[mythtv-users] Small, low cost MythTV clients...

[Peter Schachte]

stuart wrote:
> Daniel Agar wrote:

>> Hardware is so cheap these days, I've been thinking of putting something
>> like this together.
> 
> Well, that's an alternative.  But keep in mind the box we are talking 
> about (Galaxy 3500 IPTV (and others like the MediaMVP)) are disk-less, 
> require no fans and run on something much less than 10 watts (the wall 
> plug for the Galaxy is rated for 12 volts at about 1 amp).  So, for me, 
> it's obvious why such a box would be preferred over a full blown 
> computer - even if the computer is just a little over $300.

Agreed.  The question of good hardware for a myth frontend comes up frequently,
and never gets a really good answer.  The ideal Myth frontend hardware would be
small, silent, low-power, and reasonably priced, and would look and behave like
a piece of consumer electronics, not a computer (eg, it would power on within a
few seconds), and would have full Myth functionality.  The hardware itself
could be pretty simple:  a single board with slowish CPU, modest memory, HD/SD
graphics, MPEG 2/4 acceleration if necessary, audio, network, single ATA port
for a DVD, an IR reader, maybe wireless lan, and that's about it.  No HDD; it
would boot from flash.  No slots or drive bays; it would just need to be able
to be re-flashed every time another Myth release comes out.

I'm sure the myth community could agree on specs for such a machine, and I'm
sure it would sell well if it were built and priced well.  I recently proposed
such a machine on Dell's IdeaStorm site (as well as a specialized backend-only
machine and a combined front-end/back-end machine).  Read my suggestion at:

http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/66823/A_line_of_MythTVbased_settop_boxes_for_the_average_consumer

With appropriate hardware and myth pre-installed, I think boxes like this could
be a real Tivo-killer (and MS MCE-killer), if we could get someone like Dell to
build it.  If you go to the site and like the idea, please vote for it.  Maybe
if it gets enough votes, Dell would considering building it.  And then this
question would stop coming up here.

-- 
Peter Schachte              Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if
schachte at cs.mu.OZ.AU        you were to live forever.
www.cs.mu.oz.au/~schachte/      -- Mahatma Gandhi
Phone: +61 3 8344 1338