[mythtv-users] Backend/Frontend hardware (new system)

Nick Rout nick.rout at gmail.com
Mon Sep 17 23:39:39 UTC 2012


On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 9:36 AM, Michael Watson
<michael at thewatsonfamily.id.au> wrote:
> On 18/09/2012 7:27 AM, Tyler T wrote:
>>
>> Do you still intend to record TV for later viewing? I don't see a
>> tuner in your hardware list.
>>
>> FYI a DVR doesn't require expensive hardware if you're willing to give
>> up commflagging* and transcoding**. Pretty much any PC new enough to
>> have SATA will work as a backend-only, so you could get some random
>> used desktop PC for cheap off Craigslist and run it headless in a
>> closet. Then you can use whatever you like for a separate frontend
>> such as a WD Live or similar media player***.
>>
>> * I prefer manual 30-second skip anyway
>> ** Just get a bigger hard drive, not worth the trouble IMHO
>> *** Note that using something other than an actual Myth FE will
>> require you to schedule recordings via MythWeb, but most probably
>> won't find this a dealbreaker
>>
> Nor do you really need a big beefy machine for frontend work.
> I have several P4 3.0 Ghz Machines with GeForce 8400GS Cards that work
> excellent as frontends.  (There are plenty of SFF HP/Compaq/Dell machines
> that will work perfectly as a frontend)

And most of them power hogs! There is certainly a tradeoff between
cost and power saving and speed and quietness.

> You can still run commflagging on old machines.  All my frontends assist in
> commflagging jobs whilst powered on.
>


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