[mythtv-users] Better playback..... Athlon 2800+ or Pentium 4?

[Yeechang Lee]

Jean-Yves Avenard <jyavenard at gmail.com> says:
> > My current frontend is an AMD Athlon 2800+ Barton with 1Gb ram.
> >
> > To play HD efficiently now I have a plasma, would it be better to
> > put the P4 on the frontend and move the AMD to server duties or
> > the other way round.
> 
> For playing HD it doesn't matter, neither of those processor would be
> fast enough to handle most HD codecs, mpeg2 sure, but that's it.

Given that he will be getting a 9400GT he'll presumably be using
VDPAU. I can't speak for the AMD, but I can testify that a four
years-old Pentium 4 3.0GHz with VDPAU is sufficient for a combined
frontend/backend. (As Jean-Yves says, the box can play HD MPEG-2
without VDPAU, but what's the point nowadays?) If you do go ahead and
break up the frontend and backend (as you should if you have a
choice), use the Pentium as the frontend.

-- 
Frontend/backend:	P4 3.0GHz, 1.5TB software RAID 5 array
Backend:		Quad-core Xeon 1.6GHz, 6.6TB sw RAID 6
Video inputs:		Four high-definition over FireWire/OTA
Accessories:		47" 1080p LCD, 5.1 digital, and MX-600