[mythtv-users] frontend hardware - any reason not to use ion?

Greg Oliver oliver.greg at gmail.com
Mon Jan 11 12:08:24 UTC 2010


On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 2:08 AM, Greg Cope <gregcope at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10 Jan 2010, at 23:47, Kirk Bocek <t004 at kbocek.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> matt lutz wrote:
>>>
>>> All,
>>> Up until now I was able to use a combination frontend/backend because
>>> I was able to keep my server in the basement and run audio & video
>>> cables to my receiver.  Very soon I won't be able to do that though,
>>> and I'm in the process of evaluating frontend hardware.  I need HD
>>> capabilities, and from what I gather, VDPAU has made a small silent HD
>>> capable frontend relatively cheap.  The question I have is whether
>>> there are any downsides to the ion platform.  Is the atom fast enough
>>> to do all of the newer MythUI features?  I saw somewhere that it can't
>>> support some of the deinterlaces (advanced 2x or something like
>>> that?).  Is that a big deal?  Are there further advancements coming
>>> down that would make the ion obselete, and I'd be better off getting a
>>> microATX board with a newer nvidia graphics card?
>>> This would seem like the ideal frontend assuming the ion is a good
>>> choice:
>>>
>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173001&cm_re=zotac_ion-_-56-173-001-_-Product
>>
>> I recently installed an Acer Aspire Revo R1600-U910H as an FE-only host.
>> It's an Ion based system. Works like a charm. Plays 1080p content just fine
>> with VDPAU and only about 10% CPU usage. Almost completely silent. Certainly
>> more quiet than any box with a standard CPU fan. HDMI audio works with the
>> proprietary Nvidia drivers. I have no experience with the open source Nvidia
>> driver.
>
> I have a R3619 (dual core) revo. Avenard repo on mythbuntu 9.10.  2gb ram,
> internal disk for os and mysql, esata drive for recordings.
>
> Can record 4 SD dvb streams (some if which are around 15mbit/sec apparently)
> and watch one without issues.  I do not see HD content being an issue.
>
> Real time transcoding/commercial skipping may be an issue.  Mine can
> commflag at 57fps on good sd content so I doubt it could do more than 30fps
> on HD.
>
> Other than that fine.  Works well, quite, low power.
>

I have 2 of the slower single core models, and thought I was going to
be in good shape until I was told last night I needed to put the
laptop back in the living room.  PIP was definitely a no-go with HD
content.  I played a bit with it, but never could get it to play
smoothly.  That will be my project of the day..

Other than PIP, I have not found anything it could not play well.

Well, one other thing worth mentioning.  I had to move it from my
large DLP television because of overscan.  It seems when I used a
customized modeline to accommodate for overscan, vdpau waas throwing
quite a bit of pixelation on avc encoded HD videos.  Taking the
modeline out fixed it, but of course the menus were all out of whack,
and since we are used to surfing the web from these frontends when not
watching TV, scaling down the mythmenus is not really an option.
There's probably a better way around that too, I just have not
tinkered enough since that is the TV the ladies in the house use most!

-Greg


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