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On 12 November 2013 11:07, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz> wrote:
> I have lurked here for ages but I have to admit that WAF has been pretty
> good with the TiVo she bought a few years back so I have not used MythTV for
> quite a while.
>
> Now that her TiVo has died we have to decide on an alternative which will
> keep the WAF up.
>
> Has anyone here recently built or priced a MythTV setup with the following:-
>
> (I have no problem building it and following advice and instructions)
>
> Combined Frontend/Backend to sit under a TV
> Reasonably small form factor

There are plenty of nice small mini-ATX cases around, which, if used
with low powered and fanless components (such as an drive for fast
booting and quiet/low power draw) would do nicely.

> At least two tuners (DVB-T) (Should I use HDHomerun?)

I prefer PCI-e cards myself (HVR2210, 2200), but others advocate
strongly for the HD homerun - both will do the job just fine

> Decent storage

As discussed recently on this list, that depends on your definition of
"decent". If you watch & delete, 1-2TB will be fine - WD "red" drives
were suggested the other day - I have no experience with them. If you
like to hoard and not delete stuff, you'll be wanting 3TB + - although
you caould start small and add to it - and of course it can be in a
different room / box via the network

> Fairly quiet

See above. An SSD and efficient power supply will help. A fanless
graphics card (I recommend NVIDIA for it's good linux integration and
VDPAU decoding) wuch as a GT620 will be OK if you just want a small,
quiet mythTV box.

> Wireless (I have a usb wireless dongle)
> Remote (wireless keyboard and mouse is acceptable if recommended)

I use & recommend the Logitech K400 wireless keyboard / mouse combo.
But then I use my HTPC as much as a "PC" and an "HT" box.

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On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 11:07 AM, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz> wrote:
> I have lurked here for ages but I have to admit that WAF has been pretty
> good with the TiVo she bought a few years back so I have not used MythTV for
> quite a while.
>
> Now that her TiVo has died we have to decide on an alternative which will
> keep the WAF up.
>
> Has anyone here recently built or priced a MythTV setup with the following:-
>
> (I have no problem building it and following advice and instructions)
>
> Combined Frontend/Backend to sit under a TV
> Reasonably small form factor
> At least two tuners (DVB-T) (Should I use HDHomerun?)
> Decent storage
> Fairly quiet
> Wireless (I have a usb wireless dongle)
> Remote (wireless keyboard and mouse is acceptable if recommended)


If buying new and I wanted a combined FE/BE I would get:

1. HP microserver
2. Fanless nvidia GT610
3. An ssd for the OS
4. A 3TB hard drive for recordings and media
5. HDHR from Hadley
6. This remote http://rtr.ca/sapphire_remote/

If you would like to look at a running system (myth 0.27 with two
hdhrs and a number of frontends) you are always welcome at my place
Robert. Bring beer. If you want to see a microserver, we have one at
the office. It may be too big for under your TV (from what i recall of
the room) but it would be my choice for quietness and disk capacity.

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On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:34 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 11:07 AM, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz> wrote:
>> I have lurked here for ages but I have to admit that WAF has been pretty
>> good with the TiVo she bought a few years back so I have not used MythTV for
>> quite a while.
>>
>> Now that her TiVo has died we have to decide on an alternative which will
>> keep the WAF up.
>>
>> Has anyone here recently built or priced a MythTV setup with the following:-
>>
>> (I have no problem building it and following advice and instructions)
>>
>> Combined Frontend/Backend to sit under a TV
>> Reasonably small form factor
>> At least two tuners (DVB-T) (Should I use HDHomerun?)
>> Decent storage
>> Fairly quiet
>> Wireless (I have a usb wireless dongle)
>> Remote (wireless keyboard and mouse is acceptable if recommended)
>
>
> If buying new and I wanted a combined FE/BE I would get:
>
> 1. HP microserver
> 2. Fanless nvidia GT610
> 3. An ssd for the OS
> 4. A 3TB hard drive for recordings and media
> 5. HDHR from Hadley
> 6. This remote http://rtr.ca/sapphire_remote/
>
> If you would like to look at a running system (myth 0.27 with two
> hdhrs and a number of frontends) you are always welcome at my place
> Robert. Bring beer. If you want to see a microserver, we have one at
> the office. It may be too big for under your TV (from what i recall of
> the room) but it would be my choice for quietness and disk capacity.

PS I would then install mythbuntu 12.04, upgrade myth to 0.27 and if
you have a lot of stored/ripped/downloaded media I would install XBMC
because I much prefer it to mythvideo for everything other than
recorded TV. Again, demos available for beer.

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Maybe I should bite the bullet and do this properly.
I will give you a call Nick to have a beer and check out your system.
A backend in the garage and multiple frontends might be the way to go.


On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:34 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 11:07 AM, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz>
> wrote:
> >> I have lurked here for ages but I have to admit that WAF has been pretty
> >> good with the TiVo she bought a few years back so I have not used
> MythTV for
> >> quite a while.
> >>
> >> Now that her TiVo has died we have to decide on an alternative which
> will
> >> keep the WAF up.
> >>
> >> Has anyone here recently built or priced a MythTV setup with the
> following:-
> >>
> >> (I have no problem building it and following advice and instructions)
> >>
> >> Combined Frontend/Backend to sit under a TV
> >> Reasonably small form factor
> >> At least two tuners (DVB-T) (Should I use HDHomerun?)
> >> Decent storage
> >> Fairly quiet
> >> Wireless (I have a usb wireless dongle)
> >> Remote (wireless keyboard and mouse is acceptable if recommended)
> >
> >
> > If buying new and I wanted a combined FE/BE I would get:
> >
> > 1. HP microserver
> > 2. Fanless nvidia GT610
> > 3. An ssd for the OS
> > 4. A 3TB hard drive for recordings and media
> > 5. HDHR from Hadley
> > 6. This remote http://rtr.ca/sapphire_remote/
> >
> > If you would like to look at a running system (myth 0.27 with two
> > hdhrs and a number of frontends) you are always welcome at my place
> > Robert. Bring beer. If you want to see a microserver, we have one at
> > the office. It may be too big for under your TV (from what i recall of
> > the room) but it would be my choice for quietness and disk capacity.
>
> PS I would then install mythbuntu 12.04, upgrade myth to 0.27 and if
> you have a lot of stored/ripped/downloaded media I would install XBMC
> because I much prefer it to mythvideo for everything other than
> recorded TV. Again, demos available for beer.
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtvnz mailing list
> mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/
>



--
Robert Fisher

On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 1:46 PM, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz> wrote:
> Maybe I should bite the bullet and do this properly.
> I will give you a call Nick to have a beer and check out your system.
> A backend in the garage and multiple frontends might be the way to go.

That would be my approach :)

>
>
> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 12:34 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 11:07 AM, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz>
>> > wrote:
>> >> I have lurked here for ages but I have to admit that WAF has been
>> >> pretty
>> >> good with the TiVo she bought a few years back so I have not used
>> >> MythTV for
>> >> quite a while.
>> >>
>> >> Now that her TiVo has died we have to decide on an alternative which
>> >> will
>> >> keep the WAF up.
>> >>
>> >> Has anyone here recently built or priced a MythTV setup with the
>> >> following:-
>> >>
>> >> (I have no problem building it and following advice and instructions)
>> >>
>> >> Combined Frontend/Backend to sit under a TV
>> >> Reasonably small form factor
>> >> At least two tuners (DVB-T) (Should I use HDHomerun?)
>> >> Decent storage
>> >> Fairly quiet
>> >> Wireless (I have a usb wireless dongle)
>> >> Remote (wireless keyboard and mouse is acceptable if recommended)
>> >
>> >
>> > If buying new and I wanted a combined FE/BE I would get:
>> >
>> > 1. HP microserver
>> > 2. Fanless nvidia GT610
>> > 3. An ssd for the OS
>> > 4. A 3TB hard drive for recordings and media
>> > 5. HDHR from Hadley
>> > 6. This remote http://rtr.ca/sapphire_remote/
>> >
>> > If you would like to look at a running system (myth 0.27 with two
>> > hdhrs and a number of frontends) you are always welcome at my place
>> > Robert. Bring beer. If you want to see a microserver, we have one at
>> > the office. It may be too big for under your TV (from what i recall of
>> > the room) but it would be my choice for quietness and disk capacity.
>>
>> PS I would then install mythbuntu 12.04, upgrade myth to 0.27 and if
>> you have a lot of stored/ripped/downloaded media I would install XBMC
>> because I much prefer it to mythvideo for everything other than
>> recorded TV. Again, demos available for beer.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtvnz mailing list
>> mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
>> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
>> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/
>
>
>
>
> --
> Robert Fisher
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/
>

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On Tue, 12 Nov 2013 11:07:18 +1300, you wrote:

>I have lurked here for ages but I have to admit that WAF has been pretty
>good with the TiVo she bought a few years back so I have not used MythTV
>for quite a while.
>
>Now that her TiVo has died we have to decide on an alternative which will
>keep the WAF up.
>
>Has anyone here recently built or priced a MythTV setup with the following:-
>
>(I have no problem building it and following advice and instructions)
>
>
> - Combined Frontend/Backend to sit under a TV
> - Reasonably small form factor

Have you been able to live within the storage limits of a TiVo? It
so, they you can probably get a small form factor box. But if you
will be wanting to add more hard drives, you really only want to use a
very small box for a pure frontend. If you need to use a larger box,
is there room to put it out of the way behind the TV rather than under
it? Only the IR remote sensor really needs to be visible for
operating a MythTV system, and you can use one on a long enough cable
so that you can stick it on the TV somewhere inconspicuous.

> - At least two tuners (DVB-T) (Should I use HDHomerun?)
> - Decent storage

So how much storage do you think you will need or want? If you are
willing to pay, there are good 4 Tbyte hard drives now. But 2-3 Tbyte
is where the cost per Gbyte is best. Remember that the drive your
MythTV system and database runs on needs to be a performance drive -
the database accesses for the scheduler cause heavy disk access. So
you do not want to use a "green" type drive for your system drive. If
you are planning on having more than one drive (recommended), then a
"black" performance type drive for the system drive is best, and it
can also be used for recordings. These days, some people seem to be
using a small SSD for the system drive, but I think that is still a
bit overkill (and expensive). Drives used for recording and storage
only can be the cheaper green drives, but bare in mind that they will
likely be running 24/7, so watch out for the very cheap drives that
say they are not capable of lasting when doing that.

> - Fairly quiet
> - Wireless (I have a usb wireless dongle)
> - Remote (wireless keyboard and mouse is acceptable if recommended)
>
>Any good advice is also appreciated.

The best price would be buying second hand. My mother's box is based
on a Gigabyte GA-M85M-US2H motherboard that uses an Nvidia 8200
chipset with builtin GPU (fanless). That does everything that is
needed for MythTV, and does away with the need for a separate Nvidia
card. Unfortunately, Nvidia has not made chipsets with builtin GPUs
since around the time my mother bought her system in December 2009,
but a second hand motherboard like that in Micro ATX format is a
excellent way to build a small MythTV box.

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On 12 November 2013 13:50, Nick Rout <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 1:46 PM, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz> wrote:
>> Maybe I should bite the bullet and do this properly.
>> I will give you a call Nick to have a beer and check out your system.
>> A backend in the garage and multiple frontends might be the way to go.
>
> That would be my approach :)
>

I think you just want the beer! :)

A separate box is a good idea - more options, plus you will probably
want to run laptops etc as separate frontends... why limit yourself to
just one screen in the house when you want to watch something
different from SWMBO !

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On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 1:59 PM, Curtis Walker <sultanoswing@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 12 November 2013 13:50, Nick Rout <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 1:46 PM, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz> wrote:
>>> Maybe I should bite the bullet and do this properly.
>>> I will give you a call Nick to have a beer and check out your system.
>>> A backend in the garage and multiple frontends might be the way to go.
>>
>> That would be my approach :)
>>
>
> I think you just want the beer! :)

Robert and I have had many beers. I helped him install his first
distro, or was it his first gentoo install. Something like that! Too
long ago to really remember the details.


>
> A separate box is a good idea - more options, plus you will probably
> want to run laptops etc as separate frontends... why limit yourself to
> just one screen in the house when you want to watch something
> different from SWMBO !

Plus the frontend _can_ crash and you really don't want to reboot the
backend while something is recording. The recovery is quite graceful,
but still a PITA.

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We can do things without beer if we really have to. (Just in case anyone
was wondering)

Robert Fisher
On 12 Nov 2013 15:16, "Nick Rout" <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 1:59 PM, Curtis Walker <sultanoswing@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On 12 November 2013 13:50, Nick Rout <nick.rout@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 1:46 PM, Robert Fisher <robert@fisher.net.nz>
> wrote:
> >>> Maybe I should bite the bullet and do this properly.
> >>> I will give you a call Nick to have a beer and check out your system.
> >>> A backend in the garage and multiple frontends might be the way to go.
> >>
> >> That would be my approach :)
> >>
> >
> > I think you just want the beer! :)
>
> Robert and I have had many beers. I helped him install his first
> distro, or was it his first gentoo install. Something like that! Too
> long ago to really remember the details.
>
>
> >
> > A separate box is a good idea - more options, plus you will probably
> > want to run laptops etc as separate frontends... why limit yourself to
> > just one screen in the house when you want to watch something
> > different from SWMBO !
>
> Plus the frontend _can_ crash and you really don't want to reboot the
> backend while something is recording. The recovery is quite graceful,
> but still a PITA.
>
> _______________________________________________
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>