[mythtv-users] Discussion: system layouts to reduce power consumption

[sonofzev at iinet.net.au]

On Tue Jul 28 12:34 , glenhawk at optusnet.com.au sent:

>
>> It greatly depends on usage (how often you record, how often you have  
>> recording conflicts resolved by multiple backends, etc.) 
>
>That really is the crux of the issue isn't it

Multiple tuners.. with multiple recording channels (encoders) allowed per multiplex 
helps. 

>
>> My master backend stays on all the time... 
>> ...because I record  enough where it would probably only shut off a couple of times a 
day  
>> for a short time. The wear and tear on constantly shutting down and  
>> starting up makes it much less desirable.
>
>Yes, I agree with you for your case. In my case the system rarely records anything 
during the day and can be recording up to 4 things at once in the evenings. What this 
means for me is that in contrast to you my backend is often recording for less time than 
the frontends are playing-back. Great example is if we watch recordings during the day on 
the weekend, if we weren't watching recordings the backend would almost never turn on. 
This is why I would be interested in shutting down the backend when I just want to watch 
what it has recorded (or what I have downloaded).

My solution was to build the mythtv backend into an already existing fileserver box (or 
should I say NAS for being trendy...). That box is also used as a( webserver and some 
other applications .. so it was already on 24 hours a day.. 
It has 3 tuners on 2 cards split to 6 encoders... (although tempted to get another double 
tuner to cover all multiplexes in Melbourne). The frontends are only on when they are 
being used, they run at fairly low power consumption as (since VDPAU) they only run at 
1000Mhz at a very low load(I don't get an issue with jerky motion even though I am on AMD 
platform and clocked right down.. I don't know why but it's working very well, even with 
Advanced 1x de-interlacing)


>PS: What country are you from? Australia have bugger all on during the day at the 
moment; crappy dramas, c-grade movies, judge judy/joe brown/other clones and repeats of 
shows like Just Shoot Me or Seinfeld (this might change with the extra digital channels 
but I'm not holding my breath).

I hate that... before I had mythtv running Mythtv staying at home sick was like torture 
if I was too unwell to get to the DVD store....
Channel GO looks okay but from what I can see they only are going to fire it up from 6pm 
in the evenings.. So again, no daytime telly worth recording in Aus.. 



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