[mythtv-users] Why cant we make a STB?

[Andrew Gallatin]

Mitch Gore [mitchell.gore at gmail.com] wrote:

> yes UPnP does do this kind of thing but your missing the point.  I
> want a FULL frontend experiacne via an extender through a low power,
> silient, cheap box.  IE, Com skip, schedule recordings, myth video,
> ALL
> 
> Am i the only one who really wants this?

Nope.  I wanted it so bad I left MythTV for SageTV about a year ago
because of the SageTV STX-HD100 extender (precursor to HD200). I had
used MythTV for 3 years before switching to SageTV.  I'd still really
rather run MythTV, but the attraction of a tiny, silent extender in
the <10W power envelope which presents the full SageTV gui (including
comskip) and does perfect HD playback was just too attractive.  The
most impressive thing about it is that It Just Works.

I still miss MythTV (mainly timestretch, and the way the scheduler
presents information), and I'd love to come back.  I've been eagerly
watching the VDPAU development, and when it hits supported status, I
may build myself an Nvidia based extender..  

At any rate, I'd buy an "it just works" extender for MythTV in a
heartbeat, if it was comparable to the HD200 in HD playback quality,
power consumption and heat dissipation.  But I don't know if you can
get x86 hardware that consumes <10W when playing back 1080p HD.  I
really like having a tiny box sitting unobtrusively behind a glass
door in my poorly ventilated media center.

Drew