[mythtv-users] minimum (motherboard and AMD CPU) frontend

Travis Tabbal travis at tabbal.net
Tue Sep 13 05:08:47 UTC 2011


On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 7:38 PM, Jason <umproko5 at gmail.com> wrote:

> What would anyone say the minimum (motherboard and AMD CPU) that could
> be used to play HD programs with an nvidia GPU (430 or 520)?
>



Hardware decoding (VDPAU): Whatever you can put the GPU into....

Software Decoding:

Depends on the codec, bitrate, and various encoding options. I found an X2
6000+ would decode just about anything I had at the time, but it's entirely
possible that you might need a higher clock. It's hard to say as there are a
lot of variables. About a year ago, the recommendation was to lean toward
higher clocks rather than more cores as h264 recordings from devices like
the HD-PVR couldn't be decoded in parallel, so the cores didn't buy you
anything. If that hasn't changed, you need about 3Ghz...

IMO, unless you need the cheapest option, or a really small form factor,
skip the Atom based stuff. A decent AMD setup with an NVidia GPU capable of
VDPAU is only a little more, and a LOT more flexible. If cheap and/or really
tiny are the desired qualities, it's hard to beat the Atom nettop based
setups. The possible down side is that you may encounter a codec or other
setup you can't use the GPU decoder for, and the Atom won't be powerful
enough to do it with software. People that want Flash based stuff like Hulu
or Youtube run into this as an issue. Some of the more intensive themes and
such might also strain an Atom, but there are a lot to choose from, so
that's minor in my view.
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