[mythtv-users] Mini ITX motherboards

[MacNean C. Tyrrell]

Stephen Tait wrote:

>
>>
>> Anyways, i was wondering if anyone has one of these mini-itx boards 
>> with integrated everything and if it works with mythtv well.
>
>
> Afraid not, but there are plenty of threads on this list archive about 
> general stuff about the EPIA boards and their ilk. General consensus I 
> think is that they're great for watching TV and video on, but less 
> than satisfying for ripping and transcoding MP3's, DVD's, etc - 
> essentially, all the stuff that requires a lot of CPU time.
>
It is for my wife so as long as it can watch live tv/record watch 
recording, without skipping and such she'll be fine.  She has a DVD 
player already and i don't think she cares about transcoding.  She does 
like mythweather, especially if we're going somewhere.  What we have our 
2 tv's in our living room.  She gets the big one or if we have guests or 
if we watch the same thing.  I have a 20in with headphones to watch my 
recordings on my mythtv box.  or sports or whatever she doesn't like.  
So as long as it acts like tivo she doesn't care.

>> The one problem i see is the power supply.
>
>
> You can get external PSU's for most iterations of mini ITX hardware, 
> which will make cooling and modding the case *much* easier.
>
External?  How much they run?  Aparently i've never seen one.  I usually 
build all my friends computers but have never modded something so guess 
i really haven't done enough research.

>> Anyone know what wattage i would need to run one of these mini's and 
>> the pvr 250, and a small size, it has to fit between the back of the 
>> tivo and the harddrives.  Would have to cut a bigger hole for the 
>> cable and make a few holes for the fan.  I mean if i don't have to 
>> buy a case, harddrives and such, i just want to use the case.  I dont 
>> need a cdrom except to install.  etc.  Any help would be appreciated.
>
>
> If this is just going to be used for watching and recording TV, I'd 
> recommend the 350 rather than the 250. It's TV-Out is of exceptionally 
> good quality, and judging by the posts to this list, is generally far 
> better and just as easy to get working compared to the TV-Out's on 
> most GFX/mobos - plus you have the added advantage that you don't even 
> need to think about using closed source drivers. If you're looking to 
> play games or use MythMusic visualisations or suchlike, you may find 
> the limited scope of the 350's TV-Out problematic.
>
> If hard drives are a problem and you have another computer (preferably 
> running Linux), there's a fair few people here who netboot their 
> machines off their central file/myth servers (which also contain the 
> TV cards), which they also use for storage, giving them discless 
> frontends which are *very* quiet. I'm going to attempt this approach 
> myself once my current workstation gets retired.
>
Hard drives not a problem.  If i'm gonna destroy the tivo box anyways 
i'll use the 40 and 60 already in there with LVM.  OK so does the 350's 
tvout work well yet?  I know there were issues with getting it to work, 
and it being difficult to get to work.  Although i mean would 70w be big 
enough to run all this?  or do i need to go a bit bigger.  I don't think 
a 55w would be good enough.

> As a personal opinion piece, I would rather spend the extra moolah on 
> a prettier-than-a-TiVO case (I only have the short lived UK TiVO my 
> mate has as a comparison, mind you) and chuck a low powered mATX 
> solution into it, which would give me far more flexibility in terms of 
> watching DVD's and XviD's and all the other functions ancillary to 
> MythTV, although as pointed out the newer EPIA boards are much more 
> powerful than they used to be and easily capable of pretty much 
> anything you can throw at them. But then, IANAWBCM (Would-Be Case 
> Modder :^) and I'm not a huge fan of proprietary hardware stuff like 
> the mini ITX form factor.
>
didn't know the itx form was proprietary, but it is only 17cm, i mean 
according to my measurements would fit real nice, i would acctually 
install it away from the back so i wouldn't have to mod the back much 
but just run the cables needed through the holes already there, i do 
need a pci riser and would have to support the Tuner card, could prolly 
drill a couples holes in the bottom and run a metal post up and screw 
the tunner card into that.  I still haven't decided to do this yet, just 
think it would work.  I do like the remote reciver being able to run it 
to inside middle of TIVO where the current receiver is.  BTW OT, is 
there a program to have like the Power LED and HDD LEd light up when 
recording and other things.  This way i could get an extra LED and place 
them where the TIVO's current LEd's are.  MMMM more i think about it 
more i think i'll do it.  Just need a couple more dollars.  Soon.

> P.S. hope you're prepared for a good slashdotting once your project is 
> finished!
>
That would be nice.  Never done anything to get much recognition to have 
a server overload like that.  Although some of the modded cases slashdot 
has put up are nice.  Well thank you for the advice and info.  Sounds 
like the intergrated mini itx board is perfect for what i want to do.  
If i understand correctly.

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