[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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