HTPC getting old; mini itx refresh? (1 Viewer)

[jmbillings]

We have two HTPC's at home- living room is the TV Server and main client, and has all the storage along with 2 DVB-S cards.
Upstairs is a client only.
The downstairs one is getting a bit unreliable (probably through being on 24x7) and also runs hot and probably uses a lot of electricity! Started speccing out some replacement newer kit, but then thought:

- move main storage out to an external caddy, and connect to my router (which can create a file-share)
- replace main HTPC with a mini-itx based setup with SSD.

The immediate thoughts:

- I've never used mini-itx before. Do they have sufficient GPU poke for HDTV decoding?
- My two full-height DVB-S2 cards won't fit. Are there any USB *dual* S2 tuners? I've seen a PCI-e card, I guess some ITX boards have expansion slots (?)
- It'll be running TV Server as well- is this realistic? I'd probably timeshift on the SSD but set the recording folder to the drive attached to the router (pc is connected via cable, not wireless)

Any input appreciated!

 

[kiwijunglist]

mini itx is just the size of the mother board . it has no effect on the speed . also consider network based tuners . I don't like USB tuners .

 

[Vasilich]

- I've never used mini-itx before. Do they have sufficient GPU poke for HDTV decoding?

really depends on what onboard GPU it has. Most of modern onboard GPUS can cope with HD easily.

I've seen a PCI-e card, I guess some ITX boards have expansion slots

ITX can have one expansion slot (e.g i have one with PCIe and use it for Dual DVB-S2 tuner). Though i have seen several boards having one PCIe and one MiniPCIe (normally used by WiFi card, but who needs WiFI on TVServer ).

It'll be running TV Server as well- is this realistic?

yes, even my old ION 330 motherboard can do this (and still works as singleseat )

 

[jmbillings]

OK- shows the last time I checked ITX out, I thought they were all low-grunt VIA ones, Seems they take real CPUs now

Here's my current shopping list (potentially...) -

In the free PCIe slot, i'll probably stick the http://www.dabs.com/products/tbs-dual-dvb-s2-pcie-tv-tuner-card-7KTN.html?refs=4294944100&src=3]TBS dual tuner[/url] in it as I'm not seeing any others at a reasonble price.


Final hurdle would be that my main 1.5TB drive with the actual media on it would live externally and connect up via USB 3.0 using the caddy listed- is timeshifting/recording/playback over USB 3.0 a realistic plan?

 

[kiwijunglist]

consider case with Pico psu . motherboard is too big for case. rest is good.if using Pico can probably fit both drives inside . other option is tumeshift to ram and record to nas .

 

[jmbillings]

Good spot, that's completely the wrong motherboard I somehow added to the basket!