[mythtv-users] most energy efficient myth frontend?

[R. G. Newbury]

Yan Seiner wrote:
> Gavin Peters wrote:
>> On Sat, Sep 05, 2009 at 12:33:23PM -0700, Yan Seiner wrote:
>>  
>>> I tend to go places where there are no hookups.  My last RV had dual  
>>> T135 batteries, and the entertainment system was the single largest  
>>> power user.  Given the 9 A @ 12VDC consumption, I had about 7 hours  
>>> before the batteries died.  And once the batteries died, no heat, no  
>>> fridge.  So the energy budget is critical.  This one has smaller  
>>> batteries but a generator.  I don't like the noise the genset makes, 
>>> so  I'm trying to minimize the consumption.  I figure with new stuff, 
>>> I can  get to about half of my previous budget; I'd like to get to a 
>>> third.
>>>
>>>     
>>
>> I'm a yachtsman, so I'm very sympathetic to your plight.  But I'd lke
>> to suggest you consider a larger battery bank; 9A * 7h is just 63AH.
>>   
> 
> Well, yes, sort of.  Add to that all of the other uses (lights, fridge, 
> blower for the heater) and the drain is higher.
> 
>> Surely in a motor vehicle you can carry and charge say 4 group 27
>> batteries, and with a 400AH battery bank you could support this
>> discharge for much longer?
>>   
> Well, yes. Unfortunately the RV enlarging the battery compartment is 
> very non-trivial.  The most I could fit is a pair of group 27 
> batteries.  That's a change I might still make.
> 
> In the meantime, an energy efficient FE will still work in a vehicle 
> with more batteries.   :-)
> 
> It looks as though my choices come down to Intel Atom with Intel 950 
> grapics, or Via C7 with Unichrome graphics.
> 
> Any suggestions on which can handle the work better?
> 
> --Yan

I have a Zotac Ion with the dual core Atom 330, with 1 Gig of Ram and a 
120G laptop hard drive (swapped from my Thinkpad X61s).
The whole thing used 29 Watts while playing HD output through VGA. It 
peaks at 34 watts for a second during boot, and then drops back. I could 
not see more than a one watt change between SD and HD playback.

This was with the provided power brick plugged into the  Kill-a-Watt 
unit, so the actual draw should be slightly less at the unit...ignoring 
any power supply (mis)efficiencies. The type 'B' version has an ATX plug 
power input, and some small cases (the Casetronic 299 for one) come with 
  a 12V input plug setup, and provide a 12V -> ATX power adapter board.

The Atom 270 allegedly uses about 2 watts less IIRC..
So this is in your ball-park. You could save a little with less RAM, but 
  not much I would guess.

Geoff






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