[mythtv-users] need help with decision: replace bad parts or buy appleTV

Steven Adeff adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com
Tue Jun 17 13:48:18 UTC 2008


On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 7:58 PM, Josh White <jaw1959 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> One of my frontends is no longer working as I wish, and I've decided to
> repair/replace it.  My current setup is all SD, analog Cable based, but I
> plan to upgrade to HD soon (I was planning to upgrade my frontend at that
> time, but my hardware didn't last as long as I wanted it to).
>
> Right now, I've narrowed my choices either to replace the parts I need to
> replace in my current frontend to make it work (new motherboard, hard drive,
> cpu...I have memory, case, powersupply, etc) or buy an apple TV, which will
> cost me about $20 more.
>
> If I build a new frontend the old fashioned way, I will buy the following:
>
> CPU (Dual Core Celeron E1200; 1.6ghz) - I plan to use this as long as I can,
> and if I need to, I can always upgrade later to a Core 2 Duo
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16819116064
>
> Hard drive (80gb Segate Baracuda) - it's the smallest/cheapest decent SATA
> hard drive I could find on Newegg
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822148231
>
> Motherboard (micro ATX from EVGA) - has Nvidia 7050 onboard video that I'd
> like to use, not sure if the RCA jack on the back can be used for video out,
> or if it's only for digital audio...anyone know something about this?
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188023
>
> The motherboard has a combo deal with a remote (which is something I
> currently don't have) which also claims to come with an IR blaster and
> control to handle up to two.
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880125001
>
> So anyway, it's either buy all that, for about $196.00 (w/shipping & tax
> from Newegg) or buy a refurbished Apple TV for $199, and deal with the
> hassle of hacking it.  I know the parts I listed above will do the job, and
> be much more expandable/upgradable, but the Apple TV seems to be all I need
> (except for the lack of a DVD player...not that I ever use the one I have)
> and comes in a much smaller package.  I know the Apple TV will have much
> better resale value should I decide I don't like it.
>
> I plan to run Mythbuntu on the home built machine, and if I go with the
> Apple TV, I'd like to set it up such that I can use it along with the apple
> tv features as seemlessly as possible (I seem to recall seeing that someone
> had Mythtv show up as a menu item on an older version of the ATV, I'm not
> sure if that's still possible).  If not, I'd like to dual boot the ATV to
> run mythbuntu if possible, or debian.
>
> Please, I'd just like to get another set of eyes to look at the options I've
> put fourth, and I'd like to hear if anyone has been happy/unhappy with any
> similar parts, etc.
>
> Thanks,

Josh,

 I recently went through a similar thought process and decided against
the AppleTV option. A Mac Mini perhaps, but the AppleTV doesn't seem
well suited for a mythfrontend with HD playback (at least at the 1080
level). It's cheap, which is nice though.  I ended up building the
following,
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/User:Steveadeff#Current_Bedroom_Frontend
and have been very very happy with it.

-- 
Steve
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