[mythtv-users] frontend hardware - any reason not to use ion?

[Nick F]

On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 7:38 AM, Andre Newman <mythtv-list at dinkum.org.uk> wrote:
> If you are a fussy b** like me and some of my friends then don't get an ION, it's aggravatingly almost quick enough to do everything nicely but not quite...
>
> I was lucky enough that a friend bought a Zotac ION mATX system before me, I then spent many hours at his place tweaking until it played HD material ok. He's very happy with it but I left glad that i hadn't bought one myself, things have improved smooth performance wise with 0.22 and running minimyth seemed to help a great deal, I understand that further progress is being made for .23 with vdpau that might make things better but it wasn't good enough for me a few weeks ago.
>
> I have a mATX with an old 1.8Ghz C2D cpu and a GT220 and I'm very very happy with that, if I could find a mATX board that allowed a passive GT220 and a couple of PCI sat cards that would be an ideal small Myth system in my opinion.
>
> I think that if you have an older or smaller HDTV (<1080p (full HD) res and <40") you might be very happy with an ION, big screen, fussy or videophile, forget it. IMHO.

I have a ION (330 dual core) with 2GB RAM in my 'cinema room' hooked
up to a BenQ W5000 1080p projector going onto a 140 inch screen.  I'm
not sure if I could be classified as a videophile - but both Blurays
(1080p) and DVDs look pretty darn good on it (comparable at least to
my local multiplex cinema).  I suspect 1080i sports would look better
with the Advanced 2x deinterlacing - but I'm pretty happy with my
setup.

The menus are plenty snappy enough.  My big gripe is HULU and flash
video in general.  It sucks big time and is essentially unwatchable.