[mythtv-users] Cases for a Myth Frontend

Richard Shaw hobbes1069 at gmail.com
Wed May 14 16:11:14 UTC 2008


On Wed, May 14, 2008 at 7:28 AM, allene222 <nabble at oldpaloalto.com> wrote:
[SNIP]

> I searched the archives and googled to find a processor recommendation.  I
> found the official recommendation of 3GHz but that doesn't seem to apply to
> dual core.  I found people saying 3500+ was a good speed but the low power
> processors I am looking at from newegg are not rated that way.  I looked at
> the HD Playback Reports and got more confussed than before I looked (1GHz
> dual core cpu 3800+ and 2.2GHz cual core cpu only 10% faster???).  I found a
> site where it was said that the official speed recommendations were out of
> date with the new myth code.  I looked on the AMD site and the new low power
> processors don't have the xxxx+ ratings there either.
>
> Here is a link to the processor I am looking at.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103257
> It is a 2.1GHz Dual Core 45watt.
>
> As I am buying this new and the difference between one speed grade and the
> next seems small, I don't want to get too little power.  This will be an
> HDTV ATSC only combined frontend/backend system driving  both a SVideo TV
> and a 720p projector.  The projector is HDMI but I drive it from a DVI
> switching pre-processor so use a big fat DVI cable to drive it.
> They also have this one for just a few dollars more:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255
>
> Again, these are not rated with the equivalent speed.
>
> Now, as I look further, I find this reasonably low price processor but it is
> higher power.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103243
> It is rated at 4200+ Is that enough?  Again, a few $ more is better than
> having to buy another chip but if that is more than enough why spend more.
>
> All my work so far has been on a 2.4GHz P4 and it works, but stutters when a
> show just starts up and only works with XvMC so it is clearly borderline.  I
> have no experience with AMD processors nor with dual core for that matter.
> I built up 5 of these 2.4GHz machines for my family a number of years ago
> and have been using then since.
>
> So, I guess my question comes down to what speed is for sure enough but not
> gross overkill for a ATSC HDTV combined system and how does that speed
> compare to the low power processors I referenced?
>
> Allen

I think any of those processors would be fine, or at least are capable
of ATSC playback paired with the right hardware. To give you an idea
I'm currently doing ATSC playback with a Sempron 64 3000+ (1.8Ghz
SINGLE CORE). I've got it paired with a HDHomeRun and a Nvidia 6200
fanless video card and have it hooked up to a Vizio 32" LCD at
1360x768. It may be worth mentioning that I'm doing this with Fedora 8
x86_64. I know most people say that 64bit doesn't add much performance
but I've often wondered if this exact same setup running on an i386
install would work as well.

It will play one HD show (while recording it) just fine with only an
occasional pause w/ 1080i content. The more I load it up from there
the more pauses I get (recording 2 HD shows and playing back one of
the two or another recording). It's a little annoying but I can't
afford to upgrade right now. I was really surprised that I was able to
get this far with that processor though...

Richard


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