[mythtv-users] HD Slave BE/FE Hardware

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Thu May 1 14:49:20 UTC 2008


On Apr 30, 2008, at 8:13 PM, Drew Tomlinson wrote:

>
> This machine will inherit the pcHDTV 3000 tuner currently in the BE  
> and
> will get a new PVR-150 to take advantage of the existing OTA and  
> DirecTV
> cable runs that are currently behind the television.  The PVR-150 will
> also provide remote functions for the new box.

The PVR-150 will only provide OTA reception until next February,  
assuming you are in the USA. The "MCE" version of the PVR does not  
have a remote, if you want to use the Hauppauge remote/blaster you  
need to get that version of the card.

The Core-Duo CPU is overkill for a backend, unless you want to have a  
lot of commflag/transcode capability, but at today's prices it might  
not make sense to get less of a processor.

I'd consider a smaller HDD for the OS and DB, using the 500GB just for  
video storage. It's usually best to have them on different spindles.  
If I'm reading the specs correctly that case only has 1 3.5" internal  
bay, I don't think you want a backend that's limited to 1 HDD, as it's  
a B/E size/noise shouldn't be a problem so a larger case might be  
worth looking into. Only 2 PCI slots is a bit of a limitation as well,  
you will be maxed out with a 3000 and a 150, though there are many non- 
PCI capture solutions these days.

There seems to be a length limit on the PCI cards, make sure your 3000  
will fit if you go with that case.

200 watts is a bit light on the PSU as well.

This is not a server case, and a back end is basically a server. It  
would work, but why limit yourself so much?

Anyway, just my $0.02.

beww









More information about the mythtv-users mailing list