[mythtv-users] Experiences with XvMC

[Todd Ignasiak]

The Unichrome integrated graphics chipsets are available on more than
just Mini-ITX boards.  VIA makes P4, Athlon, and even Athlon64 boards
with the Unichrome video.

This seems like an interesting option to me.    It allows for the most
offloading of MPEG2 processing, while still using a fast CPU for
everything else in the system.


S3/VIA also has standalone video cards (Deltachrome and Gammachrome)
but I don't know if they support full hardware decoding.


-- Also, I am confused on the controversy about open source from VIA. 
 Are the Unichrome drivers completely open source?  Or, do they rely
on binary code from VIA for full support?     A fully open source
driver would be a big plus over the Nvidia drivers.

On 8/1/05, Donavan Stanley <geckofiend at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 7/31/05, Scott <catfather at donpoo.net> wrote:
> > Oh yeah, one more thing :) I thought I read that some or all of the
> > unichrome chips had a limitation on video out where they could not
> > output 1280x720 (720p) video or above. Obviously this is a problem if
> > you're trying to hook your unichrome based board to a HDTV that wants
> > to accept either 720p or 1080i input sources.
> 
> On a mailing list that gets archived and searched quite often it's
> best NOT to post things you thing you read as it confuses things.
> Next thing you know you've got people quoting your post in irc saying
> "I read that some guy said he thought that they didn't do HDTV".  ;)
> 
> For the record, the Unichrome Pro chipset DOES offer hardware
> acceleration of HDTV streams as well as MPEG4 acceleration.  (Though
> the open source drivers don't support MPEG4 acceleration).
> 
> That being said, unless you REALLY want/need the mini-ITX form factor,
> you're much better off with a Celeron and a decent nVidia AGP based
> graphics card.  The mini-ITX based systems make great little silent
> frontends but they're seriously lacking in the horsepower needed for a
> good general Myth box.
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