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config ideas for MythBE/NAS + Myth/XBMC/Boxee FE

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  • #11
    Originally posted by deanjo View Post
    My server pulls duty for NFS / MythTV BE / FTP / Bittorrent / Backup. I run 3 other machines serving as HTPC's through out the house with a few workstations in the office.
    The 3 other HTPC's, are they just light front-ends?
    If so what do you use Myth/XBMC/Boxee?

    Thanks

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    • #12
      Originally posted by movieman View Post
      Yeah, I'm up to 2.5TB just for SD shows and videos on MythTV and that's generally transcoding them to low bit-rate H.264 after capture, so 1TB is not much for HD unless you're going to watch shows quickly and delete them.

      If I was to build it again I'd be tempted to use a small SSD for the OS to improve boot time; even with a bunch of non-essential software installed the OS partition is only about 12GB with about 6GB used so it doesn't need much.
      Are you using a FE+BE config?

      what's the cheapest/smallest SSD one can get nowadays, or is a 4GB USB-flash fine for a MythBE/NAS?
      I guess it all depends on how much I want to add, 4GB I imagine would be pretty limiting (tis all I got atm)
      Last edited by jalyst; 22 January 2010, 12:40 PM.

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      • #13
        The 3 HTPC's are Asus M3N78-VM boards using the built in 8200 IGP's with dual core X2 processors. For hardrives they are just using some old Maxtor 250's that I had kicking around. Very minimal systems running a XBMC front end. Boxee is pretty much useless in Canada.

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        • #14
          Originally posted by jalyst View Post
          so you don't reckon bother with any redundancy?
          It's also meant to be a NAS for all content.
          So far I've never had a complete and sudden failure of a hard drive: it's always been preceded by bad sectors that gave me time to copy files onto a new disk. I think the most common occurrence is a drive that stops working soon after installation due to firmware/manufacturing fault, whereas old drives generally fail slowly.

          For my MythTV box all the recordings go on one disk because I won't cry too much if it fails, while any important files are on the other disk and I back them up now and again. So far that's been fine.

          However, when the next generation of hard drives come out I'm thinking of moving all the files to Raid-Z2 on an OpenSolaris server and having the MythTV backend write to it over the LAN. At least in principle, ZFS seems much more robust than traditional RAID.

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          • #15
            Originally posted by jalyst View Post
            Are you using a FE+BE config?
            Yeah, it's also used for web browsing on the TV, etc. I'm going to split off the front end before too long but I'm waiting for the next generation of Ion motherboards first.

            It's just an Atom-330, so fine for SD but too underpowered for HD.

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            • #16
              Originally posted by movieman View Post
              However, when the next generation of hard drives come out I'm thinking of moving all the files to Raid-Z2 on an OpenSolaris server and having the MythTV backend write to it over the LAN. At least in principle, ZFS seems much more robust than traditional RAID.
              Yeah I had plans for something like that....
              But rather than over network I was going to have opensolaris (or some other spin, there are a few other options) in a VM sitting on a bare-metal hypervisor (native VMM) & the MythTV BE in another VM.
              But that was to be on a core i7 based system, & that's on hold for the moment...
              Last edited by jalyst; 23 January 2010, 08:24 AM.

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              • #17
                Also would ya'll agree with this? ...
                Myth Back-end + NAS (already own the parts; cept 3x 1/1.5TB HDD) This machine will do all video capturing/transcoding. It will also be the Backup...


                As much as I'd like a shiny new Clarkdale-based FE :lol:
                I'm starting to think it might make more sense to do an AIO?

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                • #18
                  Originally posted by jalyst View Post
                  Also would ya'll agree with this? ...
                  Myth Back-end + NAS (already own the parts; cept 3x 1/1.5TB HDD) This machine will do all video capturing/transcoding. It will also be the Backup...


                  As much as I'd like a shiny new Clarkdale-based FE :lol:
                  I'm starting to think it might make more sense to do an AIO?
                  Well that's all a matter of opinion and what your planned future usage is. If you plan on having more then one htpc or not. There are also other items to consider what if you are recording something and need to reboot for what ever reason. I've never been a fan of using a workstation to pull server duties. Your chances of something going wrong increases with the risk of data loss. I have no problems with the kids using the htpcs or the workstations however I would have a huge issue with them trying to use the server for their games etc since running things like mame can often cause lockups etc where they would be tempted to reboot the system. Back to your system config however putting the 8600 card in the server is a waste at this point and would be better served in your htpc.

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                  • #19
                    He has got me thinking though...

                    The money saved on not forking-out for new: CPU, Mobo, RAM, PSU, & local disk/disks, could go towards the current proposed BE for a: 30GB SSD(sell the 150GB Raptor), GT220(sell the 8600GTS), & 2GB extra RAM.

                    Sure it'd be a bigger/louder machine, but overall it'd use less power & prolly cost the same as a BE & FE without an SSD.
                    But what if I want to put in an extra HVR-2200, & swap-in a beefier GPU, I'm not sure it'd have enough room for everything?!

                    Originally posted by deanjo View Post
                    Back to your system config however putting the 8600 card in the server is a waste at this point and would be better served in your htpc.
                    Yeah but that depends on whether VDPAU definitely can't be harnessed for transcoding purposes. I know it's on the cards, just not sure if it's there yet.
                    Last edited by jalyst; 25 January 2010, 12:31 PM.

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                    • #20
                      I think I'm going with an AIO, but with the FE I outlined as the platform base.

                      So that means I'll sell most of the parts outlined for my proposed back-end.
                      This will give me a little cash towards the new build, whilst allowing me to move to the newer/sexier Intel platform

                      It'd be cheaper to go with the BE as the base for an AIO (& it'd be plenty of horsepower), but I prefer this approach.
                      I'll outline the new machine I have in mind soon....

                      As figrin mentioned Core i3-xxx VA-API support for acceleration is getting there, but still pretty rough.
                      If I find it's not good enough after a few months, then I can always chuck in a GT220 to be used w/VDPAU.

                      I do have plans later this year to build a Core i7-based native VMM (baremetal hypervisor).
                      So this could become the BE & "jack of all" server, and the AIO could revert to a FE/occasional gaming machine.

                      In the meantime I'll have my XBOX360 & soon a PS3 which can be used as FE's of sorts.
                      PS3 in particular, now that it's "apparently" been fully hacked...

                      Thanks for your thoughts thus far, any further ideas greatly appreciated!

                      Goodnight.
                      Last edited by jalyst; 25 January 2010, 01:43 PM.

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