[mythtv-users] Laptop as a Front-End (HD)

John Welch jrw3319 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 18 13:33:36 UTC 2010


I'm in the market for a new general purpose / multimedia laptop.  I'm
looking for a full sized laptop; probably targeting a 15" screen.  My
budget is between $400-$650.  While it definitely won't be its primary
purpose, I thought that while I was looking around I would keep in
mind occasional use as a MythTV front-end.  Most of my recordings now
are HD programs coming from an HDHR, a pcHDTV HD-3000, and an HD-PVR,
with the majority coming from the HDHR.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience and/or suggestions with
using a laptop as a front-end, specifically with regards to HD
playback.  I'm thinking that within my price range I might be hard
pressed to find something that will be able to play the HD-PVR
recordings, but I'm hoping to at least be able to play the HDHR (and
HD-3000) stuff.

Just looking around so far at NewEgg and Best Buy, there are a
plethora of choices in my price range.  Most of them have an Intel GMA
4500M GPU, but there are a few with ATI Radeon graphics and a couple
with NVidia graphics.  Is my best (or only) chance at getting smooth
HD playback to go with something that has NVidia graphics that can do
VDPAU, or would some of the better mobile processors be able to handle
it even with Intel/ATI graphics?  The most common processors on the
laptops I've looked at seem to be the Intel Pentium T4300/T4400.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
John


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