Revision as of 23:03, 14 October 2009

Myth and Home Theater Setup

One of my many hobbies includes home theater and all the little nuances that come with it. I got into mythtv in late 2003 and it handles all my video/movie needs.

==Combined main Backend/Frontend and Raid==

• Motherboard: Abit IP35 Pro
  
• Processor: Intel Q6600 G0 stepping @ stock speeds
  
• Ram: 2GB HP ddr2 cas 4
  
• Hard disks: system: Seagate 2.5" 160GB 5400rpm momentus(system disk), Myth recording: 750Gbx2 sata 2 western digital, Raid 5 number 1: 500Gbx5 seagate 7200.10 drives, Raid 5 number 2: 300Gbx5 sata 2 drives. Seagate 7200.9. Total Storage ~5TB
  
• Video Card: Nvidia 9600 GT 512mb full vdpau capable
  
• Remote: Logitech Harmony 676 configured to use microsoft mce remote - phillips type
  
• Case: CoolMaster Stacker STC-T01
  
• Tuner Cards: HD-PVR 1212, PVR-150, ATI HDTV wonder, Aver A180 and firewire through Motorola 6412 cablebox
• Dual bonded Gigabit nics for high throughput
• Sata Hotswap AMS -B 5-in-3 SATA-II Cage x1 (up to 4 can fit)
  
• Internal Drive Cages - Cooler Master Stacker 4-in-3 internal x2
• Port Multiplier sata 2 port multiplier 1 to 5 x2 (up to 4)
  
• Sata PCI-E card PCI-e 2 channel esata card SIL3132 chipset x2
  
• Software: Running Mythbuntu 9.10 beta 32 bit which includes support for diskless booting for clients (so nice)
  
• Power Usage: About 180 watts with hard drives active = $8 a month in power bill

Mythtv .22
Hellanzb 0.13 and it's webportal zussaweb - automated nzb downloading/checking/decompressing
Running webmin current version to handle administration and setup of shares, etc
Also I have added the program Spindown for linux to control hard drive spindown after 2 hours idle

==Ion Home Theater Frontend==

• Motherboard:ASUS P5L-MX Microatx
  
• Ram: 1GB HP ddr2 cas 4
  
• Hard disks: none using mythbuntu diskless image over pxe boot
  
• Video Card: onboard nvidia 9400
  
• Case: M350 vesa mountable case
  
• Power supply: included with ion board - system uses 22 watts max, 16 at idle
  
• Remote: Gyration MCE mouse
  
• Network: Gigabit
  
• Software: Diskless network boot of mythbuntu 9.10 beta currently

==Home Theater Frontend 2==

• Motherboard:ASUS P5L-MX Microatx
  
• Processor: Intel E2180 overclocked to 3.1ghz
  
• Ram: 2GB OCZ Platinum 800 ddr2 cas 4
  
• Hard disks: none using mythbuntu diskless image over pxe boot
  
• Video Card: Nvidia 9400 GT 512mb - PCI Express
  
• Case: Antec 2400 HTPC case
  
• Power supply: included with case
  
• Remote: Gyration MCE mouse
  
• Network: Gigabit
  
• Software: Diskless network boot of mythbuntu 9.10 beta currently

==Personal PC==

• Motherboard:MSI K9A2 Platinum AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX
  
• Processor: AMD Phenom 9600 2.3ghz
  
• Ram: 4GB
  
• Hard disks:
  2x250GB sata raid 0. Dual booting into Kubuntu Feisty or Windows Xp
• Video Card: ASUS EAH4850 TOP/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 4850 512MB - PCI-Express
  
• Monitor - 21" Sony Trinitron
• Case: Antec P180B black case (super quiet)
  
• Power supply: Ultra V series 500 watt
• Remote: Firefly by snapstream (rf remote)
  
• Dual bonded Gigabit nics for high throughput

Experience: Not happy with the ati card in linux (fine in windows). It has a lot of glitches with the linux drivers available.

==Office PC==

• Motherboard:Asus P5W DH Deluxe
  
• Processor: Intel E4300 overclocked to 3ghz
  
• Ram: 2GB HP Micron d9 ram @ 1000 ddr2 cas 4
  
• Hard disks:
  2x250GB sata raid 0. Dual booting into Kubuntu Feisty or Windows Xp
• Video Card: Nvidia 7900 GS 256 megs ram - PCI-Express
  
• Monitor - 24" lcd
• Case: Antec P180B black case (super quiet)
  
• Power supply: Ultra V series 500 watt
• Remote: Firefly by snapstream (rf remote)
  
• Dual bonded Gigabit nics for high throughput

Experience: Windows xp primary and then network boot into mythbuntu 64-bit for myth usage.

==garage/workout/gym frontend==

• Motherboard: Epox EP-8NPASLI socket 754
  
• Processor: AMD 3700+ socket 754
  
• Ram: 1GB (500x2) ballistix ram
  
• Hard disks: diskless network boot - mythbuntu
  
• Video Card: old pci video card
  
• Ethernet: gigabit
  
• Remote: Firefly by snapstream
  

Experience: Handles 1080i content no problem for me with xvmc bob deinterlacing. I use this on a 32" standard def crt television in my garage. Basically this is to display tv/movies while working out with the home gym in the garage.

Network

My house has gigabit eithernet wired to every room (dirty and tiring weekend that was)

• Router - Linksys 150-N with Ddr-Wrt full generic version (must flash first with mini generic version then reflash with full generic version
• Switch - Dell PowerConnect 2716 This switch uses very little power ~8 watts and it supports 802.3ad Link Aggregation which allows computers on my network with multiple gigabit ethernet adapters to have the bandwidth doubled on the same internal ip address
  
• Diskless pxe boot setup in ddr-wrt - need to add line to dhcpd detail window to start pxe boot correctly

Power

• All computers have APC battery backups and the networking equipment shares a battery backup as well
• OPTI-UPS AVR SS1200 keeps my power clean for all the electronics not on battery backups

Home Theater Gear

• Sony VPH-1272q projector x 2 - I like to run these at 1280x1024 to get the best picture out of them. One in is the main home theater and one is mounted on my ceiling in my room.
  

• ONKYO HT-S790 7.1 (Also a 2x 18" Infinite Baffle subwoofer is a project right now)
  
• Sony 7.1 system and a random mix of speakers (secondary sound system upstairs)
  
• Xbox 360 arcade with 120GB drive

Current Projects

-Update 10-09 -

Homebuilt LCD projector --in progress-- 1920x1080p native resolution - 550watt HTI bulb, 18" E F lens. Sharp WXUGA 15.4" widescreen laptop panel and controller. This projector will be incorporated into a custom entertainment center and the rather large projector case will be supported by the computer and raid rack that will sit on the other side of the wall.
Still havn't finished the lcd projector. I should have this done sometime in the next few months. It just needs to be assembled. But I have to use a large woodworking shop to finish up and it's over 90 miles away

Infinite Baffle Subwoofers: Will use two 18" high volume subwoofers and a dual channel 2000+ watt subwoofer along with custom EQ rack. - delayed due to lack of funds. I think I may try to do get this done this winter though.

Running a wireless point to point network with a friend that lives a quarter mile away. This will be done using a combination of 700mhz and 900mhz mini-pci cards and custom built antennas. There are line of sight issues as there are trees in the way. (hence the usage of 700 and 900 mhz spectrum). Planned hardware is Ubiquiti XR9, XR7 and the routerstation pro as the base station.

Retired Computers

Parents Combined backend/frontend

• Motherboard: Asus P5WD2-E Premium
  
• Processor: Intel Pentium D 830 Dual core 3.0Ghz - Processor is undervolted and underclocked to 2.4ghz
  
• Hard disks: system: 1x 500Gb
  
• Tuner cards - PVR500 and AverTV A180 hd tuner
• Video Card: Nvidia FX5300 - PCI-Express
  
• Case: old server case.

Notes: this is my retired mythbackend system. It has been undervolted to lower operating temperature and power usage. mythbuntu 64-bit

Backend Retired -10-08-07 due to high power requirements - is now a frontend for the living room that is off most of the time.

• Motherboard: Asus P5WD2-E Premium
  
• Processor: Intel Pentium D 830 Dual core 3.0Ghz - Processor is undervolted and underclocked to 2.4ghz
  
• External water cooling: Cooler Master Aquagate RL-HUC-E8U1
  
• Ram: 1GB PQI ddr2 cas 4
  
• Hard disks: system: 40GB IDE disk, Myth recording: 500Gbx2 sata 2 rebadged seagate 7200.10, Raid 5 number 1: 500Gbx5 seagate 7200.10 drives, Raid 5 number 2: 300Gbx5 sata 2 drives. Seagate 7200.9. Total Storage ~5TB
  
• Video Card: Nvidia FX5300 - PCI-Express
  
• Case: CoolMaster Stacker STC-T01
  
• Tuner Cards: PVR-500, ATI HDTV wonder, Aver A180 and firewire through Motorola 6412 cablebox
• Dual bonded Gigabit nics for high throughput
• Software: Fedora 7 32 bit version for compatibility. Modified kernel with port multiplier support and also removed experimental firewire stack in favor of the old working stack.
• Power Usage: Using a kill-a-watt meter, all components minus raid disks use 140 watts of power in idle (I have undervolted the cpu heavily to get it this low). With raid disks in idle, the power usage is 232 watts. Hard disks spin down after 2 hours and system drops to 140 watts of usage. At my current power rates, this is ~ $60 a year.

Experience: Main control is through WebMin 1.350 and VNC. I highly recommend if you want to run a headless system
Hellanzb 0.13 and it's webportal zussaweb - automated nzb downloading/checking/decompressing
Apache in secure mode for website hosting
Torrent client
Secure ftp server

Old Frontend - Ritired November 2006- Given to parents as combined frontend/backend

• Motherboard: Asus P4V8X-MX microatx
  
• Processor: Intel P4 2.4Ghz socket 478
  
• Ram: 512MB random brand memory
  
• Hard disks: Cheap 20GB maxtor 7200
  
• Video Card: Nvidia fx5200 agp fanless
  
• Ethernet: Gig ethernet with realtek card
  
• Other: Audigy 2 SB0240
  
• Keyboard/Mouse: Logitech Wireless Duo - RF
  
• Remote: Windows MCE RC6 remote

Experiences: Handles 1080i and 720p content. I can even turn off bob and xvmc and it has enough power to run it software decoding.

Xbox Frontend

• Xbox 1.6
  
• Executer 3 modchip
  
• 160GB harddrive
  
• Running Avalaunch to XBMC and uses new connect scripts in perl
  

Experience: Able to run standard def and avi no problem with standard kernel deinterlacing - i no longer really use this much. Havn't updated