[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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