[mythtv-users] recommendations?: energy efficient FE/BE system

[Daryl McDonald]

On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 12:41 PM, James Miller <gajs-f0el at dea.spamcon.org>
wrote:

> On Thu, 19 Feb 2015, Dave MythTV wrote:
>
>  One thing I would suggest is don't be afraid to build something radically
>> different from what you have now.   :-)
>>
>>  <snip>
>
>>
>> For example, I've been very happy with my HD FE/BE combo running on an ECS
>> Liva.  It's about the size of a large bar of soap, and everything is built
>> in including wifi, ethernet, sound, RAM, and SSD. The N2807 SoC has a TDP
>> of just 4.3 watts, is completely fanless, and has no problem handling the
>> broadcast ATSC content.  I bought mine when they were $109, have seen them
>> as low as $99, and I believe they are at $118 right now.    With that kind
>> of capability available, you might find that "building" OR buying a
>> tradition computer with a modular motherboard, cpu, power supply, etc,...
>> it just doesn't make sense anymore unless you want advanced deinterlacing
>> or need your HTPC to do other functions beyond DVR duty.   Or if you want
>> it all in the same case - not the external USB attachments I have for my
>> hard drive, IR receiver, and tuners.
>>
>> You might consider switching your storage strategy as well.  With SoCs
>> using so little power for the computing portion, your spinning hard drives
>> will quickly become the most power-hungry part of the build.  I've been
>> running the smaller 2.5" notebook hard drives for years...  and 2TB
>> capacity notebook drives are less than $90 now.     For noise and power
>> usage, a single 2.5" drive will be much better than an array of multiple
>> 3.5" drives.
>>
>>
>> These HTPCs are not one-size-fits-all, so you'll have to buy or build what
>> makes sense for you and your needs.
>>
>
> Thanks for your input, Dave--this is an interesting option. I guess I'd
> wonder whether, for my scenario, such a system would suffice. My
> uncertainty arises from the fact that, although I'm indifferent to HD
> video, I do get some (OTA) programming in HD. That content has to be
> somehow downgraded (not sure what the technical term is here), as I
> understand it, so as to display properly on my 720p monitor. On a device
> like the ECS, it looks to me like that downgrading would have to be done by
> the CPU, which might get overwhelmed--especially so if another program
> needed to be recorded at the same time as an HD recording was being viewed.
> Your thoughts on that scenario and whether this hardware would be up to it?
>
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I record OTA HD channels all the time and they play fine on my 720p Plasma
tv/monitor, with nothing done to alter them.
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