Any of the current ATOM/Ion boards paired with a USB Tuner (Kworld KW-399U dual tuner is a good choice) will work fine as a combined frontend/backend. We have tested this type of config with the current Zotac Ion boards and the Revo. Any of these gave a very usable hybrid Myth capability for under £200 (UKP)<br>
<br>Andrew<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 9:39 PM, Stroller <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:stroller@stellar.eclipse.co.uk">stroller@stellar.eclipse.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
On 31 Jul 2009, at 20:23, Eric Sharkey wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
...<div class="im"><br>
If you just want a simple-to-use no-maintenance appliance for a<br>
non-technical user, I really couldn't recommend MythTV at this time<br>
on any hardware.<br>
</div></blockquote>
<br>
<br>
I had already asked this question on IRC when I posted yesterday, but I must have done so when no-one was reading as I got no responses. Later, after I posted here the channel came alive with cries of "that idiot wanting to build a Mythbox so cheap!".<br>
<br>
For the benefit of others in a similar position to me, the consensus was that £200 is probably still a *minimum* cost for a Mythbox. This approximately fits with Gordon's suggestion of the Revo (now £160 when I search for it) plus a tuner (cheapest USB DVB-T stick at my local computer warehouse is £28.50, and I haven't even checked Linux compatibility of that, yet).<br>
<br>
I had been of the impression that - since 400mhz Pentium IIs played DVDs just fine back in the day - that a 1ghz Pentium III or so would be fine for MythTV. Such an old desktop would obviously be too loud, but surely an Atom would do just fine? Not at all!<br>
<br>
The IRC channel informed me that the playback requirements of DVB-T signals may be higher than that of ye olde MPEG-2 and pointed out that one has no control over this factor because one can only accept the video stream that's being broadcast. Tough luck if it's too demanding for your CPU to decode in real time! STBs may have dedicated decoding chips. Not only that, but there are concerns with the demands of the MySQL backend running on a measly Atom.<br>
<br>
The big concern appears to be that, sure, low-end machines may be "capable" of running MythTV, but the issues described may result in sluggishness, an unresponsive UI and generally dissatisfactory performance. Examples were cited.<br>
<br>
I'm sorry that I can't remember any of the names of the folks who advised me of this, and apologies if I've got any details wrong - my IRC client isn't configured to log in-channel conversations.<br>
<br>
I get the impression that this is a slightly contentious issue and that for every person who says "can't be done", someone else will say "works for me". However this should be particularly taken in the context that the PVR is to be located at my ma's. The only reasons I considered Myth for her is that I fancy using Myth here at my place just as soon as I can be bothered to bolt a dish to the wall, and because of the appealing notion to be able to remotely schedule recordings to take place on her box in the meantime. However £160 for an Atom base unit is twice the price of an off-the-shelf PVR and - especially considering maintenance, tinkering and WAF (or MAF, as the case may be) - there's no way that can be justified.<br>
<br>
Many thanks to all who commented, both here & on IRC.<br><font color="#888888">
<br>
Stroller.</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
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