[mythtv-users] fanless Epia, Mediamvp or network dvd player for frontend?

[Andrew Wilson]

I've been following with interest recent discussions about cheap,
small, silent, low-power frontend boxes.  Looking at replacing my Epia
M10k with something silent and perhaps smaller.  Contenders for me are
Roku Picture bridge, MediaMVP, Kiss DP-1500, D-Link DSM320, Epia
fanless Me6000/Sp8000, Xbox, Dec2000t.

Initial findings:

Roku - Looks great, but for me it's too expensive and I don't need HD.

MediaMVP - front runner for me. Cheapest, smallest, already working
with myth, active community, but no Scart or Divx, reports of aspect
ratio problems.

Kiss DP-1500 - DVD player with network and a linux hacker community.
Ought to do be able to do myth somehow, perhaps with their own 'KML'
XML-derived markup language. Nice native features (dvd drive, divx,
webradio, pcmcia wireless, picture quality etc). Would be an
interesting project, but not a shoe-in. . Possible ethical issues
about GPL violations. HAS ANYONE TRIED THIS BOX FOR MYTH?

DLink DSM-320 - I bought one but was disappointed, maybe my
expectations are too high - I did get a recorded mythtv show to
display using one of many UPnP servers I tried (can't remember which
one), but couldn't figure how to get the aspect ratio correct so it
was unwatchable. InternetTV, via TVersity worked, but for me it's
probably a bit of a gimmick that we wouldn't watch often. Would be
nice to have, though.

Epia - My current frontend/backend is an epia. I'd just be replacing
it with a fanless frontend-only box. Works very well but has a few
annoying bugs which might go away with another box - judging by how
infrequently these problems are discussed on this list they don't
affect everyone: Lipsync can get bad, Horrible audio chirping after
skipping forwards, more prevalent on recordings from some channels
than others. Pros: can attach hd, dvd. Cons: expensive, big.

Xbox - From previous discussions, it is probably the best for many
folks - myth compatible s/w, big hacker community, best looking app.
Oh and it also plays games :-)
But not for me - has a fan, is quite big, too expensive.

DEC-2000t - My existing freeview (DVB-T) box. Works great for this,
but part of the reason I bought it was that has USB, and hence *could*
be used as a display for an external box with no native graphic
output. I'm not interested in using it to do recordings, but this
already works and is another potential bonus. Using windows s/w it can
play back its own recordings made to the TV over USB and SCART, but
there is black magic involved in doing this. With the right software
it would be possible to run a frontend-type application especially
when teamed up with a small linux box (epia, or NSLU2 or similar).
This would be my ideal solution, but alas it looks like a lot of
legwork to get going.


What I need to know before I decide:
- Has anyone tried to use a KISS (or other brand) networked DVD player
to play Mythtv shows?
- Is the picure and sound quality good on the MediaMVP despite not
having RGB output?
- What would be the easiest way to get picture select for music
playlists? (ie click on the album cover), I think Xbox can do this but
not MediaMVP, KISS, or any uPnP boxes. Please correct me if I'm wrong
about this. This is THE user interface feature for me.
- Are there problems with a/v sync and/or audio chirping on MediaMVP or Xbox?


Thanks for reading this far :-)

Andrew