[mythtv-users] Cheap and quiet hardware for SD MythTV - possible?

Gordon McCrae gordon.mccrae at googlemail.com
Fri Jul 31 21:32:13 UTC 2009


Stroller wrote:
>
> On 31 Jul 2009, at 20:23, Eric Sharkey wrote:
>> ...
>> If you just want a simple-to-use no-maintenance appliance for a
>> non-technical user, I really couldn't recommend  MythTV at this time
>> on any hardware.
>
>
> I had already asked this question on IRC when I posted yesterday, but
> I must have done so when no-one was reading as I got no responses.
> Later, after I posted here the channel came alive with cries of "that
> idiot wanting to build a Mythbox so cheap!".
>
> For the benefit of others in a similar position to me, the consensus
> was that £200 is probably still a *minimum* cost for a Mythbox. This
> approximately fits with Gordon's suggestion of the Revo (now £160 when
> I search for it) plus a tuner (cheapest USB DVB-T stick at my local
> computer warehouse is £28.50, and I haven't even checked Linux
> compatibility of that, yet).
>
> I had been of the impression that - since 400mhz Pentium IIs played
> DVDs just fine back in the day - that a 1ghz Pentium III or so would
> be fine for MythTV. Such an old desktop would obviously be too loud,
> but surely an Atom would do just fine? Not at all!
>
> The IRC channel informed me that the playback requirements of DVB-T
> signals may be higher than that of ye olde MPEG-2 and pointed out that
> one has no control over this factor because one can only accept the
> video stream that's being broadcast. Tough luck if it's too demanding
> for your CPU to decode in real time! STBs may have dedicated decoding
> chips. Not only that, but there are concerns with the demands of the
> MySQL backend running on a measly Atom.
>
> The big concern appears to be that, sure, low-end machines may be
> "capable" of running MythTV, but the issues described may result in
> sluggishness, an unresponsive UI and generally dissatisfactory
> performance. Examples were cited.
>
> I'm sorry that I can't remember any of the names of the folks who
> advised me of this, and apologies if I've got any details wrong - my
> IRC client isn't configured to log in-channel conversations.
>
> I get the impression that this is a slightly contentious issue and
> that for every person who says "can't be done", someone else will say
> "works for me". However this should be particularly taken in the
> context that the PVR is to be located at my ma's. The only reasons I
> considered Myth for her is that I fancy using Myth here at my place
> just as soon as I can be bothered to bolt a dish to the wall, and
> because of the appealing notion to be able to remotely schedule
> recordings to take place on her box in the meantime. However £160 for
> an Atom base unit is twice the price of an off-the-shelf PVR and -
> especially considering maintenance, tinkering and WAF (or MAF, as the
> case may be) - there's no way that can be justified.
>
> Many thanks to all who commented, both here & on IRC.
>
First of all, before anyone jumps on my post again; apologies I didn't
notice that you wanted the box to be a BE also, so yes that'll increase
the price.

Regarding the comments you've seen / heard about ATOMs not being up to
it, well I'm guessing that's from people who've never tried it in
practice. My REVO works quite happily as both a FE and BE (Hauppauge
Nova-TD for tuner). It has a 160Gb HDD, and e-SATA port, so is a
perfectly feasible FE/BE combination if you wanted to go down that
route, it certainly makes a prettier BE than most desktop PCs.

I have absolutely no tearing / sluggishness etc. Myth FE performance is
just as good as my Core2 desktop, again, until someone's actually tried
it then they can't comment.

Having said all that, if you're looking to supply anyone a MythTV system
"that just works", then that changes the equation completely. At this
point in time, that's certainly not going to happen, no matter how much
money you're willing to spend on it. MythTV is definitely still a system
for people who know their way around computers (never mind Linux), so
for now (and probably for the foreseeable future)  isn't a solution to
put in for someone else who isn't computer literate.

In the meantime, take the leap yourself and get familiar with MythTV,
you may find your own experiences lead you to different conclusions than
all of us.

cheers
Gordon




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