Rock64 suitable for headless TVHeadend install?

[elsmandino]

Hi there,

At the moment, I have a big x86 headless server running TVHeadend, that is on 24/7.

The server contains 3HDDs and records via a Digibit R1.

I stream video to a number of Kodi clients (mostly Raspberry Pis) on my network.

It recently dawned on me that the server is only used for about 8 hours a day during the week (maybe 12 hours over the weekend), so it is spending the vast majority just sitting in an idle state, using electricity needlessly.

Furthermore, we only use one of the hard drives about 90% of the time (the one used for recording).

I think it is time to my PVR capabilities to something a little less noisy/thirsty and thought about going down the Raspberry Pi3B+ route.  

However, I was worried that the small amount of RAM and less than Gigabit speed network would cause me problems if I am trying to record/stream multiple HD channels.

I have seen some really good review for the Rock64 (although I know very little about it) and would be really grateful to know whether it would make a good headless TVHeadend server.

A few specific questions:

1. What is the best/fastest way to connect a harddrive?
2. What is the eMMC module socket for?  Can I use this for the OS, rather than the SD slot?

Thanks.

[Luke]

Hi there,

At the moment, I have a big x86 headless server running TVHeadend, that is on 24/7.

The server contains 4HDDs and records via a Digibit R1.

I stream video to a number of Kodi clients (mostly Raspberry Pis) on my network.

It recently dawned on me that the server is only used for about 8 hours a day during the week (maybe 12 hours over the weekend), so it is spending the vast majority just sitting in an idle state, using electricity needlessly.

Furthermore, we only use one of the hard drives about 90% of the time (the one used for recording).

I think it is time to my PVR capabilities to something a little less noisy/thirsty and thought about going down the Raspberry Pi3B+ route.  

However, I was worried that the small amount of RAM and less than Gigabit speed network would cause me problems if I am trying to record/stream multiple HD channels.

I have seen some really good review for the Rock64 (although I know very little about it) and would be really grateful to know whether it would make a good headless TVHeadend server.

A few specific questions:

1. What is the best/fastest way to connect a harddrive?
2. What is the eMMC module socket for?  Can I use this for the OS, rather than the SD slot?

Thanks.

The Rock64 is [edit: *apparently* (haven't tried myself)] an excellent TVHeadend server - here is thread dedicated to the subject matter.

Answering your questions:
1) Its best to connect a HDD to the USB 3.0 slot which offers high speed transfers. If you intend on using a 2.5" drive then all you need is USB 3.0 enclosure, as the USB 3.0 port will be able to deliver enough power to the drive.
2) the eMMC socket is for an eMMC module that can be purchased from the PINE64 store. You can boots OS' from it and it offers superior performance and durability over SD cards (its the same sort of storage as used in smartphones). If you decide to buy an eMMC module, make your life easier and get the USB -> eMMC adapter for flashing images to it... its worth the few bucks.

[elsmandino]

Thanks very much for that, Luke.

I am really tempted to look into one of these devices as a complete swap for the NAS.

What, do you think, would be the best way to attach multiple hard drive to the Rock64.

Also, is there anyway I could attach an SSD to host the operating system?

[Luke]

Thanks very much for that, Luke.

I am really tempted to look into one of these devices as a complete swap for the NAS.

What, do you think, would be the best way to attach multiple hard drive to the Rock64.

Also, is there anyway I could attach an SSD to host the operating system?

You could boot from an SSD by flashing uboot to SPI on the board. Its simple to do. Other drives would have to be attached to the USB 2.0 ports which would obviously result in (relatively) slow performance, as you'd be limited by the USB 2.0 BUS. And these HDDs would have to be attached using a powered case OR a via a powered USB 2.0 hub as USB 2.0 cannot deliver enough power to drive HDDs.

Others have used USB 3.0 hubs to drive multiple drives at faster speeds but having multiple drives attached to one USB 3.0 can cause issues.

Personally I'd advise you get the RockPro64 if you want a NAS with multiple HDDs (the board has PCIe as well as USB 3.0 and C). And tehre will even be a NAS case for it - take a look in the RockPro64 subforum.