[mythtv-users] Cheap UK frontend?

[Ian Clark]

2008/6/3 Greg Cope <gregcope at gmail.com>:

> HI All,
>
> Anyone any recommendations for a cheap/small low power SD front end for the
> UK?
>

Do you want to build one or buy one?

I've recently put together and AMD 780G based system for a friend with a
triple core phenom. If you went for an even lower spec processor you can get
motherboard, cpu and enough ram to make it go for about 150 quid. (That's a
quick play on scan, 2gig mem, Athlon 64 X24450e and Asus M3A78 mobo),
obviously you'd need some kind of case to put it in and a PSU (and probably
a HD too. :) )

The downside is ATIs linux drivers aren't the best (although they are
getting better.) but the board has everything onboard you'll need (including
hdmi) and runs fanless and cool, the processor can be quietly cooled with an
apropriate fan. (I've got a similar spec AMD system running myth on cable in
the UK, and the CPU fan can actually be turned off, which makes it very
quiet.)

I've had good results with the Antec P180 and P182 cases (very quiet) but
they're not small (there's a mini P182 though.) There are other options if
you wanted a more hifi style box.

Mind you, if you're going down that route then there's lots of interesting
little hardware you can buy, it's perfectly possibly to build an STB style
machine with a fair bit of ooomph, although this starts to get pricy very
quickly. (I speced up something like this recently and it was +400 quid, and
that was without an internal HD.)
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