[mythtv-users] Most Cost Effective Portable Frontend

Andre mythtv-list at dinkum.org.uk
Thu Sep 9 07:49:03 UTC 2010


On 9 Sep 2010, at 03:43, Brian Fischer wrote:

> I am in the market for a Netbook/Tablet/Notebook for multimedia only. My goal is to run Boxee, Hulu, and MythTV on a portable machine and then dock to a TV at home via HDMI. Thanks to Adobe, Hulu and Boxee on Linux require a lot of CPU.  After a discussion in the Mythbuntu forums, I thought I would open this discussion on the mailing list.
> 
> 
> 1. I was thinking about one of these, but have not been able to pull up any results from Google.  Any Opinions?
> ASUS N61 Series N61Vg-A2 16" Windows 7 Home Premium NoteBook
> I noticed the screen resolution is 1366 x 768.  This seems weird given the GT 220.  Should this output 1080p via HDMI though?
> 
> 2. Does anyone know what CPU is required for Advanced (2X) de-interlacing with Blu-Ray/1080P and H.264? The Myth HD playback article on the wiki does not seem to show this: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/HD_Playback_Reports

The wiki doesn't say because 1080p doesn't need any de-interlacing, only interlaced video needs de-interlacers, 1080i or SDTV 576i or 480i. There are some blurays with 1080i video but very rare, usually only home movie disks.

progressive 1080p, 720p 576p,480p needs less cpu time to decode than interlaced, good de-interlacing often requires more CPU (or GPU) grunt than decoding the H264 video!

Sometimes it's useful to search the nvidia forums for qvdpautest results for the chip or notebook, that will tell you in (too much) detail what it's capable of decoding. Allow a margin for MythTV performance over what qvdpautest reports, not sure why but myth seems to be a few percent slower than the pure benchmark.

Andre

> 
> 
> Here is my current summary of options:
> 
> From http://www.hulu.com/support/article/166573
> Hulu Desktop Requirements for Linux:
> * Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz
> * At least 2.0 GB RAM
> * Fedora 9, Ubuntu 8.04 or later
> * 2 Mbps Internet connection
> * Flash 10.0.22
> 
> From http://forums.boxee.tv/showpost.php?p=363&postcount=2
> Boxee Requirements:
> 1080p H.264 requires Intel Core 2 Duo running at 2.6Ghz or an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 2.8Ghz
> 
> 
> 
> 1. Netbook with nVidia ION (1st generation)
> Cost > $300
> Screen Size is around 10-12"
> Will not do advanced de-interlacing for myth
> Battery life around 4-6 hours
> I would suggest a ASUS Eee PC 1201N-PU17-BK Black 12.1" WXGA NetBook or a HP Mini 311
> Will only play content supported by VDPAU. This uses an Intel Atom chipset. May be able to play low resolution (SD) flash.
> Do NOT get a NG-ION (or ION2) system as these only have worse performance than the previous generation.
> See http://www.anandtech.com/show/3765/n...n-nvidia-ngion and 
> http://www.anandtech.com/show/3702/z...orse-than-ion1
> 
> 
> 2. Intel Core i3 Laptop
> Cost > $600
> Screen Size is around 14"
> Battery life around 2 hours
> From here Intel Core i3 laptops start at about $600. Any of these should be powerful enough to do CPU decoding. Maybe someday in the future VA-API hardware acceleration may be supported under Linux.
> 
> 
> 3. Any laptop with GT 220M and Intel CPU > 2.0 GHz
> Cost > $725
> Screen size is 15" or greater
> Battery life around 2-5 hours
> The GT 220 will support Advanced 2X de-interlacing for VDPAU and high-def content with longer battery life. The CPU will support everything else thrown at it that cannot be decoded via VDPAU.
> 
> 
> 4. Wait until the nVidia Tegra 2 tablets are released
> These should be able to run on Ubuntu, but it may take some time before official support occurs. The majority will be released under Android OS.
> 
> Any comments? _______________________________________________
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