[mythtv-users] Opinions on this frontend/backend hw selection...

[Joey Morris]

Ajay Sharma <ajayrockrock at gmail.com> wrote on Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 04:14:56PM -0800:
> On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 6:37 PM, Ajay Sharma <ajayrockrock at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Can I take the silence as a sign of approval?  As in there's nothing
> wrong with my config so no reason to respond?  Or has no one read
> this?   :)
> 
> My real question is the video card.  Is the Geforce 210 good enough?
> I figured if paried with an i3 that should be powerful enough to play
> whatever I need coming off the HD-PVR.

I recently built a frontend with an i3-540, and I picked up the MSI
210 for cheap in case I needed to supplement the CPU with VDPAU. I'm
not using the video card, and I've been satisfied with the CPU-only
setup. I wouldn't describe myself as a discerning viewer, though, and
I'm watching MPEG2 from an HDHomerun, so my experience may not help
you much.

You'll find differing opinions on the list as to whether a nice CPU is
sufficient or whether you'll still want a VDPAU card even with a nice
CPU. There have been emails just this afternoon about it, actually.

The 210 doesn't do the best de-interlacing, so you'd need to step up
to get that. It's similar to the ION in its capabilities, and a lot of
people seem satisfied with the ION.