[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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