[mythtv-users] Pentium M laptop as frontend for HDTV?

[R. G. Newbury]

Kevin Kuphal wrote:
> On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:24 PM, Scott D. Davilla <davilla at 4pi.com> wrote:
> 
>>> I'm looking for a frontend for my bedroom. Currently I have a laptop
>>> with a processor that is just barely too slow to do HDTV (it starts to
>>> stutter after about 10-15mins of playing back HDTV). I think its a
>>> Celeron M 1.6GHz with 1GB of RAM and a Intel 910GML graphics card.
>>> Other than the HDTV issue it runs fine, and it plays HDTV fine for
>>> those first 15mins, then it seems to need to "chill" for about
>>> 10-15mins to "cool off" or it just stutters constantly.
>>>
>>> So I'm looking to replace it. I'm looking at some laptops that have
>>> Pentium M's, up to 1.8GHz. I know the AppleTV has a 1.0GHz Pentium M
>>> and seems to do fine with 720p, but not so well with 1080 content, so
>>> I'm wondering if anyone knows what the minimum Pentium M required to
>>> smoothly play back 1080i with deinterlacing enabled is (since I'll be
>>> connecting it to a LCD monitor).
>> 1.7 GHz Pentium-M or better would do fine if you had and nvidia
>> chipset. I have one here for cross-testing against the 1GHz Pentium-M
>> in the AppleTV. You will need an nvidia display card and not the 8xxx
>> or 9xxx as these do not have XvMC. A 5xxx, 6xxx or 7xxx will be fine
>> but watch your 6xxx choice as some do not have XvMC.
>>
>> Since you have an 910GML video in the Laptop, you are out of luck,
>> maybe a fast Pentium-M without any deinterlacing enabled.
>>
>> If you don't want to use XvMC, then any Core Duo Mobile will be fine,
>> the lower clock versions run cooler than the Pentium-M. But I don't
>> think you can put a Core Duo Mobile in a Pentium-M socket, you might
>> check though.
> 
> 
> I don't think this is the case anymore.  The Intel page lists the 910GML as
> a supported chipset and based on the information added to the Wiki recently,
> Intel is supporting XvMC on all their supported chipsets.
> 
> Kevin

I (Geoff Newbury) was the one who updated the wiki, as a result of my 
testing of the recent release of the xf86-video-intel-2.3.0 driver by 
Intel. That driver enables XvMC on ALL Intel chipsets from the i810 up.

It would be a lot cheaper for you to add XvMC capabilities to your 
laptop. It sounds like it is really close to being capable as it stands.

The only oddity I have found is that the setup plays SD recordings from 
my PVR in green, if I try to use XvMC down at that level. So I use 
libmpeg from 0x0 to 720x480 and XvMC above there.

The Wiki sets out the whole process. I gather that the usual suspects 
provide packages which are xvmc-ready, so you may not have to re-compile 
mythtv. You*will* spend some time fiddling with Playback Profiles, I 
suspect.

Geoff