[mythtvnz] Quiet Frontend?

[Robin Gilks]

> Does anyone have advice on building a quiet frontend? I have been using
> a standard PC as a combined backend/frontend (PVR500, Athlon XP 2200+,
> home made lirc, FTA, etc) parked next to my TV and stereo, for some
> time. It looks stupid, and makes a terrible racket, but as the master of
> my domain, I really don't care, and can always turn the volume up.
>
> However $MISSUS2.0 would like something quiet (that can be hidden), in
> our new house. I have permission to spend money, but I don't want to go
> over the top.
>
> There are a plethora of different options, and apart from separating the
> frontend, I can't seem to work out what to do. Advice and opinions would
> be appreciated.
>

New home - so you've got CAT5 cable running to every room so no problem
putting the existing machine into a cupboard somewhere and running a
frontend only machine!

I'm running an Epia SP13000 which hasn't run out of steam yet for TV, DVD
or DivX, Gallery, Music and Mythstream (podcast, streaming audio etc). Its
diskless so no harddrive noise, the BIOS supports network booting without
any hassles. The only change I'm going to make is go for a DC-DC supply
with an external AC-DC brick as the mains one is VERY inefficient and gets
quite warm (and hence its fan runs noisily). Its using a PVR150 card for
capture (so in my case is a combine fe-be machine) with 600G of raid5
array on the server box for all the data.

Another thought I've had is to move the TV so the wall its on backs onto a
cupboard under the stairwell and put all the noisy bits in there - that
depends on the WAF for the rearrangement of all the furniture - just means
going through a door to change a DVD or CD :-) Perhaps the geography of
your room would allow a similar arrangement.


-- 
Robin Gilks