[mythtv-users] XvMC and libmpeg2 to be dropped in 0.25

[Michael T. Dean]

  On 12/07/2010 09:31 AM, Brian Wood wrote:
> On Monday, December 06, 2010 01:44:13 pm Michael T. Dean wrote:
>> On 12/06/2010 03:26 PM, Nick Rout wrote:
>>> yep. of course much of it will still work as a file or print server
>>> too.
>> Or as a MythTV backend.
>>
>> Dedicated backends don't need to be fast.  Only people who feel they
>> need faster-than-real-time commercial detection or transcoding need
>> fast backend systems (and, in truth, even they don't--they only need
>> fast mythjobqueue systems, and can easily disable jobs on their slow
>> backends).
>>
>> My backend system can't even decode the video it records in real
>> time--let alone play it back using Xv or OpenGL or VDPAU.
>>
>> You only need frontends that have 21st-century video output.
> The exception would be if you were using software encoding,

True.  My unsaid implication is that there's not really any good reason 
to use frame grabbers/software encoding in 2010.  :)

(Sure, those OC people who feel that they can better tweak the quality 
of their analog NTSC/PAL by using a software encoder which allows the 
application of filters and more control over the encoding options can 
continue to do so--but I think if they were to discover that the weak 
point in the chain is not the ivtv encoding options, but the NTSC/PAL, 
they might reconsider.  Regardless, someone who chooses to use an 
inefficient mechanism for recording TV will have to take responsibility 
for making such hardware available and figuring out what to do with the 
underpowered frontend systems they may have acquired. :)

>   but I
> suspect not too many Myth users are doing this. ATSC and QAM signals are
> already encoded, you just have to record the stream, and capture devices
> with on-board mpeg2 encoding are pretty reasonably priced these days.

True.

> Of course simple frame grabbers are really cheap (as opposed to
> "reasonably priced"), but you wind up paying in CPU cycles and
> kilowatts.

Yes.  And, really, if you do your shopping well, there's not much 
difference between "cheap" and "reasonably priced".

Mike