[mythtv-users] Best latest Ion Boards?

[Brian Wood]

On Saturday 28 November 2009 10:47:37 am Brad Fuller wrote:
> (Just back to this forum after a while.) What's the latest BEST Ion
> motherboards? Or, maybe there is something better that's small and
> quiet for the living room.
> 
> Is ION still the best?
> 
I ordered a Revo, an entire F/E machine with ION for $200 seemed just too 
good to pass up.

Of course Murphy says that something better was released a few seconds 
after I ordered.

Asking what's "Best" is indeterminate. Certainly ION is not an option for 
replacing a discreet graphics board in an existing frontend.

Are you looking for a complete system, a discreet graphics card or a mobo 
with on-board HD-capable graphics?

I have a 9500GT fanless graphics board, but the heatsink is HUGE, and 
blocks the adjacent slot, and PCI slots are at a premium on today's mobos.

If you're looking for a mobo, the Zotac boards seem popular, but after much 
looking I decided to go with the Revo. An entire system for not much more 
than a zotac board w/PSU, case etc. I plan to replace the 2.5" HDD and 
netboot the machine, or possibly go with a SSD.

The BeagleBoard might be worth looking into as well:

http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2009/04/29/beagle-board-hdtv-action/

But as to what's "best", that's hard to say.

If the Broadcom Crystal HD unit starts to get support, it might change the 
equation significantly:

http://www.netbookchoice.com/2009/07/10/broadcom%E2%80%99s-crystal-
hd-media-accelerator-gets-video-demo/