[mythtv-users] Cheapest way to build a frontend?

Marco Nelissen marcone at xs4all.nl
Mon Dec 25 20:55:41 UTC 2006


>So I've finally submitted to the fact that I don't have the hardware to 
>build a decent frontend/backend in the same machine:
>
>CPU: Athlon64 3200+
>RAM: 1GB
>HDD: 500GB SATA, 250GB SATA
>Video: Geforce 6800 GT 512MB
>TV: 2x pcHDTV 5500, 2x PVR-150
>
>It's almost there, but what I'm gonna do instead is make that machine a 
>backend. This machine just cannot play HDTV while streaming SD or HD to 
>another frontend. I can't believe it, as I know that this hardware is 
>plenty powerful.

I agree, it *should* be able to deal with this. Have you tried to isolate
the problem by measuring disk throughput, network throughput and CPU usage
while doing so? Are you using XvMC?

>So, what I would like to know from you guys is, what's the best 
>(price/performance tradeoff) hardware for building a frontend to play SD 
>and HDTV? If I could get away with spending <$300 that would be best. I 
>have a case, dvdrom and hdd already.

For about $300 you should be able to upgrade the CPU to an Athon64 X2 3800
AND add another disk for striping or mirroring.


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list