[mythtv-users] Thoughts on the upcoming Boxee Box as a possible frontend?

Raymond Wagner raymond at wagnerrp.com
Sat Sep 25 14:36:48 UTC 2010


  On 9/25/2010 10:06, Matt Emmott wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 9:05 PM, Thomas Mashos <tgm4883 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:tgm4883 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 5:23 PM, Raymond Wagner
>     <raymond at wagnerrp.com <mailto:raymond at wagnerrp.com>> wrote:
>
>          On 9/24/2010 19:28, Matt Emmott wrote:
>
>             I'm not very familiar with the CE4100 and most searches
>             turned up more articles on the Boxee Box, but I believe I
>             saw on Engadget that it supports VAAPI, which I see is in
>             preliminary support in .24. Wow that was a run-on
>             sentence. Is anybody familiar with this chip and its
>             feasibility with Myth? If it's an Atom then it's x86 code,
>             which should IMHO make it Myth-friendly.
>
>
>         It's an Atom, and only single core and 1.2GHz at that, so it's
>         a piece of junk performance wise.  It's paired with the same
>         PowerVR graphics found in the GMA500, and you're going to be
>         relying on that for anything you might want to do.  Assuming
>         you've got clean, error free content, in a codec with settings
>         compatible with the chip, it will work great.  If you've got
>         something else, you've got nothing to fall back on, just like
>         any other underpowered system.
>
>
>     I have to agree with Raymond here. For not much more you can get a
>     Zotac with a dual core atom, nvidia ion graphics, and you can
>     mount it to the back of your TV. The Boxee Box seems like an
>     overpriced, under powered, piece of equipment. IMHO it's to little
>     to late.
>
>
> Why does the CPU matter? If it's an FE only it's not going to be doing 
> any commflagging or transcoding or anything intensive, it's just going 
> to be playing back videos. And if the GPU can handle what they claim 
> it can handle, isn't that enough? Obviously the question of VAAPI 
> support in Myth is a factor but I don't see how the CPU matters anymore.

For the same reason CPU mattered with the old VIA systems, and we keep 
warning people that CPU matters with these current ION systems.  
Hardware accelerated decoding is statically defined.  Once the chip is 
fabricated, its capabilities and limitations cannot be changed.

If your content is such that it can be handled by this ASIC, then 
playback is smooth, there is no CPU load, and things are great.  If for 
whatever reason, the content cannot be played, then there is no chance 
for improvement.  You have no CPU power to fall back on for software 
decoding, so you either have to buy all new hardware, or you are stuck 
unable to use such content.
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