[mythtv-users] AppleTV as mythfrontend?

Todd Ignasiak ignasiak at gmail.com
Tue Apr 3 17:52:59 UTC 2007


On 4/3/07, Peter A. Daly <petedaly at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> > What advantage do you see it having over the multitude of other
> > solutions out there?
> >
>
> Seems to me like the best frontend hardware available for about $300.  I can
> barely build a diskless Via EPIA frontend for the price.  And the case would
> be many times the size.  Worse video output options.

I agree, plus factor in the size, noise-levels, and Home Theater
default configuration (built-in IR receiver, Component HD output, HDMI
output) and it's hard to beat as a frontend device.  It has an
integrated power supply, so no wall warts or external PSU.    It's
definitely a great form factor for our uses.

Of course, for many of us the viability hinges on the ability to do HD
MPEG2 playback.   For that, we may be better off starting with Linux
on it, with the XvMC Nvidia drivers, for it to have any chance at HD
playback.     Apple doesn't open their MPEG2 acceleration API in Mac
OS X, and all of their online content is H.264, so I don't think there
is any hope for accelerated MPEG2 under Mac OS X - even though the GPU
is quite capable of it.

But, for now I'm sticking with my Core Duo Mac Mini.  It has plenty of
horsepower to do an HD Myth frontend, along with all the standard
Apple/iTunes/iTMS stuff via Front Row.


> Raw hardware wise, I think it's the best option out there if it can be made
> to run mythfrontend and listen to a normal (more than 5 button!) remote.

You're in luck, the Apple remote has six buttons.      Just kidding..
I believe the people running Linux on Mac Minis are using the internal
IR receiver with Lirc, giving them much more flexibility than it has
under Mac OS X.


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