[mythtv-users] mythtv box not powerful enough?

Iain Buchanan iaindb at netspace.net.au
Mon Jan 18 00:55:08 UTC 2010


Hi all,

I've been setting up an old laptop as a trial mythtv box (frontend and
backend in one).  I thought these specs would do for HD DVB-T:
      * 3GHz HT P4
      * 1.2G RAM
      * 80Gb 7200rpm PATA HD
      * ATI radeon 9600 / M10 (RV350) supported by xf86-video-ati
      * Artec USB tuner

however it seems that it's fine for SD but HD is just a bit too much.
The CPUs are close to 100% and I get a regular prebuffering pause when
viewing HD.

Is there anything I can do to make this box capable of viewing HD as
well as the other myth associated things?  I've tried various tweaks to
services and optimising, but nothing with the filesystem (ext3) or
mysql.  I've read the prebuffering troubleshooting guide.

I'm running Gentoo, so I've compiled everything with reasonably good
optimisations for the P4 (which may or may not make a difference).
Would it be worth trying mythbuntu or a distro already "tweaked"?

My next alternative would be to use a real dual-core P4 3GHz tower I
have spare, but I was hoping to stay away from the tower!  (It would
also need new HD and video card).  It only has a cheap Asrock mainboard.

thanks for the tips!
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

"...one of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that,
lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of
their C programs."
-- Robert Firth



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