[mythtv-users] Can an Atom N270 1.6GHz decode SD video with yadif and scaling?

[Paul Gardiner]

Raymond Wagner wrote:
> On 10/23/2009 06:46, Paul Gardiner wrote:
>> Hi,
>> Anyone know if am Atom N270 1.6GHz has sufficient grunt to
>> decode SD video, with yadif deinterlacing and scaling
>> to 720p resolution? Or would that require some hardware
>> assistance from the graphics card?
> 
> All video scaling is done by the graphics hardware, using the XVideo 
> interface.  MythTV on any system without Xv would not be enjoyable.

I was looking at the possibility of using a Netbook. I'm not sure
what graphics chips they use, and whether XV would be available
under Linux.

> What is 'SD video'?  Generally bitrate is more important than 
> resolution, and codec most of all.  Certainly MJPEG is going to take far 
> less processor than H.264.

By SD I meant Standard Definition. In my case PAL, derived from UK's
Freeview via DVB-T. That's why I thought it might be possible. No
requirement to play anything other than Standard Def MPEG2.

> 
>> Also any chance of
>> a little spare CPU to also run the backend?
> 
> Again, this depends on you and your needs.  The backend generally has 
> three CPU intensive tasks: scheduling, recording, and jobqueue.  The 
> jobqueue only matters if you intend to use it, which would be primarily 
> commflagging and transcoding.  That chip will do neither in a hurry.  
> Recording only matters if you use framegrabbers (CPU encoding).  MPEG 
> encoders and digital tuners all produce a pre-encoded MPEG2 TS, and 
> require next to no CPU.  Generally mythfilldatabase can run in minutes, 
> and the scheduler in a fraction of a second, however you're talking 
> about rather marginal hardware, and several tuners with a large lineup 
> can really become a nuisance, holding the CPU for a long time.
> 
> Why are you set on the low end Atom?  An ION with hardware video 
> decoding, or even a dual core N330 would both be a far better choice.  
> Even better, you can get a respectable dual core AMD system for around 
> the same price, and if you put the machine into standby when not in use, 
> it will only consume a couple dollars more power per year than an Atom.

Mainly liked the idea of a Netbook because of the size. I'm not aware of
a way to achieve that when putting the parts together myself.  Although
I guess some ITX cases are pretty small.

Thanks for the advice.

Cheers,
	Paul.