[mythtv-users] what is the cat's ass of integrated "set top box" like hardware now?

[Raymond Wagner]

On Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:28:57 -0400, "Brian J. Murrell"
<brian at interlinx.bc.ca> wrote:
> On 11-07-20 01:05 PM, Raymond Wagner wrote:
>> It has a tiny blower fan that if right next
>> to you rather than hidden behind a noisy tv, would be very audible.
> 
> Sure, but seriously.  In a room where I'm at one end/side and the TV is
> at the other (who sits right next to the TV?), where's the FE going to
> be?  Next to me, with a 20 HDMI run to the TV or next to the TV, 20 feet
> away from me?

The same can be said with a CPU with a big slow fan.

>> What
>> Tim was suggesting was an i3, and that's it. A Pentium branded Sandy
>> Bridge
>> chip (missing hyperthreading) can be had for under $100.  A Mini-ITX
>> board
>> is around $75, and another $15 for 2GB of DDR3.
> 
> Sure, but you don't get that all in a package as small as a Revo that
> you can hide between a TV and a wall.

A MiniITX board is no larger than a Revo, but the problem is the IO panel
and heatsink thickness.  Unless you're intending to mount the TV directly
to the wall, something like an M350 case with a MiniITX board could easily
be velcro'd to the back of a TV.

>> but VAAPI will be
>> supported in 0.25.
> 
> And that makes an Intel chip (examples of what I should be looking for
> please?) every bit as capable as the Nvidia VDPAU chips?

As far as decoding, yes.  It should be able to handle broadcast MPEG2 and
H264, as well as any content you get off of Bluray.  As mentioned though,
it lacks some of post processing capabilities.