[mythtv-users] mythtv box not powerful enough?

William william_munson at comcast.net
Mon Jan 18 03:01:14 UTC 2010


Travis Tabbal wrote:
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 5:55 PM, Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace.net.au 
> <mailto:iaindb at netspace.net.au>> wrote:
>
>     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.
>
>
>
> Swap the video card for an NVidia 8xxx or better and use VDPAU for 
> playback. That should take enough of the load off that there is plenty 
> left for backend and menu rendering. 

I would suggest checking the gpu on your card choice before purchase. 
IIRC it takes a minimum of a 8400 to do anything and a better processor 
to do some of the advanced de-interlacers.


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