[mythtv-users] PS3 as FrontEnd

[Brian Wood]

I've just acquired a PS3 with Yellow Dog Linux installed.

There has been some discussion of using the PS3 as a Myth frontend,  
and several folks, including me, were dubious about that working,  
mainly because the nVidia graphic chip is only supported as a simple  
frame buffer.

However, I just compiled mplayer 1.0rc1-4.1.1 on the PS3, and I am  
presently watching the HD version of "Elephant's Dream", and I can  
only describe the picture as GORGEOUS on my 32" LCD, fed by the HDMI  
output of the PS3, no dropped frames and the motion is smooth as  
silk. I'm playing the file via an NFS mount from a Gentoo box.

I'm running 40%-50% CPU load on both processors (the Linux kernel  
sees the Cel as 2 CPUs, the subsidiary processors are handled a  
little differently). This is kernel 2.6.16-20061110.ydl.ps3, Yellow  
Dog release 5.0 (Phoenix).

Obviously running a full F/E is a little different from mplayer, but  
I am certainly optimistic at this point. Considering that you get a  
Blu-Ray player and a very nice computer for under $500 this is a deal  
IMHO.

I got the "low-end" PS3 with the 20GB HDD and no WiFi or memory card  
capability, as Linux does not support the built-in WiFi (yet) and if  
I wanted to read cards I could just hook up a card reader, no point  
in paying Sony prices for those things.

Just thought some folks might be interested in this.

Brian Wood
beww at beww.org