[mythtv-users] Reference fanless frontend, frontend, backend, fe/be

[Andre]

On 14 Jan 2011, at 22:06, Steven Adeff wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 5:55 PM, Andre <mythtv-list at dinkum.org.uk> wrote:
>> 
>> On 13 Jan 2011, at 21:40, Richard Morton wrote:
>> 
>>> I had an online discussion with someone (not on this list) that was
>>> being very patronising and abusive while telling me that hi is
>>> transcoding a bluray rip to 2gb (from 25gb) and it is completely
>>> lossless.
>> 
>> Does he work for Adobe? ;-) they seem to think that sort of thing is possible!
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> However; this does highlight a point jedi's point. both are 1080p
>>> encodes of a movie, both are in H264 and yet not both will playback on
>>> the same hardware, the more data the more processing required.
>> 
>> Never mind the myriad combinations of encoding tools and schemes available even within a fixed profile. I could easily generate a perfectly valid H264 encode at common rates that wouldn't playback on any current cpu in software and vdpau would barf on too. I had something much like that recently for a customer who wanted 1080p at 4Mb/s but they couldn't find anything fast enough to play the resulting files, looked ok for 4Mb/s but certainly nothing near even bad bluray quality.
>> 
>> Looking at the BBC HD threads I think the BBC just recently did the same!
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> Throw into the mix a different codec (and lack of hardware decoding)
>>> and absolutely (unfortunately) one box may play one
>>> 720i/720p/1080i/1080p file but not another.
>>> 
>>> However... in response to the original poster; I have just seen my
>>> next frontend:
>>> 
>>> designed to be fanless; ION2 system with DC power input (i.e. no
>>> traditional PSU required, just a laptop type power-brick).
>>> 
>>> http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=546:zotac-updates-ion-itx-platforms&catid=1&Itemid=268&lang=un
>> 
>> Ah, excellent, might have to get one of these instead of a new graphics card, thanks.
> 
> ION2 does not provide any advance in the way of VDPAU over ION 1. I
> have two ION1 systems at home, one in my bedroom, a Zotac MAG HD-ND01
> and a Foxconn NT-330I-A-B-NA-A which both work amazingly well for my
> HDPVR content though lack the horsepower for Advanced 2x deinterlacing
> (which the ION2 will also suffer from).

That's a shame, although qvdpautest stats on the Nvidia forum and on here in the past suggests that an ION2 would be borderline for Advanced 2X
for example:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/449641?do=post_view_threaded

I've always found that Myth needs some headroom above what qvdpautest reports so "MIXER TEMPORAL_SPATIAL (1920x1080): 65 fields/s"  is probably not enough for US HDTV but might be ok for Europe, the poster seems to think so.

The ION2 is feature set C, same as the GT220 so you would get high quality scaling too. The 1xPCIe channel might make OpenGL for the theme graphics a little disappointing.

> 
> You should be able to find ION1 systems for cheaper than ION2.

I can buy a Ford for less money than a Ferrari too ;-) not that an ION2 is Ferrari like in any way!

Andre