[mythtv-users] System specifications review...

[Mark Garland]

Hi,

>if we change our habits such that the default screen is the
> menu screen and we never watch live TV through the Myth box, then the
> the idle power would (presumably) be much lower.

Well recommended.
Otherwise, all these CPU cycles or GPU cycles (VDPAU) would be wasted.  This
would also result in more heat, more cooling, more noise...  
Also, myth records all the LiveTV you watch so that you can rewind back -
24x7 operation is a lot of wear on your drives - even at SD I can clock up a
gb or two per hour - that's 48gb/day for maybe nothing!

>I don't even know
> if I could tell the difference between 1x or 2x deinterlacing

2x = double framerate.  The deinterlacer (as I understand it - open for
correction) takes the (in my case - UK) 25fps and increases that to 50fps
resulting in a much smoother picture for TV's capable of displaying it.
Can't say I've seen them working in VDPAU, but the difference for me between
linear blend and Yadif(2x) was immense.

HTH,

MG


> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-
> bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Patrick Doyle
> Sent: 16 November 2009 18:15
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] System specifications review...
> 
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> wrote:
> > Patrick Doyle <wpdster at gmail.com> says:
> >> So if I go with this processor, which I selected based on reports of
> >> it's idle and max power consumption (6.8W and 31W), is there any point
> >> in adding a VDPAU graphics card later?
> >
> > Yes.
> >
> > Let me reword that: No matter how much CPU horsepower you have, there
> > is no point in *not* getting a VDPAU-capable card *now*. For $30-50,
> > how can you lose?
> I could lose if it increased the overall power consumption of my box.
> That one could be tough to measure, as there is a certain "idle" power
> consumption that, almost certainly must be higher just by adding a
> card to the box.  But that would, ideally, be offset by the total
> reduction in power of using the VDPAU decoder instead of using CPU
> cycles.
> 
> Hmmm... as I think about this more, it occurs to me that it is more
> complex than I first thought... after all, when I turn off the TV, the
> MythTV box is likely to stay powered on, still tuned to and displaying
> whatever channel it was last tuned to and displaynig.  (At least
> that's the mode that my family and I have been trained to expect from
> the TiVo.)  Therefore, the so called "idle" power consumption could be
> lower with a VDPAU-capable card, just because it would (hopefully) be
> more efficient and decoding the OTA video than the CPU would be.  Of
> course, if we change our habits such that the default screen is the
> menu screen and we never watch live TV through the Myth box, then the
> the idle power would (presumably) be much lower.
> 
> I could lose if the fan on the card made the box too noisy.
> 
> I could lose if I put in a card that is underpowered for HD.
> Right now, all I know about VDPAU is that I need a card with a certain
> capability if I want to use "Advanced (2x) Deinterlacing".  I'm not
> even sure what "Advanced (2x) Deinterlacing" is, except that it is
> probably better than "Advanced (1x) Deinterlacing".  I don't even know
> if I could tell the difference between 1x or 2x deinterlacing, nor do
> I know if I might possibly prefer the 1x deinterlacing.  But I do know
> that the higher end cards all seem to support it.  So, in order to
> maximize my options, I'm inclined to go with a higher end card -- i.e.
> one that would probably consume more power, dissipate more heat, and
> therefor require more airflow than a lower end card.  Round and round
> she goes...
> 
> --wpd
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users