[mythtv-users] Netbook as low-power combined back-end / front-end?

[rsh1k]

On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 2:39 PM, Ross Boylan
<RossBoylan at stanfordalumni.org> wrote:
> Don't forget your time!  If you like tinkering, I suppose it could be a
> benefit, not a cost.

Absolutely.  In the end, it pretty much has to be considered a hobby.
 I consider it a time shifting exercise - you spend time building the
MythBox so that you DON'T have to waste time watching commercials, or
pay for on-demand content.   It may or may not balance out.  :-)



> I'm also interested in the ultra-small since my furniture and my family
> both think the case I was thinking of (Antec NSK 2480), and even some
> smaller variants, is too big.
>
> I was punting on the optical drive anyway, mostly because blu-ray is
> unavailable on linux (for "protected" disks) and even in windows the
> software costs as much as a player, and apparently requires ongoing
> payments.
>
> Zotac boxes with ION2 are said to work.  But quality and support sound
> poor.  newegg comments on Antec ISK cases are filled with remarks about
> poor quality, bad fit, and physically altering components to jam them
> in.  Nor is it the only ultra-small with such comments.
>
> >From an earlier thread I found http://www.logicsupply.com/, which looks
> interesting.  They have remarks on which boards fit in which cases.  I'm
> concerned about ventilation with the small cases.  The thread also
> references mini-itx.com, which I haven't looked at.
>
> Ross

Yeah, that's a pretty big case.  A bit bigger than mine, which I
typically try to hide behind or under furniture.    I think there was
a time when those sort of HTPC cases were "required"...  remember when
the WMV9 format first came out, and it took a furnace of a CPU / GPU
to decode it, with three small hurricanes worth of fans to keep it all
cool?   Now look at what tiny devices like the Apple TV can do -
silently without any fans.

Unless you need a lot of drives and a lot of cards (graphics, tuners,
etc), I would personally go with something a lot smaller.  In the
past, I would have instinctively gone for a Shuttle XPC...  but there
are smaller and quieter options now.


Don't necessary skip out on the optical drive though - I have used
mine a lot more than I had thought.   Playing DVDs, importing music,
and most importantly - burning DVDs to archive recordings.  Also, It's
handy to be able to boot from a CD for maintenance, if required.

- rsh1k