[mythtv-users] Superserver

[jedi]

On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 04:02:25PM -0400, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>  On 08/24/2010 02:51 PM, Mark wrote:
> >Mark Hutchinson wrote:
> >>Good point yes.
> >>What might some good options be for small frontend machines be
> >>that can be turned off and on easily? I plan to have the
> >>frontends all in the basement as I have 3 CAT 6 cables run to
> >>each TV.  2 cat6 for HDMI and the 3rd for a remote or kb/mouse.
> >>Does suspend work for this?  How would they be woken up?
> >>
> >>Thanks for the thoughts.
> >have you considered mini-ITX atom boards for local frontends?
> >They are very small and make no noise.
> >
> >Remote pc's and long wires are a pain, in case you have'nt played
> >with that yet...
> 
> OK, I'm not going to recommend any specific system.  Normally, I
> wouldn't even reply, but I'd just like to inject a bit of
> non-marketing reality into the thread.
> 
> Note, also, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a /confirmed/
> Atom-hater.  I have a huge and deep bias against Atom.  (For some
> reason, I feel a computer should be able to compute.)
> 
> That said, low-power doesn't have to mean a toy.  See what proper
> design of a real computer system can do (whether you do it or Apple
> does):
> 
> http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html
> http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3468
> 
> (10W idle and 85W max power consumption) and if you figure you'd be
> using VDPAU for decoding /when VDPAU works with the stream you're
> decoding/, you'd be running at close to that idle 10W even when
> decoding, for example, h.264 video.  The big difference, however, is
> that you actually have computing power in reserve when you need it
> (for Flash or video that doesn't meet the codec, profile, bitrate,
> and deinterlacing limitations of VDPAU or whatever other proprietary
> problems we can't solve).
> 
> Now, even if an ION system ran at 0W, and we assume the Mac Mini is
> running at close to idle when using VDPAU decode, that's a typical
> savings of only about 10W.  And, if you're shutting down your
> frontend when not in use, the difference between an Atom-based toy

  OTOH, the Atom based toy probably has a very user friendly power button.

  Plus they are cheap.

  I'm the first guy to declare that an Atom is crap for anything but that
which can be accelerated by an nvidia GPU. However, I have still used them
to replace Mac Minis.

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