[mythtv-users] Hardware advice required

[Eric Sharkey]

On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 4:04 PM, Piers Kittel <mailing at biased.org> wrote:
> I'd like to have a
> computer with a low power/low heat CPU so I would be able to install a
> fanless heatsink to minimise noise from the system.
[]
>
> My current plan is to forget what I've got, and instead get a ready built
> SFF PC and repurpose that for mythTV.

I would not recommend buying an off the shelf small form factor PC and
trying to retrofit that with quiet components.

How important is it for this to be small?  Generally smaller cases
have smaller fans and less internal air volume.  The fans need to spin
faster to move the same air across the components.

If your parents live in a submarine or small apartment a small PC may
be worthwhile.  Otherwise, I would consider trying to find a corner to
stick a larger system and use that space to help keep it quiet.  If
you decide later you need to add in another disk, or some component
not easily available in a low profile format, or you just want to add
in a fanless video card that has a huge heat sink, you have a lot more
flexibility when you start with a larger case.  If it's kept out of
sight, what it looks like isn't very important.

Also, if you're recording broadcast TV, keep in mind that much of it
is HD now, even if you're only planning to display it downscaled to
SD.  This would mean either transcoding everything (cpu ++) or you'll
need sufficient disk space and video processing to handle HD video.

Eric