On Thu, August 25, 2005 14:58, Justin Hornsby said: >> James Fidell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>Subject: [mythtv-users] (UK) Front end hardware recommendations >> >>Anyone care to recommend hardware for a front-end-only box that can be >>reasonably easily sourced in the UK? Requirements are really only that >>it should be quiet and not look desperately out of place when stacked >>next to the AV amp. >> >>Is it worth considering an Xbox rather than building something from >>parts? >> >>James > > James, I use an EPIA-M10000 motherboard in a Silverstone LC-02 case. It > ended up working out more expensive in the long-run because the LC02 case > has **very** poor airflow. I originally tried a full ATX board & Athlon > 2ghz CPU, but it ran far too hot to be left on for any length of time. So > I changed the board for the EPIA & I've never looked back. > > Anyway - it's just a frontend, it's very quiet (but not quite silent yet) > - has a quality TV output, onboard MPEG decoder, digital SPDIF sound > output, dual channel IDE, firewire, USB2, LAN... > > I've got mine running 'minimyth' (www.linpvr.org), booting from the > network. It works absolutely brilliantly.
I'd second the recommendation of both the EPIA and MiniMyth. Booting from the network means no need for a hard drive in the frontend. It really is pretty easy to set up too. I run an Epia M10000 motherboard in a VIA Serenti case. It's not too bad but the fan in the power supply needs to be quieter. The plus side is that it'll take a normal factor CD / DVD ROM and has an IR window to allow you to add an IR reciever. They're not that easy to find but are relatively cheap and make a great starter case. There is a picture of one right on the front page of this site: http://www.icp-uk.com/ . Check out the online store here: http://www.mini-itx.com/ and KustomPCs: http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/ for other cases. I'd recommend shopping around though. I found my new case (see below) £50 cheaper at http://www.scan.co.uk than pretty much anywhere else even though they're not big on HTPC cases. For my main box I've just bought a Silverstone LC11M and I have to say its the cat's whiskers. It just looks superb and the iMon remote looks great. I can't wait to start building it this weekend. (Cue battling with lirc / lcdproc to get the iMon remote and VFD working) Cheers Paul _______________________________________________ mythtv-users mailing list [email protected] http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
