[mythtv-users] Hardware Suggestion for under $1,000

[Brian Wood]

On Friday, December 17, 2010 12:14:05 pm jedi wrote:

>     If you want beefy storage, perhaps an external JBOD chassis
> attached to something like a Revo might work? Such units run not
> much more expensive than a similar internal hot swap chassis. This
> is something that doesn't have to be done in the initial build. You
> can add storage incrementally later (as many of us have done).

Seems like a waste of a lot of the Revo's capabilities, like VDPAU 
playback using the ION (9400m) GPU.

For half the cost of a Revo you can get a Sheeva/Pogo Plug type machine, 
which works fine for NAS, though you do have to get some USB drive cases.

The prepackaged NAS servers sold to consumers are pretty bad from what I 
have read. The Plugs, or a Slug which is similar, can run a full Linux 
version like Debian, allowing you maximum flexibility to do what you 
want.

The consumer "servers" are usually limited to SMB shares, rarely NFS, 
and you are stuck with whatever capabilities the maker thinks you should 
have, though some may be hackable to an extent.

Use a real computer, even if it's small and not too powerful. My slugs 
allow me to read and write multiple HD streams without problems, and can 
use Linux software RAID is desired.