[mythtv-users] Coming back to Myth : a few questions

[Simon Waldman]

I ran MythTV (via Mythbuntu) for a couple of years, ending about 18
months ago. I've been out of the loop since then (on linux as well as
MythTV, since I don't use it for other purposes these days), but am
planning on setting things up again in the new year. I have a few
questions that I think will be quick and easy answers for experienced
people, so I hope they don't mind my asking them:

1. Can you recommend any resource to help me reduce the power
consumption of the system? Hardware changes aren't really an option
for budget reasons, but I'm thinking things like fan control,
throttling the CPU more than usual, aggressively spinning down HDDs,
etc. Is there a distro that specialises in this?

2. Unlike last time, I now have a 1080p TV available, so I'm thinking
about HD. I'm in the UK, on freeview. I was using (and will continue
to use) a Nova-T dual tuner USB stick for SD. My understanding is that
at present there is one, and only one, USB stick that can receive
DVB-T2 and works in Linux (a Hauppage one) and that it requires a 3.x
kernel. Am I right about this? Are there any low-hassle distros that
are using 3.x as yet?

3. Related to the above: When I was doing this stuff before, I
remember concern about the BBC encrypting some part of their HD
streams that was essential to view them (although not the video or
audio itself). Has this gone away, or is there a risk that if I spend
money on a HD tuner stick they may go and encrypt it all in a few
months time and lock me out?

Thanks for any advice.
Regards,
Simon.
-- 
Simon Waldman
swaldman at firecloud.org.uk