[mythtv-users] Hardware Suggestions

[David Liana]

On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 1:29 PM, Michael Tiller <michael.tiller at gmail.com>wrote:

> MythTV users,
>
> I've been running MythTV for over 5 years now.  I originally built the
> machine myself and in that time, I've had numerous hardware failures.  I
> think the tally stands at 3 power supplies (with 2 cases), 1 CPU (my own
> fault), at least one motherboard.  I suspect these crappy power supplies
> have a lot to do with it, who knows.  I don't mess around with the machines
> much once they are built so I'm not sure what has caused it.
>
> Last time I even mentioned this in this newsgroup I was accused of gross
> incompetence by several people.  I'm not interested in hearing all the
> reasons I'm probably to blame so let's just stipulate it up front and spare
> me the insults.
>
> The machine is again teetering on the brink of failure (takes several tries
> to boot up but runs fine once up?!).  I'm expecting a hardware failure any
> day now.  My question is what next?  I'm sick of this revolving door of
> hardware and frankly it isn't helping the WAF much either.  I've got lots of
> computers but for some reason the Myth system has all the problems.
>
> I'm contemplating just buying a stock system of some kind rather than
> assembling something from parts.  Since I've upgraded to two outboard
> capture devices (HD-PVR and HDHR), I don't really need my old PVR-150 any
> more and that opens me up to smaller (fanless?) computers with VDPAU capable
> graphics cards.  In fact, VDPAU (and a reasonable CPU just to run the
> frontend GUI) are about my only requirements since I can use the HDHR IR
> pickup via TCP/IP.
>
> So I'm open to suggestions about potential systems.  I'm aware of the Acer
> Aspire Revo.  That looks nice (small, cheap, capable).  I'd have to replace
> the HD, not sure how easy that would be with such a device (and whether
> there would be any issues having it accept a 1TB hard drive in its place).
> Anybody have any other suggestions for some small, cheap and capable systems
> that I could replace my existing setup with?
>
> Ideally, I'd like to hear from people who actually have working setups with
> similar hardware.  Things like the Revo look cools, but I need to know if
> they actually work.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.  I'm not such a hardware maven so I'm not that
> up on the latest things.
>

May I ask, what power supplies are you using?

I've gotten cheap ones with cases and I always put a "better" one in - I've
had good luck with Antec, but that's just me.  I also use the 80% certified
ones.
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