[ianuk2005]

So I'm trying to decide whether or not to make a switch between two systems I have as the main htpc.

I currently have an n54l which is a little old now, my main reason for sticking with it was it had an internal pci-e dvb-s2 tuner.

I also have an alienware alpha currently used for gaming, which has much better specs and much smaller for a living room.

Whichever I pick i'm going to be hooking up a sony playtv for freeview, an rc6 remote and openelec.

Whats peoples opinions, will there be big differences in power consumption, is it overkill to use the alpha, should I reserve it just for gaming? Should I use neither and look for a 3rd option?

[wrxtasy]

I know for a fact any S8xx/S9xx AMLogic device will be able to use that DVB-T Sony Play TV dual tuner as I use one myself in conjunction with an ODROID C2 running TvHeadend and an externally powered HDD.

I'm running my own LibreELEC that I also distributed. Great Bug busting gains have been made on this little beastie in the last week. In fact I consider it a bit of a bargain for a $40 8/10-bit 4K HEVC Kodi player.

Works nicely indeed

In that light, and regarding fan noise and power consumption, yes I do consider the Alpha as overkill unless you are planning on re-using the DVB-S2 Tuner in it.

[ianuk2005]

I know for a fact any S8xx/S9xx AMLogic device will be able to use that DVB-T Sony Play TV dual tuner as I use one myself in conjunction with an ODROID C2 running TvHeadend and an externally powered HDD.

I'm running my own LibreELEC that I also distributed. Great Bug busting gains have been made on this little beastie in the last week. In fact I consider it a bit of a bargain for a $40 8/10-bit 4K HEVC Kodi player.

Works nicely indeed

In that light, and regarding fan noise and power consumption, yes I do consider the Alpha as overkill unless you are planning on re-using the DVB-S2 Tuner in it.

Unfortunately the s2 tuner won't fit as the alpha is small and has no pci-e slots, it's one reason I never switched originally.

Tempting to get something like an odroid hows it performance wise? I'm looking to run openelec (heavy skin+large library), tvheadend, boblight, transmission + samba file shares on whatever I decide on.

Think I might give the alpha a trial for now and see how it performs, i'm not sure how it's going to be consumption wise as i have no meter. It does use lower power laptop components, whether that draw less than the n54l + a 5450HD I'm not sure. An android or amlogic device certainly wins hands down consumption wise.