[ale] MythTV/similar hardware recommendations

[Byron Jeff]

On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 06:03:53PM -0700, Alex Carver wrote:
> Some circumstances have suggested that I need to build a DVR (instead of
> renting one) but I need suggestions on hardware since it's a bit more
> resource intensive than most machine applications.

The hardware requirements depends on exactly where the encoding and
decoding of the signal occurs. The requirements for pulling a raw stream
directly from a card and encoding it is completely different than if the
server is receiving a hardware encoded stream.

> 
> I'm not planning on pausing live TV with this thing, just a time shifter
> device where that time could be hours or the next day or two.

Not really a relevant issue unless you are talking about transcoding a raw
stream on the fly. Each of these scenarios you listed above are all based
around storing video on disk and delivering it to the client. The only
difference is when that delivery occurs.

> 
> 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.

> 
> 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.

> 
> 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.

> 
> Thoughts and/or suggestions?

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



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-- 
Byron A. Jeff
Associate Professor: Department of Computer Science and Information Technology
College of Information and Mathematical Sciences
Clayton State University
http://faculty.clayton.edu/bjeff