Mailing List Archive: MythTV: Users

Frontend ION but with DVB card?

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oeschey at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 12:37 AM

Post #1 of 11 (1428 views)
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Frontend ION but with DVB card?

Hi,

I'm currently thinking about switching to MythTV after finding out
that none of the current Mediaplayer thingies (tried ACRyan PlayonHD
and Xtreamer) does what I want, or is too closed source to have a good
future. I also currently have a Siemens Gigaset DVB-S Receiver that is
at the same time over- and underpowered (it's basically a embedded
device with USB etc, but can only play mpeg2).
So MythTV to me really looks promising, as it covers regular TV and
also the MediaPlayer.
My preferred way would be something like the Acer Revo or a Zotac ION
based device, but where would I put the DVB-S card? I also have a
server running (Windows 2003 currently, could probably switch to Linux
with loosing the ActiveDirectory), so that could serve as backend with
the DVB-S card, but it would mean that I'm dependent on the server for
watching TV. I wouldn't care as I quite never watch TV anyway, but my
wife would probably kill me when the server has a hardware crash ;)
Another thing that' important in my case, is that I still have a old
CRT TV with scart connectors. I found a DIY VGA->RGBscart converter
and hope that works.

So basically my question is, is there a way to have a ION based setup
but with a PCI slot for the DVB-S? I guess I couldn't build anything
myself with the same WAF where those cases alone already cost nearly
as much as the Revo...

Lars
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mythtv at theseekerr

Nov 17, 2009, 1:35 AM

Post #2 of 11 (1392 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 7:37 PM, Lars Oeschey <oeschey [at] gmail> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm currently thinking about switching to MythTV after finding out
> that none of the current Mediaplayer thingies (tried ACRyan PlayonHD
> and Xtreamer) does what I want, or is too closed source to have a good
> future. I also currently have a Siemens Gigaset DVB-S Receiver that is
> at the same time over- and underpowered (it's basically a embedded
> device with USB etc, but can only play mpeg2).
> So MythTV to me really looks promising, as it covers regular TV and
> also the MediaPlayer.
> My preferred way would be something like the Acer Revo or a Zotac ION
> based device, but where would I put the DVB-S card? I also have a
> server running (Windows 2003 currently, could probably switch to Linux
> with loosing the ActiveDirectory), so that could serve as backend with
> the DVB-S card, but it would mean that I'm dependent on the server for
> watching TV. I wouldn't care as I quite never watch TV anyway, but my
> wife would probably kill me when the server has a hardware crash ;)
> Another thing that' important in my case, is that I still have a old
> CRT TV with scart connectors. I found a DIY VGA->RGBscart converter
> and hope that works.
>
> So basically my question is, is there a way to have a ION based setup
> but with a PCI slot for the DVB-S? I guess I couldn't build anything
> myself with the same WAF where those cases alone already cost nearly
> as much as the Revo...
>
> Lars
>

There's nothing fundamentally stopping you from using an Ion system as a
combined frontend/backend. Recording an MPEG2 stream straight to disk
doesn't take much CPU. Neither does playback using VDPAU. Program listing
processing (mythfilldatabase) and commercial detection are reasonably
intensive, but with Myth's default settings, jobs should just take longer
rather than bringing the system to a halt.

Others who are actually using Ion systems as FE/BE systems can probably be
more specific, but it seems to me that the dual core Ion systems should make
an adequate backend for a single tuner system.

- Chris

oeschey at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 1:40 AM

Post #3 of 11 (1394 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

2009/11/17 Christopher Kerr <mythtv [at] theseekerr>:

> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 7:37 PM, Lars Oeschey <oeschey [at] gmail> wrote:

> There's nothing fundamentally stopping you from using an Ion system as a
> combined frontend/backend.

oh, I do know that a ION based system is adequate for FE/BE, *but* I
need to plug my DVB-S card somewhere ;) As far as I have seen, neither
the Revo nor the Zotac boards have a PCI slot?

Lars
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mythtv at theseekerr

Nov 17, 2009, 2:06 AM

Post #4 of 11 (1391 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 8:40 PM, Lars Oeschey <oeschey [at] gmail> wrote:

> 2009/11/17 Christopher Kerr <mythtv [at] theseekerr>:
>
> > On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 7:37 PM, Lars Oeschey <oeschey [at] gmail> wrote:
>
> > There's nothing fundamentally stopping you from using an Ion system as a
> > combined frontend/backend.
>
> oh, I do know that a ION based system is adequate for FE/BE, *but* I
> need to plug my DVB-S card somewhere ;) As far as I have seen, neither
> the Revo nor the Zotac boards have a PCI slot?
>
> Lars
>

Ah, missed that it was a PCI tuner.

A separate backend is probably the way to go, so long as you remember to
treat it like a real server. Shouldn't be too hard - my combined
backend/frontend gets about 6 reboots a year - about 4 for distro upgrades
and associated trouble, and the odd power failure. I've never had
mythbackend crash. (That said, this is based only on my own anecdotal
experience). Mythfronted is a different story, but crashes there won't
affect the recordings.

- Chris

jstembridge at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 2:13 AM

Post #5 of 11 (1384 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

2009/11/17 Lars Oeschey <oeschey [at] gmail>:
> oh, I do know that a ION based system is adequate for FE/BE, *but* I
> need to plug my DVB-S card somewhere ;) As far as I have seen, neither
> the Revo nor the Zotac boards have a PCI slot?

The ASUS AT3N7A-I is an ION Mini-ITX board with a PCI slot. You'll
need a case obviously which will push the price up relative to the
Revo.

Alternatively I think there are USB DVB-S tuners available, though
they don't seem very common.
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oeschey at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 2:34 AM

Post #6 of 11 (1387 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

2009/11/17 Christopher Kerr <mythtv [at] theseekerr>:

> Ah, missed that it was a PCI tuner.

hm, I'm not definately bound to that, maybe I could get a USB tuner,
though it will get a bit ugly I guess, and I don't know nothing about
them...

> A separate backend is probably the way to go, so long as you remember to
> treat it like a real server. Shouldn't be too hard - my combined
> backend/frontend gets about 6 reboots a year - about 4 for distro upgrades
> and associated trouble, and the odd power failure. I've never had
> mythbackend crash. (That said, this is based only on my own anecdotal
> experience). Mythfronted is a different story, but crashes there won't
> affect the recordings.

There's just those two points about this, I'm not concerned about
updates, but more about crashes. I would have to harden it (mirrored
disks), and just would have too much to rely on it. When it's crashed,
there's no more TV, and since I don't plan on more than one FE (until
kids grow old enough), there just would be no real reason for
separating it. I could still make it a second BE for transcoding or
stuff, but I don't want to be dependant on it. It's just a desktop PC
after all ;)
And second, it would have to run out of S3 as long as TV runs and
cosume energy...

Lars
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oeschey at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 2:37 AM

Post #7 of 11 (1380 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

2009/11/17 James Stembridge <jstembridge [at] gmail>:

> The ASUS AT3N7A-I is an ION Mini-ITX board with a PCI slot. You'll
> need a case obviously which will push the price up relative to the
> Revo.

this looks very interesting, also with the price...
http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/a451666.html
I guess mini-ITX cases should be findable easily.

> Alternatively I think there are USB DVB-S tuners available, though
> they don't seem very common.

maybe there's someone on here that already has experiences which ones
work good with MythTV? Probably it would be a good idea also to have
one with a remote?

--
www.perforations.de
www.raahoorkhuit.de
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oeschey at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 3:22 AM

Post #8 of 11 (1378 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

2009/11/17 James Stembridge <jstembridge [at] gmail>:

> The ASUS AT3N7A-I is an ION Mini-ITX board with a PCI slot. You'll
> need a case obviously which will push the price up relative to the
> Revo.

seems there is an issue with the fan on this one...
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3630&p=2 (expectable with a
40mm fan I guess).
I'm thinking if that could be avoided by using a 120mm fan with the
case? If that is possible at all with a mini-ITX case...

Lars
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peter at wurmsdobler

Nov 17, 2009, 4:42 AM

Post #9 of 11 (1375 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

Hello,
The ASRock IONSTAR Atom 330 Nettop which uses the ION chipset and a dual
Atom 330 works fine for me as a combined backend/frontend. As DVB tuner
I use the Haupauge WinTV-NOVA-T USB stick.
I am still waiting for the IR remote control (Cyberlink Media Center
Remote Control and IR Receiver) to be delivered, then I'll hope that it
will work.
Kind regards,
peter
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jstembridge at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 5:28 AM

Post #10 of 11 (1371 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

2009/11/17 Lars Oeschey <oeschey [at] gmail>:
> seems there is an issue with the fan on this one...
> http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3630&p=2 (expectable with a
> 40mm fan I guess).

The productions models apparently come with a slower/quieter fan:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1079/1/

> I'm thinking if that could be avoided by using a 120mm fan with the
> case? If that is possible at all with a mini-ITX case...

I doubt many mini-itx cases have room for a 120mm fan, but I'd expect
you'd be able to replace the fan with something larger to get a better
noise to cooling ratio.
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gvenkat at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 11:26 AM

Post #11 of 11 (1340 views)
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Re: Frontend ION but with DVB card? [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 5:28 AM, James Stembridge <jstembridge [at] gmail>wrote:

> 2009/11/17 Lars Oeschey <oeschey [at] gmail>:
> > seems there is an issue with the fan on this one...
> > http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3630&p=2 (expectable with a
> > 40mm fan I guess).
>
> The productions models apparently come with a slower/quieter fan:
> http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1079/1/
>
> > I'm thinking if that could be avoided by using a 120mm fan with the
> > case? If that is possible at all with a mini-ITX case...
>
> I doubt many mini-itx cases have room for a 120mm fan, but I'd expect
> you'd be able to replace the fan with something larger to get a better
> noise to cooling ratio.
>

ZOTAC also has the ZOTAC IONITX F series Intel Atom motherboard that has 1
PCIe x16 slot, that could be a potential candidate for use here:

US -
http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-ionitx-f-e-atom-n330-1-6ghz-dual-core-mini-itx-intel-motherboard.html
DE -
http://pdde.zotac.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=185&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Newegg has this motherboard and a mini-ITX case available for about US$200
(+ shipping and tax) as part of a combo deal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.295096

-=Venkat=-

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