Hi guys I'm looking to dive into the world of mythTV but had a few questions before I get started. I have an older Dell server box (Dual P3 1.2ghz, 4GB RAM, 1TB SCSI RAID) that I was hoping I could use as a backend server. My plan is to rip all my dvd's and music albums, as well as store lots of HD files for viewing in my other rooms. I am hoping to use a PS3 (UPNP)(Samsung and XBOX 360 as my front end in my bedroom and the office. In the living room I plan to purchase a MAC-MINI to connect to my Samsung HLR6168W. My house is already wired to every room with CAT5E cable (3 to the living room). Enough rambling. Simply enough I need to know if the server I mentioned will be powerful enough to push the files over to my front end machines. Additionally the tv in the spare bedroom is a regular 20" SDTV. What are my options for a relatively inexpensive front end for use on this tv?

I think your server box is fine. Although 1TB of disk space is a bit on the small side if you are going to archive any HD ;) Not sure about the PS3 or Xbox 360 for front-ends, to myth anyways, but they can play the mythtv mpeg files. The mac-mini should also work, I used OSX 10.4 with myth (.20.2) since a leopard build had not been done, much less .21 version.

There are some really inexpensive options for playback esp. the nvidia all-in-one boards. I am using the asus pundit on one of my systems and that is really a nice setup.

For a front end, you could always do an ultra cheap MicroATX diskless front end.

Cheap MicroATX case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121027)
MicroATX mobo / CPU combo (good deals at Frys; 5600+ & ECS 7050M - $99)
1-2 GB RAM

You can do this for less than $200.

You'll just need to make sure the onboard LAN supports PXE boot, so you can boot from the LAN and load the boot image / Myth frontend from a remote server. If not, a cheap Intel GigE NIC (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106122) will do the job.

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Diskless_Frontend