[mythtv-users] Secrets for low powered front ends ?

[Richard Morton]

When I started with MythTV I was actually looking at LinuxMCE becuase I
loved the both concepts of the interface and the tablet "orbiter", in fact I
still pine after those sort of solutions... especially when I see sonos and
other systems for apple TV and the like.

I therefore bought my system around the supported hardware of LinuxMCE which
(at least at the time) was limiting.

After setting it all up and realising you couldnt get rid of menus that were
superfluous like for me lighting controls and security I gave up with it and
moved to MythTV... however I still love that the main menu screens show
gallery photos in a zoom and pan style...

I would love to see that sort of feature in Myth, and with the menus
disappearing into the background when you are using a tablet as a controller
it would be soooo sleek.

anyway; I have a P5Q fullsize board with q6600 quad core chip, 3 or 4 hard
drives and PCI tuners ( 2 x DVB-T dual tuner cards and a DVB-S2 tuner card).

Video is through a 8500GT nvidia card, but then I have so much oomph in the
server (which is a combined fe/be it's not a problem to not use vdpau (but I
do).
As it runs as a server it is on 24x7 (it is in a cupboard upstairs with long
hdmi to the lounge tv.

all this means I have a huge powerbill... so I am reading this with interest
and reading that a i3 with 35w tdp is nearly as quick as the q6600 I have is
quite astounding.

the second FE is a first gen ION with dual core atom (330), it works well
and even with youtube it works fine not that I watch much that way.

I am going to be running PS2, PS, WII and other game emulators on the
combine FE/BE, so power is important - the ION system would not be able to
run them.

So at 35wtdp the i3 is almost as efficient as an atom and almost as powerful
as a q6600 circa 2007 ( its not overclocked - the q6600 is legendary how far
you can clock it).

However looking at prices in the UK the i3 is out of my budget for now
(unless I can convince myself by looking at the electricity savings....

R
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