[mythtv-users] Myth experiences with Zotac ION + ATOM mobo

Jean-Yves Avenard jyavenard at gmail.com
Wed May 27 04:27:01 UTC 2009


Hi

Sent from my iPhone

On 27/05/2009, at 1:33 PM, Glen Dragon <gdragon at jetcom.org> wrote:

> Since i figured that others might be interested, i figured that i'd  
> post my experiences in the past week with the 1st of the Nvidia Ion  
> boards to come out.  For those that don't know the Zotac IONITX is a  
> mobo with a nvidia ion chipset that mates a 9400 graphics core with  
> a intel atom processor.
>
> I managed to grab one of these boards last week right after the  
> reviews came out..  newegg had them (since sold out)
> There are 4 different boards with various combinations of single/ 
> dual core, and internal DC-DC power vs ATX.
> I got the IONITX-C. board..   The board i got has the DC power  
> regulator, and the single core atom N230.
> I would highly recommend this board.
>
> This board is what us myth folks have been looking for since we  
> started this hobby.
> I'm using it as a diskless frontend connected to a 40" LCD, playing  
> off of a network master server/backend.
> Using VDPAU..
> Can play ATSC OTA recordings both 720p & 1080i, and hdpvr h.264 720p  
> recordings.
> CPU utilization while playing is 5-10%
> Can playback at 1.4x - looks pretty good.  logs show some dropped  
> frames, but still watchable depending on source.
> Power draw at the plug is 21 W.   Power draw did no vary from idle  
> to watching recordings
> Board is stable. uptime is a 5 days. -- Replaced my main watching FE  
> machine.
> Netboot works out of the box
> Runs 64 bit executables
> Small - fits behind TV, out of sight.
> Fanless. Totally silent.  You need a blinky light to know that it's  
> on.
> (Still playing with de-interlacers)  Running 180.51 drivers.. need  
> to upgrade to 180.60
> Sensors does not find temp sensors.. GFX core as reported by nvidia  
> tools runs from 59-67 deg C.
> GUI menus very usable, w/ blootube wide
> Audio over optical spdif works, Analog audio too.
> Audio over HDMI is allegedly supposed to work.. (i'm not using --  
> don't have a spare hdmi cable to test)
> VGA & DVI both tested, hdmi untested (no reason to think it  
> shouldn't work)
> Boots in a reasonable amount of time.
> DC Supply is ideal. I cannot fathom a use for the ATX connector..  
> (yes, i saw the other thread..  )
> Negatives:
> Takes 2-3 minutes to prescale theme images first time.  w/ blootube  
> wide
> Needed to disable generating pixmaps from bookmark, as atom  
> processor isn't very good at that, and make user interface seem to  
> lockup.
> Unable to rmmod alsa-realtek module, always in use, never gets  
> freed. <- Kernel bug?
> No firewire for cable box control/capture -- not really an ideal  
> backend anyways.
> No speedstep scaling.. not supported by atom N230.  Not needed..   
> see 21W  !!!!
> Some might consider the dual core atom ... I don't think you need  
> it.  My understanding is that it may require a fan for the dual  
> core, and certainly draw more power.   The Atom processor is really  
> not used for much.
>
> I used this case: http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal-mini-itx-enclosure?sc=8&category=87 
>  Perfect application for it.
>
> My pics:  Gallery
>
> Questions welcome..  I will probably pick up a few more of these  
> boards for other locations in my house in the near future.
> -- 

Which case do you use with this board?
Which Linux distribution did you use and which version of mythtv?

I was looking at The dual Core version.

Thanks. 
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