I'm looking for suggestions for a cheap frontend only solution. I've got a frontend/backend hooked up to one TV but I'd like to find a cheap solution for other locations in the house.

Here's the requirements:

Composite Out to hook up to older TV's (or S-Video)
Wired ethernet is fine
Standard Definition playback
Doesn't need to be Knoppmyth (eg. Hauppauge MediaMVP or moded xbox)

I'd like to find something under $100. I'm guessing $200 would probably be more realistic. I've looked at some mini-itx boards but the cost seems to end up over $200 once you add a case, power supply and ram.

Thanks

I haven't tried it, but I have heard that an Xbox can be used as a frontend. That might be a pretty cheap option if you know what you're doing.

I had an XBOX frontend, it will do what you need and could possibly be done for $100 or even less depending how cheap you can find a used one. They can be easily softmodded pretty much for free, so no money spent there.

The menus were a little sluggish and would go a little flaky sometimes requiring a reset (although instead of installing everything myself I had to use a disk image to get the myth version to match my knoppmyth backend so that may be fixable). Other than that it worked fine.

I bought a used Compaq on ebay for under $150. It seemed it was a former office computer, the front panels easily converted to a desktop appearance. Added an inexpensive 5200 graphics card just for safety and the whole thing was under $200. I think its an EVO 510. Very happy with it.

I've thought about doing this but I haven't been too successful in finding decent PCI video cards with TV-Out for cheap. I have seen some nice off-lease business machines that are small and quite but most don't have an AGP slot.

Here are some parts that you could use for a diskless frontend or if you want just add a hard drive (any old drive with 6+Gb will work). You would also be able to playback HD with this setup so it is a little more future proof. This is also not a bad start for a back/frontend just add some tuners and drives.

I tried to keep it below $100 but things got to ugly and it is worth a little extra. This case even looks nice.

It would be nice to have 512MB of ram so if you want to spend extra that would be a place to do it. But you could always add that in the future and 256 should be OK. I know I use to have a few frontends setup that way and they worked fine. For $146 not a bad setup.

$27.99 + $7 shipping -- Foxconn NF4K8AB-RS PX6200TC 754 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX Motherboard/VGA Combo - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813186067

New egg total $35


Ewiz
Case – iMicro ST372B4 400W V2.2 20/24pin Desktop Case (Black Case, w/Silver Trim)
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=CA-ST372B4
$36.05

Memory – STT D400 256MB/32x8 8CH No Heatsink Memory
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=D32PA256N
12.88

CPU – AMD Sempron Processor 3000+* 64bit 754pins, OEM
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=SDA30BX_64
$20.60

heatsink -- AMD Original Fan For AM2 Athlon 64 X2 6000+
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-AM6000
$9.27

Ewiz Shipping $33
Ewiz total $111.8


Total system 146.80 (including Shipping)

Wow, prices look great. One thing I forgot to mention though is I live in Canada. Shipping from ewiz turns into $75 and I don't think newegg ships to Canada. If I lived in the states with those prices I think that'd be the right solution.

I guess I was lucky, mine had an AGP slot, so don't give up hope.

Nice looking case, and great deal on the mobo. I just happen to have a Sempron 2800+ and a fan sitting around.....

Will that heatsink work/mount with that CPU?

Anyone using something other than a standard PC for a frontend? Something other than an xbox or a MediaMVP?

Check the Reference Platform thread http://knoppmyth.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4220

robsbox was/is using a Buffalo Link Theatre that appears to cover your requirements: http://knoppmyth.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... &start=120

I'm using XBOXes around the house. They can be slow at times but the TV picture quality is very good and you can get digital audio output.

I flashed the bios on mine so they are dedicated Xebian boxes. Figuring out how to build your first box takes a lot of time. Once you have one box built, you can just copy the disk image to another box pretty easily.

Also, my boxes are modded with quieter fans and they are using 4GB CF micro drives via an IDE to CF adapter.

Total cost for each one was about $100 plus the time factor.

I'm using a small form factor Dell GX150, P3 1.0 GHz, 256MB RAM and no hard drive (network-booted off of the backend). I got the computer for free, but I've seen them close at about $50 including shipping on eBay (like this one). I added a low-profile FX5200 AGP from newegg for ~$50 (get the one without the fan to cut down the noise) and an ATI Remote Wonder (USB) from eBay for about $15. The BIOS doesn't have PXE support built in, so I use a boot floppy from the Thinstation project (http://thinstation.sourceforge.net) -- look for "Universal network boot floppy/CD/HD" on the Downloads page. Especially considering the cost, size, and amount of time to set up (I bought an XBOX to use as a frontend but never got around to it; the PC route is much easier), I couldn't be happier with it.

If in Canada order from www.ncix.com I've ordered there a few times, as have several friends and the shipment has always been *very* fast to deliver (was under 48 hours from me clicking submit to having my hauppauge card in my hands). Prices are quite good as well.


I'm running two xbox frontends, but I don't have a full xebian install like the others around here sound like they have. I am running XBMC (Xbox Media Center). It has plugins that are compatible with MythTV and it does the job very nicely. XBMC is an extremely polished piece of code. The only thing that bothers me is that the xbox has not enough horsepower to do HD playback (just got a 50" plasma). Aside from that - fantastic.

Where in Canada are you?

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Currently Running:
Too lazy to update this with my current hardware, I'll redo it during my next install =)