[ale] MythTV/similar hardware recommendations

[Alex Carver]

On 2016-03-30 21:25, Byron Jeff wrote:
>> At first the recorder will likely be the player, too, although I may
>> want to put a client somewhere else in the future.  I've only heard that
>> an RPi can do a playback reasonably well but suggestions are welcome here.
> 
> I can speak to that. My current setup is the following:
> 
> 1. Comcast Xfinity service.
> 2. 2x HD Homerun Primes with cablecard. Delivers up to 3 MPEG2
> hardware encoded stream over the network each.
> 3. Two clients. First is a Raspi2 with MPEG2 decoding enabled. The second
> is a Pentium G3258 with 8GB ram and 240GB SSD on an H81 MB with HDMI out.
> Both are running Kodi's PVR as their front end interface.
> 4. MythServer is a reconstituted old pentium dual core CPU, 4GB ram, 240 GB
> SSD for the system disk and a 5G video storage disk.
> 
> The Raspi2 does a decent job as long as the hardware decoder is enabled.
> However, the CPU doesn't have enough horsepower to decode streams in
> software.

Can't use the Homeruns.  They don't accept composite or s-video inputs
so I have no way of plugging them into the satellite receiver.

>> Long term storage is not planned, shows would be deleted after watching
>> although being able to suck a file out of the machine if there's a
>> really interesting clip would be good, I can process it elsewhere.
> 
> I guarantee that you'll soon tire of managing exceptions to autoexpiration.
> Since I have the disk space I settled on emulating Dish Networks Primetime
> Anytime. So I record the entire primetime block of the 4 major networks and
> cycle them out automatically after 8 days.

Not really, I don't watch that much TV (maybe three or four hours a week
tops) but occasionally a show will come on that I won't be able to watch
due to scheduling.  So we're talking maybe recording one or two hours
every few weeks.  If it's something I really want to save I just want
the ability to shuffle it off the storage device and then send it to
long term storage (like burning a DVD).

> 
>>
>> Silence and physical size is probably important for now because this
>> first system will have to live behind the TV where the satellite box
>> also lives.  I can't really move the satellite box into a closet, no
>> suitable access to the cable from the dish.  So this probably implies a
>> SSD and a fanless box.
>  Probably. My initial server was an Intel Atom D2500 fanless with the SSD.
> Unfortunately it conked out. Sound wasn't too terribly pressing because the
> server can sit anywhere on the network as the HDHomeruns transport their
> streams via the network.

Since I can't use Homeruns silence is important.  The receiver and TV
are in the living room.  This box would be there, too.

> If it's a single box, I think a Next Unit of Computing may be the sweet
> spot as long as hardware encoding is on the table. Silent, holds a SSD,
> HDMI output, small form factor, reasonable price. Should be able to handle
> both server and client sides without too much trouble.
> 
> BAJ