[mythtv-users] YAMP Again (Yet Another Media Player, again)
Greg Oliver
oliver.greg at gmail.com
Wed Mar 24 16:23:34 UTC 2010
On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 11:10 AM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> On Wednesday 24 March 2010 09:45:01 am Greg Oliver wrote:
>
>> I was digging through the myca site from earlier, and noticed the 2
>> versions. Do you have the white or ion version? I am kind of scared
>> to try one since digging through their forums is nothing short of
>> reading complaints of lack of support. I really do not care about
>> that if the product works well though. Both models seem video capable
>> though, and the Sigma 8635 seems capable as well..
>
> I have the "White" version, the ION wasn't available back when I ordered it. I
> ordered when it initially become available, over a year ago.
>
> I have no need for support, so that hasn't been a problem. The machine "just
> works", I can't imagine what all those people need support for.
>
> It's a "Networked Media Tank", which I think is similar to the Popcorn Hour.
> It has a lot of built-in menu-driven access to online media sources, nice but
> I don't use it that way very often, though I have discovered several online
> video services I was unaware of.
>
> I don't use the included BitTorrent client, if I want anything off the net I
> get it from Usenet, much faster and more reliable, and probably safer,
> especially if you use SSL.
>
> It's a Linux machine, initially I was thinking of trying to get a full Myth
> frontend running on it, but I haven't pursued that so far, since my Revo does
> that so well.
>
> As a video player it works great, it has played anything I have thrown at it,
> with the exception of PVR-150 recordings. Not sure why, it may be too high a
> bitrate. It seems to try to play the files, but stutters and hangs, not a
> problem for me, I watch any Myth recordings with a Myth frontend (Revo).
>
> Although technically not supported, it works well with the PlayON server.
>
> I like the fact that it has a full-sized (3.5") hard drive, not one of those
> dog-slow laptop type 2.5" drives. It can access Samba or NFS shares, most of
> my viewing is via NFS from my main server.
>
> I did replace the fan, which was junk, but that's pretty normal with just
> about anything these days. I ran without a fan for a few days and it didn't
> seem to get too warm, but being the paranoid type I put in a decent fan.
>
> If you're thinking about the ION version, I'd think a Revo might be a better
> answer, as well as cheaper. You would have to install your own software, but
> any Myth user should be able to deal with that. I suppose you could just run
> Windows on the Revo, and it should work, but what fun is that?
>
> The Revo does have a slot that accepts the Broadcom CrystalHD unit, I think
> XBMC has support for that, but the ION does VDPAU, so with Linux that's
> probably enough, except for the highest-level de-interlacers (which I have
> found I can do without). You do need to beef up the RAM in the Revo in order
> to have enough RAM for VDPAU to be happy, but that's only another $30 or so.
Thanks for the info. I have a couple of revos, but this peaked my
interest with the optical and component outs. I still have an OLD
hdtv from the 90s that is only component in.. :( Hard to throw away
a 73" that is good for kids who think bigger is better though...
Any media player that does not require transcoding is worth looking at
for me though.
Thanks,
Greg
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