[mythtv-users] HD Homerun questions

[Travis Tabbal]

On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 8:42 AM, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:


> 1) Does the HD Homerun actually handle 1080p or are you limited to 1080i?
>

There is no 1080p available for it to tune into, so 1080i is the max.  The
only 1080p source right now is Blu-Ray from what I have read.

2) How much backend CPU power is required to use this device? My
> server is underpowered on the CPU side but does close to 60GB/S on the
> hard drives. Will this be OK?


Not much. The CPU just forwards the data on to the drives. So if they can
keep up, you should be fine. The datastream maxes out at about 40Mbit/Sec
with both tuners going. Your drives can push 60 GigaBYTES/Sec? :)

  I need to do some thinking about my frontend devices. Currently I
> use a couple of underpowered Pundit-R boxes for our regular TVs but a
> lot of our watching gets done on PC screens. Will I need to do a lot
> of transcoding? One TV is 480p capable and is near the server. Could
> the server become a front end and play 480p directly? What sort of
> video card would be required for component output? Is there one? The
> other is an old Sony SDTV. What do I do there? Any ideas are welcomed.
>

How "underpowered" are we talking here? The ATSC stream isn't that hard to
decode, but you do need a decent CPU (or GPU with VDPAU and Myth Trunk). All
you can do is try. If it doesn't work, transcode or get a video card that
can do XvMC or VDPAU.

I just got an NVidia 9800 based card that has a component out dongle
(Red/Green/Blue plugs). So they are out there. I've seen some fanless units
as well for those that want to keep fan noise down.
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