[mythtv-users] Mini ITX motherboards
MacNean C. Tyrrell
dardack at nycap.rr.com
Mon Aug 9 20:24:23 EDT 2004
Stephen Tait wrote:
> At 18:12 09/08/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>
>> Stephen Tait wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Anyways, i was wondering if anyone has one of these mini-itx boards
>>>> with integrated everything and if it works with mythtv well.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Afraid not, but there are plenty of threads on this list archive
>>> about general stuff about the EPIA boards and their ilk. General
>>> consensus I think is that they're great for watching TV and video
>>> on, but less than satisfying for ripping and transcoding MP3's,
>>> DVD's, etc - essentially, all the stuff that requires a lot of CPU
>>> time.
>>
>> It is for my wife so as long as it can watch live tv/record watch
>> recording, without skipping and such she'll be fine. She has a DVD
>> player already and i don't think she cares about transcoding. She
>> does like mythweather, especially if we're going somewhere. What we
>> have our 2 tv's in our living room. She gets the big one or if we
>> have guests or if we watch the same thing. I have a 20in with
>> headphones to watch my recordings on my mythtv box. or sports or
>> whatever she doesn't like.
>> So as long as it acts like tivo she doesn't care.
>
>
> You're probably running a wife based on the 2.2 kernel. I can heartily
> recommend upgrading to 2.6, as they're much more responsive to
> incessant geekiness (but they can be a bit unstable) ;^)
>
amen to that.
> Part of the beauty of Myth for me is that it replaced about 8 zillion
> different boxes (VCR, DVD player, stereo bits), and managed to be much
> cooler than any of them - but that's computers for you I guess...!
>
> One more thing about the WAF; what are you going to do whilst the TiVO
> is down and the Myth box isn't yet up?! I keep a backup backend just
> in case anything disastrously wrong goes on with my main backend - my
> flatmates and my girly can't live without Myth now, and I didn't want
> to be forced to take out shares in Interflora. Mods like this can take
> a little time, and if you've never set up Myth before, you may well be
> in for a bit of a rollercoaster.
Um no i have my own mythtv box, the tivo is/was her box. So no i'll
still have my box, she just won't have hers. I mean she doesn't have it
right now because we don't have a phone. and like i replied to the
other guy i don't feel like buying the addon and paying 13 a month, and
who knows if they'll increase it or not. Plus i plan on putting
knoppmyth on it, i ran that for a friend, just because i didn't have the
time to mess with his box, and it works for him perfectly, he hasn't had
any problems.
>
>
>>>> The one problem i see is the power supply.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> You can get external PSU's for most iterations of mini ITX hardware,
>>> which will make cooling and modding the case *much* easier.
>>
>> External? How much they run? Aparently i've never seen one. I
>> usually build all my friends computers but have never modded
>> something so guess i really haven't done enough research.
>
>
> Here's an example from a UK site I get most of my HTPC gear from
>
> http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1731.html
>
> but that's only 55W; there's a more expensive version rated at twice
> the power over at a similar site (second one down)
>
> http://ultim8pc.co.uk/index.asp?section=products&idd=17
>
> As you can see, they both have most of the PSU in an external "brick"
> and use a little bridgeboard to go inside the case.
>
Yea, well i'll decide. there might be just enough room to take the
cover of an internel supply to make it fit. I mean the tivo power
supply doesn't have a cover, gotta be careful in there.
>
>>>> Anyone know what wattage i would need to run one of these mini's
>>>> and the pvr 250, and a small size, it has to fit between the back
>>>> of the tivo and the harddrives. Would have to cut a bigger hole
>>>> for the cable and make a few holes for the fan. I mean if i don't
>>>> have to buy a case, harddrives and such, i just want to use the
>>>> case. I dont need a cdrom except to install. etc. Any help would
>>>> be appreciated.
>>>
>>>
>> Hard drives not a problem. If i'm gonna destroy the tivo box anyways
>> i'll use the 40 and 60 already in there with LVM. OK so does the
>> 350's tvout work well yet? I know there were issues with getting it
>> to work, and it being difficult to get to work. Although i mean
>> would 70w be big enough to run all this? or do i need to go a bit
>> bigger. I don't think a 55w would be good enough.
>
>
> A 55W prolly won't be good enough. You can get an estimate of how much
> power peoples EPIA system soak up by searching the archives; a problem
> will be using two hard drives, which I imagine will suck up about 2x
> the power (and noise) of a single 120GB drive.
>
Yea i know but i already have the two drives. And my 120 is in my box.
She doesn't record as much as i do. But i want to make sure she has
enough space for hardware encoded mpeg files the pvr250/350 make.
> As someone else noted, it's possible to connect your TiVO up to a
> network and grab the updates that way.
>
> As another personal opinion piece, I'd keep the TiVO and build myself
> an equally gorgeous-looking mATX box with a cheap athlon or something
> in it, and fiddle with lirc until you can get the TiVO remote working
> on it in the exact same way as on the TiVO, and then gradually phase
> out the TiVO (or shift it to the other TV) as your skillz with Myth
> become ever more mad and 733t. But then you won't get on /. that way ;^)
>
Yea but god forbid it doesn't go with the decor or what not? hehe, i
don't know she cares, i'm just looking for another project so i figured
what the hell. Will be interesting.
BTW, one other thing, If i use the happuage IR reciever for my machine
(which i do) i prolly can't use it for her machine as it will screw up
signals between the two since our tv's are only 4 ft apart or
something. So, if that is the case, is it easy to create a receiver for
the sony tivo remote? Just wondering. Anyways thanks. I appreciate
everyone's input.
> My £0.02...!
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