[mythtv] openbrick / frontend

[Henk Poley]

> Van: Larry Matter <mythtv at matter.net>
> 
> > hmm this wonders me...
> > me 600mhz laptop has only 30% cpu usage with mythfrontend running,
> > rtjpeg is set to 400x400 with quality 170...
> 
> The top CPU consumer when I play mythtv is X, not mythfrontend.  I don't
> know, but maybe their X driver is not very efficient.  I have played
> around with reslutions/bitrates/formats a lot and this was the best
> choice; rtjpeg is *really* jerky.  X is set to 800x600.

Heard this before, so it's probably the driver. But could also be the
X-server itself, if it uses much floating point stuff (shouldn't be I
guess).

> > of course for 300$ you could build a really fast machine, but i'd like
> > to have one that is really quiet. really. means absolutely no noise ;-)
> 
> The EPIA M 9000 (with fan) is *not* quiet.  You can make it quieter with
> a fan speed adjusters.

Jup, or you can put an Athlon/Intel cooler on the CPU and run it without
fan(!) The PSU is located outside the case, and has no fan. Or at least
most mini-ITX cases do this.

> > Hmm... You sure you've got everything set correctly? My 1.2GHz Duron on
> > a Via chipset, Epox 8k7a2(something like that) fell _just_ short of
> > being able to encode and decode 640x480 mpeg 4 at the same time.
> 
> No, not sure, but I followed their instructions.  You can't recompile the
> kernel if you want to use Via drivers (unless you want to manuall edit
> the symbols), so I can't optimize for C3.  I also don't know how much
> playing over the network affects performance - soon I'll be able to try
> an AMD 1200Mhz

Do they supply their own kernel then? Not the normal modules?

> > is that the board that has the builtin MPEG decoder and if did you
> > manage to get it working with Linux and then MythTV?
> 
> No one on the Via forums can tell for sure if the mpeg decoder is working
> under Linux.  And I don't think it will help with MythTv anyway since
> that is mpeg4.

<sigh> So?

> I have written to Via about both their binary drivers and the mpeg
> decoder support; they promissed to get back to me...

Good luck!

	Henk Poley <><