[mythtv-users] Backend/Frontend hardware (new system)

[Nick Rout]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 12:45 PM, Michael Watson
<michael at thewatsonfamily.id.au> wrote:
> On 18/09/2012 9:39 AM, Nick Rout wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 9:36 AM, Michael Watson
>> <michael at thewatsonfamily.id.au> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 18/09/2012 7:27 AM, Tyler T wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Do you still intend to record TV for later viewing? I don't see a
>>>> tuner in your hardware list.
>>>>
>>>> FYI a DVR doesn't require expensive hardware if you're willing to give
>>>> up commflagging* and transcoding**. Pretty much any PC new enough to
>>>> have SATA will work as a backend-only, so you could get some random
>>>> used desktop PC for cheap off Craigslist and run it headless in a
>>>> closet. Then you can use whatever you like for a separate frontend
>>>> such as a WD Live or similar media player***.
>>>>
>>>> * I prefer manual 30-second skip anyway
>>>> ** Just get a bigger hard drive, not worth the trouble IMHO
>>>> *** Note that using something other than an actual Myth FE will
>>>> require you to schedule recordings via MythWeb, but most probably
>>>> won't find this a dealbreaker
>>>>
>>> Nor do you really need a big beefy machine for frontend work.
>>> I have several P4 3.0 Ghz Machines with GeForce 8400GS Cards that work
>>> excellent as frontends.  (There are plenty of SFF HP/Compaq/Dell machines
>>> that will work perfectly as a frontend)
>>
>> And most of them power hogs! There is certainly a tradeoff between
>> cost and power saving and speed and quietness.
>
> I don't believe so.  Last time I did the figures, the TCO over expected life
> span of each machines, it worked out roughly the same cost (new low power
> machine vs low cost second hand equipment), if you then include cost to the
> environment, then the s/hand equipment wins hands down.
> (Recycle/Reuse/Reduce)

Or are you better to go with the lower power machine if you want to
look after the environment? We burn coal for electricity after all. I
simply don't know the right answer here! I doubt that any one answer
is "right".

I used a compaq SFF machine as a frontend with an nvidia 8400 (blew
up) and a GT220 fanless (and earlier as a combined BE/FE) and it was
pretty quiet. However I love my revo machines, and given that I have
bought all of them second hand, it is also a "recycle".



>
> Given that the P4 3.0 HT (82W), with Ge Force 8400GS 512Mb runs at 10% CPU
> Usage whilst playing HD content, its not hard to keep it quiet, if you are
> only using it to play content.
>
>
>>
>>> You can still run commflagging on old machines.  All my frontends assist
>>> in
>>> commflagging jobs whilst powered on.
>>>
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