Hybrid minimum requirments

[chipppy]

OK I have done a heap of reading and thanks to those that pointed me in the right directions.  I found a good source to assist with the fact that I am in Australia and trying this.
Im onboard and what to dip my toe in.
My first att emp will be as simple a system as I can do, so I thought it best to build a Hybrid for my kids to use.  If my 5 year old can use it then at least he can teach me and mom how to use it.

What I want to build is a hybrid that can be used by the kids to watch there very large collection of DVD's, and free to air Digital TV (standard definiation as they only have a 69cm CRT TV that is 10 years old)
Thats it to start with (baby steps)

My question is what is the minimum setup that I can get away with?  EG processor speed, ram, etc
Harddrive is no problem as I already have 2 X 500GB Hardrives with all thier movies stored on my XP machine that I can move into the new case (after installing LinuxMCE).  I will only use hardware that is listed in the Wiki, as this will mean less things to go wrong.

Cheers Chipppy
Any suggestion on how to keep the cost down (and therefore the handbrake happy)

[indulis]

Check the Wiki for "newbie packs" for ideas.

Pretty much any dual core processor is fine, above 2 GHz.  I chose an AMD 4850BE which is a dual core 2.5 GHz, low power 45W.  Around $100.

2GB of memory is heaps.  Around $50.

Choose a motherboard that has an inbuilt Nvidia graphics chip.  I tried one with a decent built in ATI one, and LinuxMCE did not play nicely with it at all (some others have reported more success, but I could never get the new UI to work properly with it).

Motherboard with both Analogue and digital (optical) output, Realtek ALC chips have fairly decent support.

Motherboard should be around $100-$150. 

2 Ethernet ports are pretty much required.  One probably on motherboard, add another if required ($30 or less).

Digital tuner for DVB is your hardest choice, because many manufacturers bring out a tuner that works with Linux, then change the chipset to one which doesn't work well.  And keep calling it the same model. I'd avoid the dual tuner models, as both of mine have been problematic.  Avoid the Dvico Fusion 4 HDTV, it is intermittent with LMCE 7.10 on some motherboards (mine!).  Latest list is at http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB-T_Devices.  My Pinnacle dual tuner USB stick (2001e) is a pain 'cos the 2nd tuner never worked well, and it has a stupid micro coax connector.

My problems may disappear once I manage to get the Linux kernel updated.

Get an HDTV tuner, you can remove the HD channels from the lineup you see so you don't waste space recording HD while you don't have an HDTV, or you can just use Mythtv to force a recording on SD channels.  Remember that some programs are only appearing on HD channels now!

Due to channels overrunning their schedules, buy AT LEAST 2 tuners.  I found 3 was the right number.  You should be able to pick them up for $50 each for USB tuners.

You may need a masthead amplifier and a splitter for your 4 TV antenna leads (3 to computer, one to TV).  It is a good idea to have a 75 Ohm terminator on any additional unused antenna points- check http://www.laceys.tv catalogue for some tips and ideas (near the back).

[chipppy]

Thanks for the great reply.

One question though.  Why so much processor power.  I can run movies through my pressent 1.8GHz chip.  Why step it up to dual 2.5GHz chipsets?

Just wondering

Cheers
Chipppy