[mythtv-users] Hardware Suggestions

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Wed Mar 17 21:48:20 UTC 2010


On Wednesday 17 March 2010 11:29:41 am Michael Tiller wrote:
> MythTV users,
> 
> I've been running MythTV for over 5 years now.  I originally built the
> machine myself and in that time, I've had numerous hardware failures.  I
> think the tally stands at 3 power supplies (with 2 cases), 1 CPU (my own
> fault), at least one motherboard.  I suspect these crappy power supplies
> have a lot to do with it, who knows.  I don't mess around with the machines
> much once they are built so I'm not sure what has caused it.

The power supplies sold with cases are generally pretty poor, unless it's an 
expensive well-known maker case. As another person mentioned, I'd also suggest 
replacing  no-name PSUs with good quality units, preferably with ay least an 
80% efficiency.

> 
> Last time I even mentioned this in this newsgroup I was accused of gross
> incompetence by several people.  I'm not interested in hearing all the
> reasons I'm probably to blame so let's just stipulate it up front and spare
> me the insults.
> 
> The machine is again teetering on the brink of failure (takes several tries
> to boot up but runs fine once up?!).  I'm expecting a hardware failure any
> day now.  My question is what next?  I'm sick of this revolving door of
> hardware and frankly it isn't helping the WAF much either.  I've got lots
>  of computers but for some reason the Myth system has all the problems.
> 
> I'm contemplating just buying a stock system of some kind rather than
> assembling something from parts.  Since I've upgraded to two outboard
> capture devices (HD-PVR and HDHR), I don't really need my old PVR-150 any
> more and that opens me up to smaller (fanless?) computers with VDPAU
>  capable graphics cards.  In fact, VDPAU (and a reasonable CPU just to run
>  the frontend GUI) are about my only requirements since I can use the HDHR
>  IR pickup via TCP/IP.
> 
> So I'm open to suggestions about potential systems.  I'm aware of the Acer
> Aspire Revo.  That looks nice (small, cheap, capable).  I'd have to replace
> the HD, not sure how easy that would be with such a device (and whether
> there would be any issues having it accept a 1TB hard drive in its place).
> Anybody have any other suggestions for some small, cheap and capable
>  systems that I could replace my existing setup with?

The Revo is indeed a nice machine, for a frontend, but I wouldn't use it for a 
backend. The internal HDD is a 2.5" laptop type, not noted for great 
performance, but you can netboot the machine and not need any hard drive at 
all. I wouldn't put a 1TB in it (not even sure if you can get that capacity in 
a 2.5" form factor), as I wouldn't use the Revo for a B/E, or for storage.

If you really want a larger drive you could use the E-Sata port, but you 
really only need a smallish drive for the OS and the frontend code.

If you do use it as a BE/FE combo I'd use a separate drive for the OS and the 
database and something else (probably external) for video storage.

> 
> Ideally, I'd like to hear from people who actually have working setups with
> similar hardware.  Things like the Revo look cools, but I need to know if
> they actually work.

They do, and quite well, but only as frontends, as I said.

Personally I'd go with a server class machine for running the backend and 
video storage. That's what I do, server machines are designed for 24/7 
operation. They do tend to be loud, but if installed in a garage or basement 
who cares? Used server class machines can be had relatively cheaply these 
days, a 4U rackmount machine can hold a lot of drives for a RAID array.


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