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

[Dave MythTV]

On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 7:01 PM, James Miller <gajs-f0el at dea.spamcon.org>
wrote:

> On Wed, 25 Feb 2015, Dave MythTV wrote:
>
>  Yep, when you go for REALLY-low-power systems, things get... interesting.
>> :-)   Trickier to set up, but rewarding when finished.
>>
>>
>> Before I made my LIVA a BE+FE combo, I was running it as a frontend only,
>> to a backend machine which had an Intel Celeron 1037U processor (my
>> previous FE+BE machine).   The 1037U has about twice the performance of
>> the
>>
>
> As I mentioned in a private note, I finally managed to find your original
> thread about this machine, Dave. I saw there that you say have 3 capture
> cards. Just curious, what is/are your capture device(s)? Network tuner(s),
> USB, or what? Thanks
>
>


I went with USB tuners, for a whole bunch of reasons.  :-)


I borrowed a HDHomeRun from a relative for testing, but found that the HDHR
used quite a lot of electricity - on par with the whole rest of my
system.    So using USB tuners, even including the powered USB hub, dropped
my total power consumption by quite a bit.

Secondly, USB tuners keep the data traffic "local".  So if I want to stream
a program to/from another machine, while the LIVA is recording two or three
things, that program being streamed is the only thing on the network.   It
isn't fighting for bandwidth on a network link that already has a
substantial amount of congestion from the traffic to/from the HDHR.   This
is also more robust if your network has interference (wi-fi), or if your
router is flaky.

Third, the USB tuners are *SMALL*, and there are no external power bricks.
So while visually more messy at the computer (can't hide it away somewhere
else like the HDHR), it's a lot more space efficient.   And not needing
power bricks is a huge plus.

Fourth, I really wanted THREE tuners.  With MythTV's amazing scheduling
system, we could *almost* get by with two tuners.  But when you hit that
prime-time snag, and your wife asks:
            "Why is it waiting until next Thursday to record my show that
was a new episode tonight?
                        My friends are going to be talking about it at work
tomorrow!"
.... well, there are times when having the ability to record more programs
*sooner* is better than just making sure they "all get recorded".  :-)
Three tuners with the networked HDHomeRun would also mean having TWO
HDHomeRuns... which is expensive, power hungry (and needing two power
bricks), and just a lot of equipment.

Fifth - cost.   The HDHR Dual is ~$100 new on Amazon ($130 direct from
SiliconDust) and when I was looking, they were I think $60+ used.   It's
been years ago now, but I think I paid $50 shipped for *five* used USB
tuners as a lot back when I bought mine.

Lastly, with everything co-located and with lower overall power usage, it
makes backup/emergency power (UPS) much easier.  Instead of needing the PC,
the network router/switch, and the HDHR(s), possibly in different parts of
the house, to ALL have UPS protection, I can just use a single UPS on the
LIVA.  If (when) everything else goes down, it's no problem - it will keep
on recording.



There are pros and cons to each, and there are good arguments (depending on
your use case) for the networked HDHomeRun as well.   But USB was a clear
standout for me.   My "tuner of choice" at the moment is the "AVerMedia
AVerTVHD Volar (A868R)".   Not because I compared all the options and this
was the best, but because I got a good deal on them at the time, and they
were listed in the LinuxTV database of supported tuners.   If I were doing
it again, I would probably look for a different tuner with an integrated
'F'-connector to tidy things up, not the add-on MMCX-to-F adapter cable
that these require.    But aside from that, I've been very happy with
them.    These are also a 2006/2007 design, so a more modern tuner might
also have better tuning sensitivity and/or lower power consumption.


Hope that helps!
- Dave
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