[mythtv-users] Mini-Mac HDTV Front end

[Anthony Vito]

> > BUT has anyone tried it?
> 
> Good question, which I can't answer, but I'm curious too :)

I believe with a customized mpegdecoder and player, one highly
optimized for the mini-mac hardware it should be entirely possible.
Most of the performance issues with HDTV playback is the decoder and
player are separated. ffmpeg --> mplayer.... etc..... The best boast
to performance I've seen is having the AGP write code run concurrently
inside the decoding loop... That is described on Intel machines in
this  paper:

www.cs.princeton.edu/~chenhan/papers/icme2002t.pdf
Code here:
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/omnimedia/software.htm

Which Ive referenced before on this list. The paper describes other
optimizations such as macro-block arrangement for better cache
locality.. etc... However, I believe using exisiting open source mpeg2
decoding code, and exisiting player code one could mash them together
to "exploit the concurrency between the CPU and the AGP write
buffer"(page 3) and come up with a HDTV capable player for the
mini-mac ( and for much lower power machines )...

.... Anyone going to 'donate' a mini-mac to me and let me try?  ;)


-- 
Anthony Vito
anthony.vito at gmail.com