[mythtv-users] System specifications review...

[Patrick Doyle]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> wrote:
> Patrick Doyle <wpdster at gmail.com> says:
>> So if I go with this processor, which I selected based on reports of
>> it's idle and max power consumption (6.8W and 31W), is there any point
>> in adding a VDPAU graphics card later?
>
> Yes.
>
> Let me reword that: No matter how much CPU horsepower you have, there
> is no point in *not* getting a VDPAU-capable card *now*. For $30-50,
> how can you lose?
>
OK, I think I've got only 3 more questions to ask before I'm ready to
present my MythTV proposal to the board of directors for the Doyle
foundation :-)...

1) What does VDPAU give me that I wouldn't get otherwise?  Yes I know
that it does the MPEG decoding in the GPU, and it can do deinterlacing
in the GPU, and it can do some nice OSD in the GPU, ... but can't I do
all of that in the CPU?  Are the algorithms supplied by nVidia better
than what is available for plain-old-CPU algorithms?

2) I think I may have read somewhere about the VDPAU MPEG decoder not
being terribly tolerant of errors in the input stream.  Since I'm
going to use this to decode OTA signals, and I live slightly further
outside Boston than Jarod Wilson does, am I setting myself up for
disappointment?

3) Why did nVidia make the GT220?  Or, to put it another way, why
would one choose the GT220 over the GT8600 or the GT9500?

GT220: $65 - $100 (on Newegg)
GT8600: Hmmm... don't see any on Newegg.  That could be one answer
GT9500: $45 - $65 (on Newegg)

I picked these 3 processors because, according to the wiki and/or
reports on the mailing list, they seem to be the minimum required to
support Advanced (2x) deinterlacing for 1080i.

The GT9500 seems to require less power (50W) than the GT220 (58W).

I'm missing something here, I just know it.  The GT220 is a newer
part.  Surely it must do something that the GT9500 doesn't.

--wpd