2012-05-16, 12:07
Hi all
First post from a newbie, so please be nice!
I'm considering XBMC as a new MediaPlayer and PVR solution for home, probably based around a Linux Master machine with a mix of Windows and Linux clients.
Currently I have a WD Live Media Player and a Qnap NAS, with a standalone Topfield PVR. The first step in my scheme would be to build a HTPC to replace the WD Live, but whatever I create, I want it eventually to take over the PVR duties from my trusty Topfield (so I can get HD). The WD Live sits in the living room by our TV of course, but the media is saved on the NAS in another room, and that's on 15 hours a day (it switches off at night to save power, as we rarely use it then).
What I need advice on is this: what's the best way (for performance and power consumption) to set up a new XBMC based system?
The way I see it, I could either:
Keep the Qnap NAS as a media store, and build a HTPC with no local storage, just recording everything to the NAS. That would mean that both devices would need to be on all the time for PVR duties (unless there is a RELIABLE way to get the HTPC to wake up for scheduled recordings and shut down again). Even if the two devices both consumed a total of 100W, that's getting on for £100 a year in electricity.
Or should I build a HTPC which also replaced the NAS, so I'd have the "master" HTPC in the other room with the storage attached. That would then need to be "always on" (or waking and sleeping automatically either for a timer recording or a WOL request), but the living room client could just be switched on when we wanted to watch something.
What are the drawbacks to each method technically and environmentally? I'm not a complete eco-warrier (although we do have solar panels which would mean maybe a quarter of the electricity required to run an always-on device would be free to us), but I do want to find a solution which minimises the financial and environmental impact of the system.
Any advice would be welcome. I know PVR support in XBMC is currently Beta-only, but from what I can see of the rest of the software, I'm quite confident that the devs will make it work well, and I'm in no great hurry to have my HTPC take over these duties so long as I know it will be able to do so eventually (and do it as well as my current PVR does!)
Thanks
Andy
First post from a newbie, so please be nice!
I'm considering XBMC as a new MediaPlayer and PVR solution for home, probably based around a Linux Master machine with a mix of Windows and Linux clients.
Currently I have a WD Live Media Player and a Qnap NAS, with a standalone Topfield PVR. The first step in my scheme would be to build a HTPC to replace the WD Live, but whatever I create, I want it eventually to take over the PVR duties from my trusty Topfield (so I can get HD). The WD Live sits in the living room by our TV of course, but the media is saved on the NAS in another room, and that's on 15 hours a day (it switches off at night to save power, as we rarely use it then).
What I need advice on is this: what's the best way (for performance and power consumption) to set up a new XBMC based system?
The way I see it, I could either:
Keep the Qnap NAS as a media store, and build a HTPC with no local storage, just recording everything to the NAS. That would mean that both devices would need to be on all the time for PVR duties (unless there is a RELIABLE way to get the HTPC to wake up for scheduled recordings and shut down again). Even if the two devices both consumed a total of 100W, that's getting on for £100 a year in electricity.
Or should I build a HTPC which also replaced the NAS, so I'd have the "master" HTPC in the other room with the storage attached. That would then need to be "always on" (or waking and sleeping automatically either for a timer recording or a WOL request), but the living room client could just be switched on when we wanted to watch something.
What are the drawbacks to each method technically and environmentally? I'm not a complete eco-warrier (although we do have solar panels which would mean maybe a quarter of the electricity required to run an always-on device would be free to us), but I do want to find a solution which minimises the financial and environmental impact of the system.
Any advice would be welcome. I know PVR support in XBMC is currently Beta-only, but from what I can see of the rest of the software, I'm quite confident that the devs will make it work well, and I'm in no great hurry to have my HTPC take over these duties so long as I know it will be able to do so eventually (and do it as well as my current PVR does!)
Thanks
Andy