to play video from one card, capture from the other, and transcode in the background without hiccupping! That's getting a bang for your buck.

Note: All of our benchmarks and comparisons performed on the MythTV system have been done with our original hardware setup, which includes the PVR-250, to balance the playing field.

Since MCE does not have the best compatibility when it comes to hardware, we had to accept some minor changes to hardware making it slightly difficult to cut down the price.

Whitebox Windows MCE Device Price		Price
CPU	Sempron 3100+	-
MOBO	Undisclosed	-
Audio	Integrated (VIA)	-
Ethernet	Integrated (Realtek 10/100)	-
VGA	GeForce 4 MX440 128MB	-
Tuner	Hauppauge WinTV PVR-250MCE	-
HDD	Western Digital 80GB WD800JB	-
RAM	512MB Micron DDR400	-
Optical	Sony DDU-1613	-
Remote	Undisclosed	-
Case	Undisclosed	-
OS	Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004	-
Total		$699

Our Media Center Edition PC came equipped with the same GeForce4 MX440, but with 64MB more RAM. MCE also has better support for the MCE version of Hauppauge's PVR-250, appropriately named PVR-250MCE. Other variations in hardware were the 512MB Micron DDR400 (from our MythTV PVR's Corsair DR400) as well as the Sony DDU-1613 CD/DVD combo reader (from the BenQ OPAL-OC1).

From the price, it is clear that our stripped down MythTV box comes up as the winner here, but it does at the cost of performance. Since we used the software-based WinTV GO card, MythTV relied heavily on the Sempron 3100+ for encoding/decoding functions. The Sempron was still powerful enough to handle simple recording and playback of audio/video content.