[mythtv-users] Request for sticky topic - low power consumption contest

[myLC at gmx.net]

John Drescher wrote:
===================
> I believe that accurately measuring this is out of the
> scope of most users since they do not have $1000+ setups
> to get accurate power usage readings. It has been shown on
> quite a few review sites that "Kill A Watt" meters are not
> accurate enough to measure this.

True - let's put it this way: You can look up what a certain
combination of board and processor is going to consume under
which circumstances. It's being published by companies using
these (even 5K+) setups.
While it might be hard to tell in the area between 20-35W,
new ARM boards are coming out consuming even less than 3W
(max). All I'm saying is - if you can report one of those
systems running Myth-TV without limitations - put it on top
of the list and see if anybody can do it better.
It doesn't hurt to list a specific manufacturer. Say you got
a "ZOTAC IONITX-T-U NVIDIA ION - Intel Atom D525 -
Motherboard" (I don't) and it fulfills its Myth-TV duties (I
can't tell), put it on the list. Also list the price
(automated via Google-Shopping?), which in this case would
currently be $92.50.
This way, users can look up what systems to pick for Myth-TV
if they want low power consumption at a decent price.


> Also Full load and Idle do not show the total picture as
> i3 systems (depending on the work load) can be more energy
> efficient than Atom systems since i3s get the same amount
> of work done much faster and thus return to idle much
> faster.

In case of watching/recording TV the job is "always the
same" though. The system has to be ON while watching or
recording and it has to be SOFT-OFF when waiting. If a
system has a DSP handling the playback and it's being
supported by Myth-TV this can be a killer argument which
affects the power consumption greatly. So, no matter how
fast your i3-7 is - if the integrated GFX can handle the job
you're better off - and that power consumption would be what
matters in the end.