[mythtv-users] Building Remote Frontend - Components

[Giampiero Gabbiani]

In data domenica 10 gennaio 2010 01:05:39, Jongi ha scritto:
: > I am thinking of the components below for a FE in the bedroom:
> 
> Mobo
> Asus M3N78-VM
> CPU
> AMD X4 9650
> Video
> GT220 512MB
> RAM
> 2GB JetRAM DDR2-800
> HDD
> Seagate 7200.12 8MB 250GB
> Remote
> Hauppauge MCE
> 
> I'll also be buying a 32" LCD (720op capable). I thought of making it
> diskless, but I thought given the cost of the HDD I might as well have
> one in there. Basically it will source everything from the BE via the
> network (cable - 54Mbps)
> 
> Should this work pretty well?
> 
> Regards
> Jongi
> 
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> 
Hi Jongi,

my old config:

main server (FE+BE)
System	: Gentoo 2007
Mobo   	: EPIA EX10000 Fanless
CPU         	: VIA C7 1.0GHz 
Graphics  : Integrated UniChrome™ Pro II 3D/2D AGP with MPEG-2/4 Video 
Decoding Acceleration (onboard)
TV Card 	: PVR350
RAM         : 1GB
Storage 	: 250GBx2 in soft RAID1
TV            : Sharp Aquos LC-32GA9E

Pros         : low power consumption, low noise
Contros 	: missing XVMC support in openchrome drivers

secondary server (FE only)
System  	: Gentoo 2007
Mobo    	: EPIA EN12000 fanless
CPU         : VIA C7 V4 Bus / Eden V4 Bus NanoBGA2 Processor
Graphics  : Integrated UniChrome™ Pro AGP with MPEG-2 Acceleration (onboard)
RAM             1GB
Storage 	: diskless first, then 4GB compact flash for the OS, then SATA HD 250GB
TV            : Samsung LW17E24CB

Pros         : low power consumption, low noise
Contros 	: none

I was very satisfied with the secondary server, much less with the primary due 
to the limited support given by VIA to openchrome with its CX700M2 graphics 
chipset.

 Recently I changed configuration:

main server (FE+BE)
System  	: Mandriva 2010
Mobo    	: Zotac ION-ITX-B Fanless 
CPU         : Atom N230 1.6GHz
Graphics  : NVIDIA ION MCP79 (onboard)
TV Card 	: Hauppauge USB Nova-T Stick 3
RAM         : 4GB
Storage 	: Seagate Momentus 500GB SATA 2.5in HDD 8MB Cache x 2 in softw RAID1 
TV            : Sharp Aquos LC-32GA9E (max 1080i resolution in HDMI)

Pros         : low power consumption, low noise, great performance with VDPAU 
enabled  @1080i and @720p
Contros 	: occasional video stutter @1080i , I can't say if this is due to 
hardware , driver config or whatever.

So, if you want to watch dvd & television @720p, in my opinion your HW config 
is much more than enough. I notice also that the gfx card you mentioned has a 
fan so at the end you'll have a total of three fans: CPU, GPU and CASE (too 
much in my experience). For similar reasons I use 5400 RPM disks (the lower, 
the less noisy) rather then 7200 RPM ones. They are a bit less performing but 
anyway sufficient for a FE only system.
I agree with you that the benefits of a diskless solution (in terms of time 
spent) are loosing compared to the simplicity of a traditional HDD based 
solution.

Hope this could help...

Best regards
Giampiero