Top products from r/mythtv

about a year and a half ago I bought a new capture card and i got this, which had just gotten support in the kernel in 4.9, and it has worked amazingly well. I have been super pleased with it. I am not sure if this is what you are looking for, but i hope it helps.

I love MythTV! I'm still on version .27 due to my older hardware. Tried Sage years ago, but didn't really like it. Never tried Windows Media Center though. I'm using a 10 year old NvidiaION box as my MythTV backend and as a file server for my movie/tv collection. It sits quietly in my office recording shows using an HDHomerun Dual Tuner. I also have an older Hauppauge HVR-1600 that rarely gets used, unless both of the HDHomerun tuners are busy. I often schedule shows using MythWeb, as well as various management tasks. In the den, my main frontend is a Zotac Mini-PC with an NvidiaION2 cpu. It currently runs Kodi 17.6, with the MythTV PVR Client Add-On. I get guide data from Schedules Direct. Lately though, I've encountered a problem where the guide data fails to update for some unknown reason. I still have to find time to troubleshoot that issue. In the bedroom, I have a Raspberry Pi 2 running Kodi. I usually don't use this box to access MythTV, just the file server. Using Kodi as a frontend is so much easier and more available for a variety of devices (but you just can't edit commercial cut lists with it. Bummer!) I can use Kodi on my laptop, tablets, phone, etc.
If you have a Playstation 4 or Sony Bluray player, you can watch recordings or LiveTV using upnp.
As a remote, I use this: https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad-Backlit-Raspberry/dp/B07LGH8ZL7 (super easy to use. No need to configure lircd)
I also have a Harmony 650, that I use to control all of my media devices in the den.
Overall, MythTV has served me very well for 10 years!

Lucky for me, my WAF is doing okay with the rpi 3+.the key was buying a remote that had a full keyboard on the back.

I got a Wechip 2.4G Smart TV Wireless https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0787Z1C2G

I also run a Shield TV (for plex, YouTube, and such). Out of curiosity, what do you use for mythtv playback on the shield?

I've been using one of these for a few years now: http://ark.intel.com/products/53427/Intel-Core-i3-2120T-Processor-3M-Cache-2_60-GHz ... the CPU is 35W TDP and I am usually at <5% load. I haven't measured the whole system but my UPS right now reports that it's only at 7% load while also powering some other small things like my router, so you could estimate the HTPC power from there.

Becareful. I ordered http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003N198UG thinking the same thing and ran into many many problems. The wireless was awful, but the CPU was too slow to play an HD video and run a usb wireless card. The ethernet has (had maybe?) buggy drivers in 2.6 kernel so that was it's headache.

That being said, I'd give it another shot if the price is right. These small form factor boxes are too appealing not to try.

I use a single Crucial CT25664BC1067 2GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory Module.

2GB is plenty for my needs (basically just for driving a TV: mythtv, xbmc, etc)

> the CPU was too slow to play an HD video

That's why you use VDPAU. The ION can handle HD video no problem. I use a AT5IONT-I and play back HD video on it, both recordings and Bluray, over HDMI at 1080p no problem. The CPU usage never goes over 10%. Admittedly mine is an ION2, but ION can handle it fine too with fewer passes on the deinterlacer.