<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" style="font-family: Palatino-Roman; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;" class=""><br class="">Hi,<br class=""><br class="">I've been looking around for suitable low power frontend systems which<br class="">can do HD video and involve minimal effort to setup (i.e., I can use<br class="">the distro I have been using). I have some existing ECS Liva systems,<br class="">but they fail a bit at a time until they die, and 2G of RAM isn't<br class="">enough for sustained usage, especially when editing recordings to<br class="">ready them for clipping. Typically Mythfrontend grabs a little more<br class="">memory, then a little more, until kswapd goes to 100% CPU, and I have<br class="">to power-cycle the frontend.<br class=""><br class="">I heard recently about the Rock Pi X, an X86 single board computer<br class="">with the same size and port locations as a Raspberry Pi, so I thought<br class="">I'd give it a try.<br class=""><br class="">I opted for the 4G board with 32G of onboard MMC storage ($75). Of<br class="">course, I had to add a case with heat sink and power supply, bringing<br class="">the total to around $132. That doesn't include an RTC battery (on<br class="">order), which isn't necessary, but still handy to let the system<br class="">retain its CMOS settings and RTC time when no power is connected.<br class=""><br class=""><br class=""></blockquote></div></blockquote><div><br class=""></div>A year and a half ago I bought these devices and they work very well as front ends for mythtv:<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q8KK7NT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1" class="">https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q8KK7NT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">They are ‘mini pcs’ that use the Z8350 processor and were $110 when I bought them and came as complete pcs with windows installed on them. I did not use windows on them as I backed it up and then installed xubuntu on them. I bought them on ‘lightning’ deals for $110 complete with power supply and an IR remote( I don’t use the remote).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">There is certainly a time savings buying this type of ‘mini-pc’ .</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">While the one I bought is currently unavailable, there are references to current ones for sale on the page above.</div><div class="">Here is one that is available today for $109:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Z83-Pro-Computer-x5-Z8350-Processor-1000Mbps/dp/B07Q39V2CL/ref=dp_prsubs_1?pd_rd_i=B07Q39V2CL" class="">https://www.amazon.com/Z83-Pro-Computer-x5-Z8350-Processor-1000Mbps/dp/B07Q39V2CL/ref=dp_prsubs_1?pd_rd_i=B07Q39V2CL</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><br class=""><div class="">Regards</div></body></html>