[mythtv-users] Raspberry Pi now ships with 512MB RAM

[Joseph Fry]

On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 1:46 PM, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com>wrote:

> On 10/15/2012 09:12 PM, Per Hatlevik wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 6:02 PM, Michelle Dupuis wrote:
>>
>>>  From what I recall from the last discussion on list, accelerated video
>>> is not supported for that video chipset, so not suitable...
>>>
>> not suitable until someone writes it. vdpau was not supported until
>> someone wrote support for that. i have actively been researching
>> openmax and the implementation doesn't seem that bad if i had the
>> time.
>>
>> definitely having 512MB should allow us to run the full frontend which
>> helps, and then there's just openmax. my problem is that i'm
>> comfortable programming just never really programmed video encoders or
>> decoders so that is a learning experience but i definitely have
>> openmax on my list of things to do if no one else beats me to it, just
>> not a lot of spare time these days to spend doing anything.
>>
>> the hardware h264 encoder on the raspberry pi could be of interest to
>> a lot of people as well....
>>
>
> IME, the support for using extremely underpowered systems generally comes
> about the time it's no longer needed--such as when the available systems
> are no longer underpowered...  For example, by the time the PVR-350 decoder
> was usable on GNU/Linux, modern processors could handle SDTV MPEG-2
> decoding without breaking a sweat.  VDPAU itself came out at a time when
> processors didn't need it (I said "processors", not "toys"--where you've
> been able to do a Core 2 Duo system that runs about the same power draw as
> an Atom, but then had some headroom available for when you need it, since
> Atom was first released, so there was never a need for Atom).  Similarly, I
> expect we'll have good support for MythTV on systems like the RPi about the
> time there's a better option available (whether that option is better
> ARM-powered devices or something else that provides low-power, low-cost
> systems).
>
> Note, also, that many people thought the Beagle Board would be "the
> perfect frontend," but we're not all using Beagle frontends, yet...
>
> Mike (perhaps a bit jaded) Dean


Perhaps.  While I suspect that the RPi will always be a limited solution
(if it ever becomes one at all) it has one thing going for it that the
other low power solutions dont... COST.  If I could pick up a $30 frontend
that would play most of my material, well velcro'd to the back of the
kitchen tv, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
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