[mythtv-users] Remote front-end questions

[Joe Votour]

David,

I'm actually giving up on my XBox as a frontend
myself.  It works quite well, but I'm now starting to
find the fan a bit noisy (this is on a Rev. 1.0 XBox,
which has both a regular exhaust fan, and a fan on the
GPU, if I recall correctly).  The XBox was actually
louder than the not-so-quiet PC next to it (an Antec
Sonata with the stock power supply).  The nice thing
about the XBox though is that it's TV-Out is
excellent, far better than an nVidia TV-Out card, but
not quite as good as a PVR-350.

The modchip that I used is the XBit, it worked fine
with a solderless install for me - but it might not
work on a 1.6 XBox.  It's nice because it has
(unfortunately small) DIP switches that can turn the
chip on/off, as well as select one of six banks for
different flash ROMs.

If you're going to run a remote frontend/backend
setup, one thing that I highly recommend is to make
sure that you have very reliable switches/hubs in your
network.  My Netgear FWG114P is quite flaky, and that
translates to pauses during TV playback sometimes.

-- Joe

--- David Levine <curiouskangaroo at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi, all.  I have a 0.16 backend w/2 tuners that is
> running great in a
> closet.  I am planning in the next month or so to
> set up 2 remote
> front-ends.  Possibly X-Box, although I'm not sure.
> 
> In the meantime, I wanted to do a bit of front-end
> testing.  I have an
> EPIA M10000 machine that I got cheaply on eBay a
> while back, although
> it is loud (CPU fan + powersupply fan).  This
> computer is currently
> running Win2K and is my wife's, so I can't actually
> permanently make
> it a MythTV front-end (besides the fact that it is
> too loud to sit by
> a TV), but I can experiment with it.  I tried
> booting KnoppMyth from a
> CD (no installation, just the front-end) but found
> the video playback
> to be very poor... I'm assuming that KnoppMyth
> simply isn't optimized
> for the machine, right?  I think I've read on the
> list that people who
> actually install KnoppMyth onto the harddrive (not
> just use it from
> the CD) of an Epia machine then go on to download
> and install
> Epia-specific drivers.  Not an option for me. 
> Should I be trying
> MiniMyth instead?  From what I can tell it is built
> specifically for
> Epia M machines, so I'm assuming it will perform
> better.  Any personal
> experiences anyone can relate?
> 
> As far as my permanent front-end hardware goes, I'm
> curious to hear
> some personal experiences of people who went the
> X-Box route.  I've
> heard it might actually have a loud fan... is that
> true?  And how's
> the performance in general?  If not X-Box, what's
> the lowest end (i.e.
> fanless) Epia board I could get that still performs
> well w/something
> like MiniMyth (I assume I'll want to get a DC power
> supply, too)?  If
> I do go the X-Box route, I notice that software-only
> modifications
> can't be done on the most recent (1.6) boxes, and a
> modchip is
> required.  Any recommendations as to the simplest
> chip to install
> (that would still allow gameplay, although I don't
> care about using
> X-Box Live)?
> 
> Thanks,
> David
> > _______________________________________________
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> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>
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> 



		
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