Mediaportal distributed setup (1 Viewer)

[Ferdinando Simonetti]

Hello from Italy.
Is it possible to run SQL server + Scheduler + Client + Whatever modules on an i5 32Gb RAM (2012 r2 or Windows 10) and Recorder + Client modules on a Core2Duo 7500 4Gb RAM 250Gb hard disk (Windows 7-8.1-10)?
Both machines should be able to go to sleep to minimize power consumption, waking up when needed: could this be done?
The SQL server will be used also by a Sharepoint VM, so I'd like to put it where the "real horsepower" resides, while the Recorder functionality should be in the living room where TV signal is better.
Thanks in advance

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.
If you have set up your network properly and access to SQL is available from the System with TV server on, this should work. Also It is a bit tricky as the SQL server needs to be up and running before the TV Server can start. And be aware that both machines needs to be running if anyone is watching TV or a scheduled recording is running. So you first need to start the big server before you can start the TV Server. And you need a way to wake up the big server on every start of the TV Server System. Maybe by a script in Autostart that includes a wait command before the TV server software would be started.

The above is valid for MP1. MP2 did not need any SQL server at all so for this there is no issue possible regarding this. MP2 uses SQLite per default. SQLite is faster a lot compared to MySQL and as every database access is limited to the MP2 Server itself there are no problems with multiple accesses at the same time (as they simply are not possible)...

One word about the C2D... I have replaced my old C2Q 1 1/2 years ago by a Haswell i5. This now is doing the TV recording. My electric power bill is down at about 300€ per year only by replacing the core2Quad with an Haswell i5 A TV server machine needs to be up and running more often than you may expect so old and power consuming hardware is not the best choice for this. The pure power of the C2D is probably enough (but with not much spare power left) also it's highly recommended to add a second HDD to it for recordings and timeshifting. Or add some extra RAM to make a RAM Disk at least. Best would be a small SSD for Windows only. This will give the best possible performance...

In general I would not recommend your scenario. Use a second SQL Server (MySQL or SQLServer) on the TV Machine only for the TV Server or use MP2. Those are both better ways than to use the external SQL Server.

Edit:
The scheduler (the software that wakes the system to do a recording) is part of the TV Server so this is available only on the system with the recording functions...

 

[Ferdinando Simonetti]

Thanks Lehmden!
I was misled by this CPU-World comparison stating that i5 needs more power than Core2Duo: however, your "real-world" testimony is definitely something worth to think about.
Actually, the fact that the Scheduler is part of the TV Server component will allow me to collapse "sleep and awake" operations on a single machine (without the additional overhead of a SQL server instance, if MP2 is used).
Speaking about low-consumption machines, I already own two Atom N270 - 1Gb RAM machines in addition of the i5 "main": assuming that my recording needs are pretty basic (one TV show on all Saturdays, one all Sundays, some recording now-and-then), do you think it's possible to hook one of them to an USB drive and use it with MP2 as TV-Server while dedicating more powerful machines to MP2 Client role?
Thanks a lot anyway!

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.
I can't see where the 84 Watt of the i5 came from. My i5 4590 system is eating up around 60 Watts at 100% CPU load, but measured on the power plug, so this is for the whole system with 15!! (no typo) HDD (5 of them are external USB3 disks, 10 are internal), AsRock mainboard, 8 GB RAM, an extra SATA controller, a dual tuner DVB-S2 card and a Canon printer (also it is normally in standby). Apart of this I'm using a cheap 80+ 300 Watts BeQuiet (manufactured by Fortex) PSU... If the CPU is idleing around (as it is most of the times) the power consumption goes down to around 30 Watts... This system it my only "powerful" system, it acts as a NAS for all my 20.000++ series episodes, as the MP2 Server (and for this TV Server too) and I'm using it for Photoshopping, Transcoding and all the other CPU eating things I need to do... And it is my main (Living Room) HTPC as it is build invisibly into a Drawer... (If you want to have a look, a link is in my signature)

Also I'm pretty sure your Core2Duo did not eat that much power as my Core2Quad does (the Q6600 was one of the most power consuming desktop CPU ever), I also be sure a modern system will need significantly less power bundled with more CPU speed than your old system.

do you think it's possible to hook one of them to an USB drive

For recordings it's possible for sure, but Timeshifting (that's when you are watching Live- TV) is really critical regarding timing. For this a USB drive may be not enough. The best is to use some GB of RAM as a RAM disk and use this for timeshifting. I'm doing so for many years now and I never had any issues with Live TV again since then.

 

[Lehmden]

Ahh forgot another thing... If you go the MP2 way you probably should have a look at some more powerful thing like an Atom in future... Also the pure TV server options are not that CPU hungry, the MP2 server will act as a DLNA server and also incorporate the MPExtended functionality into (one of) the next release. Once this is ready you can use any mobile device, any DLNA capable Smartphone, Tablet, Smart- TV, Settop Box,... as a client for MP2. ATM there is heavy work going on behind the scenes on this part. And for streaming with "on the fly" transcoding a lot of CPU power is needed. This definitely is out of scope for an Atom (no matter which one). But that's are things for the future...

 

[Ferdinando Simonetti]

Many many thanks Mr. Lehmden.
Also, your drawer-disguised HTPC setup is both impressive and inspiring
Going to get some wooden board(s)...

 

[Ferdinando Simonetti]

I've just bought an HP Elite 8100 (i3-550, 4Gb RAM, 500Gb disk, W7 Pro) and I'm currently experimenting with default Windows Media Center.
However, EPG limitations of WMC will eventually lead me to:
- +4Gb RAM upgrade (1Gb for timeshift ramdisk, 1Gb internal video RAM)
- MediaPortal 1 + MySQL installation "single-seat" installation (leaving my i5 machine alone)
Thanks a lot for your advices!