[mythtv-users] Testing the HDTV Waters

[Robert Tsai]

On Thu, May 04, 2006 at 11:39:57AM -0400, Calvin Harrigan wrote:
> I've been using Mythtv with SD for years now.  I've decided to try
> HD, there are quite a few OTA HD channels available in the area.  I
> browsed through the list looking for minimum configurations needed
> to play back HD.  The specs seemed a bit high.  My current setup is
> an Athlon XP 1800 with a FX5200 video card, 512 Megs ram. 360 gigs
> storage.  According to what I've read, what I have is not powerful
> enough.  But being stubborn I downloaded a couple HD clips.  One in
> mpeg and one in wmv format,1080i and 720p respectively.  Suprisingly
> enough both clips played flawlessly.  I was blown away by what I've
> been missing with HD.  The concern is that I played the clips using
> the mplayer from within mythtv.  Is the mythtv built in player able
> to play HD as efficiently?  The native format of the tv it's
> connected to is 1280 x 720 via dvi->hdmi.  So the 1080i was scaled.
> Does anyone else have a similar low end setup that is using hd
> successfully?  Is an 1800 just too slow?  Any comments appreciated.

I wouldn't let that stop you (even if the CPU is too slow, which I
think it is, without hardware assistance).

I transcode all my OTA HD recordings down to a lower resolution
(856x480) for disk-space reasons and because my TV is not truly HDTV,
and it still looks much better than analog cable TV (to my
non-videophile eyes). And you still get the goodies like
widescreen-aspect ratio of your favorite broadcast shows.

--Rob
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