[mythtv-users] HDTV and AMD

[Jarod C. Wilson]

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On Wednesday 21 April 2004 08:20, Vincent K. Britton wrote:
> I know Mr. Wilson

No need to be formal, just Jarod, thank you. ;-)

> has told me that the "recommendation for optimal HD 
> playback with MythTV is a 3.0GHz HT P4"

As Brandon indicated, it is actually his advice that I was passing on.

> but is there anything from the 
> AMD family of processors that has Proven itself capable of decoding HDTV
> for a front end.

My dual Athlon MP 2000 system has no problem playing back HDTV. ;-)

However, once I get the chance, I'm intending to do all HDTV playback with my 
Athlon XP 3200 system. I think the faster FSB (400MHz) and extra cache (512k) 
should help, and I don't anticipate any problems getting it to work, opposed 
to the 2400/266/256 box I have that couldn't handle most HD playback. 
Eventually, with the further optimizations Brandon aluded to, the 2400 might 
be sufficient...

Brandon pretty much answered everything else already, but I'll still chime in 
for the heck of it.

> That being said am I correct that the computer with a pcHDTV capture
> card can be the backend and doesn't have to be "beefy" it is just the
> front end machine.

Yes, the vast majority of the cpu requirements are for decoding and display, 
which obviously only take place on the frontend. The only real major cpu 
strain on the backend is transcoding, if you're even doing so.

> Can you have capture cards in other machines but still have one master
> backend server?

Absolutely.

> Thanks to all for helping me with my endless questions.  I am trying to
> find the answers to these questions online but am not having any luck.

No problem.

- -- 
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE
jcw at wilsonet.com

Got a question? Read this first...
     http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
MythTV, Fedora Core & ATrpms documentation:
     http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/
MythTV Searchable Mailing List Archive
     http://www.gossamer-threads.com/archive/MythTV_C2/
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