[mythtv-users] Android set top boxes as a myth frontend?

Raymond Wagner raymond at wagnerrp.com
Fri Apr 15 00:19:06 UTC 2011


On 4/14/2011 17:53, Stephen Hocking wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> A number of the local electronics discounters are beginning to offer
> android based set top boxes that are mostly used for streaming
> internet video and the like, They're claimed to be able to play 1080p
> streams, have a 1GHz ARM CPU, 512MB of ram etc. One can also get a
> mini keyboard with them. Has anyone else seen these and wondered what
> it would take to have a mythtv frontend on them? I've been pleasantly
> surprised by an el-cheapo Android 7" tablet I bought a while ago and
> have been messing about with the notion of doing some programming on
> it, but it looks difficult to do anything other than Java.

A 1GHz ARM would probably be sufficient to run the frontend.  512MB will 
be a bit tight at 1920x1080 on a graphical theme, but on a dedicated 
frontend, you should be able to manage it without swapping.  1GB or more 
would be preferred.  The problem is video playback.  At current, MythTV 
only supports VDPAU and CrystalHD.  An ARM system is not going to 
provide either of those interfaces, so you're stuck back using the CPU 
for decoding, which won't manage much.  You're effectively in the same 
boat as people trying to run Atom frontends.


More information about the mythtv-users mailing list