[mythtv-users] MythTV vs. Windows Media Center

[Reynolds, Brian]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org]
> On Behalf Of belcampo
> Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 6:36 AM
> To: Discussion about MythTV
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] MythTV vs. Windows Media Center
> 
> Reynolds, Brian wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-
> bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Rob Smith
> > Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 10:11 PM
> > To: Discussion about MythTV
> > Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] MythTV vs. Windows Media Center
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 6:38 PM, Reynolds, Brian
> > <Brian.Reynolds at fiserv.com> wrote:
> >> I'm planning to build the machine with two 1TB 7200 RPM drives
> >> configured in a RAID-0 to maximize throughput on the serial
reads/writes
> >> that will be required for playback/recording.   I'm thinking that
this
> >> will be needed for recording (or watching live TV, with a buffer)
so
> >> many HD streams simultaneously and also the possibility of
streaming
> >> several pre-recorded streams out to the
extenders/front-ends/browsers.
> >> I've chosen a case with enough space for additional drives for more
> >> throughput/storage-space (just in case it's needed) and/or
configuring
> >> them as a RAID-1+0 for redundancy, although I don't feel that the
> >> content will really justify a need for redundancy.  As Ben Kamen
says...
> >> television isn't THAT important (but it's a pretty funny thing to
say on
> >> a list that is dedicated to recording TV).
> >
> > Do yourself a favor and keep the drives separate.
> >
> > We balance recordings between the drives so you'll get better
> > performance overall keeping them as fully independent targets.
> >
> > If you raid-0 them, one recording will stress both drives, you're
NCQ
> > depth is limited at 31 outstanding io requests vs 62 for the two
> > drives independently.
> >
> > Another reason, if you lose one, you only lose half your recordings
> > rather then all of them.
> >
> > Just as a point, my current usb 2.0 drive handles 10 HD streams at
> > once just fine (3 writing, 6 flagging, 1 playing).
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > Rob,
> >
> > Thanks for the advice.  I'll keep that in mind in case I decide to
use
> MythTV.  I don't think MCE will allow me to direct the streams from
individual
> tuners/channels to a specific drive (score one for Myth).  However, in
the
> case of MCE, the effect of NCQ could be minimized (on either OS,
actually) if
> I keep my drives defragmented.  The utility named MyDefrag (free) is
excellent
> on Windows.  I run it on my personal machines every day.  They wake up
at a
> non-peak time each day, run a daily defrag (among other tasks), and
then go
> back to sleep (with a monthly full defrag on a pre-defined date each
month).
> If you use xfs as filesystem with allocsize=1024M, you'll almost have
no
> fragmentation at all, and xfs_fsr is the defragment utility on this
> filesystem which works perfectly and can of course be scheduled.
> >
> > If I decide to use Myth, I will definitely take your advice into
> consideration.  It's something that MCE cannot do, AFAIK (and I'm sure
there
> are Linux equivalents to MyDefrag).
> >
> > Of course, this brings up another topic...  can Myth and/or MCE be
setup to
> go to sleep when nothing is recording and nobody is watching live TV?
I'm
> sure I can wake-up (either OS) when a scheduled program is about to
start...
> but can they wake up when someone wants to watch a live TV and/or
pre-recorded
> program from a front-end/extender?  I'm thinking that this will
require using
> "Wake-up on LAN".  However, I don't know if the front-end
(client/extender)
> will send the necessary "Wake up" commands.  In order to use this,
will I need
> to setup my own work-around (either OS)?  I really like to keep my
machines
> sleeping when possible.  Each machine costs me $6-10 (in electricity
costs)
> per month when running 24x7.  I'm a cheap SOB. :)
> >
> > Brian
> > _______________________________________________
> > mythtv-users mailing list
> > mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> 

Cool.  I'll keep this info.  Thanks.