MythTV is a free software package to provide PVR functionality and much more - in essence it provide a full home media server. My Myth box is running Fedora 25 and is built around the following hardware:
- Claritas 260M AV-PC enclosure from Stands Unique
- 450W Silverstone SST-ST45SF-G PSU
- ASRock B75 Pro3-M uATX motherboard
- Intel Core i5-3470S CPU
- Scythe Shuriken Rev.B CPU Cooler
- Corsair XMS3 8Gb DDR3 memory kit
- Two Crucial M4-CT064M4SSD2 64Gb SSD drives
- Two PCTV nanoStick T2 USB HD tuners
- Two Twinhan Visionplus DVB-T PCI tuner cards
- Home Electronics Ira 3 OEM IR receiver
The digital terrestrial tuners (two SD only and two HD capable) receive the Freeview digital television service and display is via a 43” Sony LCD television. Audio output is via a Sony BDV-E370 home cinema system.
The above configuration is the second generation version of this machine - the original build, in use from 2004 to 2012, used the following hardware:
- GIGABYTE GA-7VM400AM uATX motherboard
- AMD Sempron 2500+
- Thermalright SLK-700 heat sink
- 512Mb PC3200 DDR DIMM from Crucial Technology
- 1024Mb PC3200 DDR DIMM
- Western Digital WD5000AACS SATA hard drive
- NEC ND-3500A Dual Layer DVD Writer
- Two Twinhan Visionplus DVB-T PCI tuner cards
- Radeon 9200 Pro AGP card
- Home Electronics Ira 3 OEM IR receiver
In a previous incarnation the box was connected to a Hitachi widescreen CRT television using the VGA output from a Leadtek Winfast A180BT GeForce MX4000 AGP card via a home brew VGA-SCART convertor with the following mode definitions:
ModeLine "704x576pali" 13.6 704 728 792 872 576 581 586 625 -hsync -vsync interlace
ModeLine "720x576pali" 13.9 720 744 808 888 576 581 586 625 -hsync -vsync interlace
The reason for having two mode definitions is that most UK DVB broadcasts are 720x576 but some channels use 704x576 instead and having two modes allows Myth to be configured so that images never have to be scaled.
Some photos of the MythTV box and VGA-SCART convertor are available.