[mythtv-users] Some Info on the Video Without Boundaries Boxes

Jesse Guardiani jesse at wingnet.net
Fri Apr 7 17:30:32 UTC 2006


Warren wrote:
> That's almost correct.  They are not the most technical down there.  The
> board is made for them.
>
> The Processor is a C3A (Nehemiah) 1Ghz.  The Sigma 8475 may or may not
> actually be used.  There are no drivers for it in the 2.6 kernel
> series.  When the original board was spec'd out there was a question as
> to whether the VIA processor would be able to handle the MPEG4 content
> so it was added.  Since everything is MPEG2 on this machine there is no
> reason to assume that the 8475 is even needed.  In the last version of
> the software that we did for the 4000 which was written with porting to
> the 5000 in mind we did not use it at all.
>
> I do not know what video capture card was finally decided upon, but
> originally the spec for the 5000 was a Hauppauge 150.  If that is the
> case, it explains the coax, although it would be an input, not an
> output.  Take a look at
> http://www.vwbinc.com/pdf/MR4000%20Brochure%205-10%20web.pdf for the
> specs of the 4000.  The bottom-right picture shows the i/o ports on the
> 4000, which are likely to be the same on the 5000.  From left to right
> in rows
> 1) composite video and stereo audio in ***Not hooked up to MPEG capture
> hardware
> 2) Composite video and stereo audio out.
> 3) Y/Pb/Pr component out fed from a VT1623 which means 480p max
> 4) 6-channel analog audio out - This was having problems but looked to
> possibly be solved on the last version of the board I have.
> 5) Digital audio out, both fiber and coax.
>
> Additionally there are USB and Firewire connectors on the back and on
> the front.  S-Video in and out on the back, Composite and stereo input
> on the front (again not hooked up to MPEG compression hardware). PCMCIA
> and ISO card slots on the front.  The 5000 was supposed to add a larger
> HD, DVD/RW and PVR onto basically the same motherboard.
>
> As for HD playback, it has the ability to do so from an MPEG2 source,
> although scaled down to 480p.  I have done that myself through xine.
>
>   
>> The device does not have a way to input baseband HD (not surprising  
>> but I had to ask).
>>
>> It is said you can get HD programming into the machine via "USB or  
>> network". This implies it is able to play it back but I wouldn't bet  
>> the bank on that.
>>
>> I asked what video inputs the machine has. the answer was "3  
>> composite video, 2 S-Video, 1 coax video outputs". This answer  
>> confuses me but it is a direct quote.
>>     

This looks like a really nice candidate for a mythfrontend system to an 
SDTV, possibly capable
of playing back HDTV at SDTV resolutions. I assume the OS is just loaded 
on the HD? Or does
it use a ROM for booting?


-- 
Jesse Guardiani
Programmer/Sys Admin
jesse at wingnet.net



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