[mythtv-users] OT Hardware RAID 5 non-Recommendations

[Yeechang Lee]

Brad Templeton <brad+myth at templetons.com> says:
> I have always been curious about folks with giant setups.

That's my cue. I am pretty sure that within a couple of days I will
have more disk storage for MythTV than anyone else on earth. Heck, as
it stands, the existing 3.65TB (not including another 2.8TB that's
temporarily out of commission) probably puts me in the top five or
so. 1.5TB is in RAID 5, 2.0TB is in RAID 1, and 150GB is in a single
disk. (Once again, thank goodness for Lincoln Dale's
multiple-directories patch as I await 0.21's Storage Groups
functionaliy.) Once the forthcoming additional storage space comes on
board I'll convert over the 2.0TB RAID 1 array to 1.5TB in RAID 5 and
retire the single disk.

> I have one HD tuner and on SD tuner and they are rarely on at the
> same time, and I've had one HD conflict in a couple of years.

Three HD program sources: Two FireWire cable boxes and one OTA ATSC
card. I wouldn't mind having another source of either kind, but with
three conflicts are rare enough.

Were it not for my having untrammeled access to all my cable channels
through FireWire, 3.65TB (or 2.0TB) of space and two program sources
would likely be plenty. However, since my cable provider does permit
such access, my MythTV lifestyle is governed by the cold equations of
each hour of HD video taking up anywhere from 5 to 7.7GB of
storage. Thanks to five premium HD movie channels (not to mention the
divine HDNet Movies) and eclectic film tastes, the initial 2.0TB RAID
1 I began with filled up in under three months and, until last week
when the 1.5TB RAID 5 came on board, I'd fought a continuous stalemate
between recording new programs and expiring old programs, with a
primary weapon being MPEG2-to-MPEG4 transcoding
(<URL:http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/216048#216048>),
gaining back about 60% of the space but in the process losing some
video quality and any 5.1 audio tracks. Anyone who's ever added more
storage space to his MythTV box knows what a relief it is to, for a
while, not have to worry about all the existing programming today's
pending recording rules would delete. The forthcoming space will
further postpone that worry from returning for . . . Well, a good
while longer, even without again resorting to MPEG4 transcoding
(especially since I also recently sprung for the $420 Onkyo HT-S790
home theater-in-a-box, my first better-than-stereo speakers).

As I've noted before, my working hours are such that when at home I
usually want to just relax in front of the tube. The bigger the
recording library that awaits me at such times, the better. Besides,
fiddling with the hardware and software keeps me sharp for my line of
work. (Too bad that's not enough to let me deduct my MythTV-related
spending on my tax return.)

-- 
Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> | +1 650 776 7763 | San Francisco CA US