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

[Michael T. Dean]

On 10/16/2012 02:00 PM, Matt Emmott wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 1:46 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>> 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
>>
>> I disagree on a couple fronts. First, it's not so much the low power this
> time as it is price. Other than a $6 case, $10 AD adapter and ~$20 SDcard,
> the Pi clocks in at $35. That's pretty dang cheap for a front end. Add in
> the fact that there are no moving parts and the footprint is the size of a
> deck of cards, and the device becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

But price of tech is constantly decreasing, and this will spur an even 
greater push for decreasing cost.  I /promise/ you something better will 
come along eventually...  I don't remember anyone on the starship 
Enterprise ever using an RPi.  :)

> Second, A C2D will play back 1080p but it won't do it as well as a
> GPU-offloading solution. You'll get tearing, jitter, and overall a somewhat
> crappy experience. It will "work", but it won't make the wife happy.

No, tearing and jitter have nothing at all to do with decoding--only 
with rendering.  I use software decode on my AMD Athlon II and render 
with VDPAU (because VDPAU /is/ a great rendering tech--much better than 
20+ year old Xv and--especially with our current implementations--more 
efficient than OpenGL video rendering).  The VDPAU hardware decode is 
the least useful part of VDPAU given a real processor.  (In other words, 
I love PAU, but don't want or need VD.*** :)

If you're getting tearing and jitter and a somewhat crappy experience, 
the problem isn't software decoding or the CPU...

Mike

*** Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix