[mythtv-users] Re: New MythTV Hardware Review

Kevin Hulse jedi at mishnet.org
Mon Dec 6 14:42:02 UTC 2004


Quoting Brad Templeton <brad+myth at templetons.com>:

> On Sun, Dec 05, 2004 at 11:10:41PM -0800, Doug Heimburger wrote:
> > However, my understanding is that HD requires a decent amount of CPU
> > to decompress, right? My G4 Powerbook struggles to decompress the
> > MPEG-2 stream in software; I shudder to think about how it would do on
> > an HD stream.
>
> Most assuredly.  A 3ghz Pentium 4 is recommended.  Don't know what
> level of PPC.  And a fancier video card.
>
> Or you could make the bet that, by the time you are ready for HDTV,
> myth will have decent xvmc support.  This means driving the mpeg
> decoder built into even lower end video cards these days.  In that
> case, a much slower processor could display HDTV.
>
> However, the fundamental rule of hardware is never buy hardware
> before you need it.   The rule gets changed for the HDTV tuner
> card because of the law.  Otherwise, build for what you need now.
>
> In the USA, however, I fear that the only reasons to build MythTV
> right now are:
>
>     a) You are a believer, or
>     b) You like tinkering with the OS and device drivers
>     c) You want HDTV in a PC based PVR.
>     d) You are outside the USA.

e) You wish to archive some of what you are recording on your Tivo
f) You wish your Tivo were better organized (like, by series then episode)
g) You want a DVD jukebox.
h) You want an MP3 jukebox that doesn't require a constant wifi signal.
i) You want more sophisticated preference algorithms.
j) You want a user serviceable device that you can easily add capacity to.

There's plenty of room for improvement with a Tivo.


>
> Because frankly, if you are in the USA, and you just want a standard
> definition PVR, you're going to be much better off in terms of time
> spent and probably even money, just getting a Tivo, Replay or even
> crap PVR from your cableco.
>
> Thus, to me, HDTV is the whole point of the thing.  The only reasonable
> HDPVR I could get right now would be the Tivo-HD for DirectTV.  It's
> $1000 and locked up, and requires you subscribe to DirecTV.  Of course
> that will change.
>


--
        Negligence will never equal intent, no matter how you
attempt to distort reality to do so. This is what separates         |||
the real butchers from average Joes (or Fritzes) caught up in      / | \
events not in their control.


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