[mythtv-users] Time to move to an HDMI stick for FEs?

[Nick Rout]

On Tue, Dec 16, 2014 at 10:54 AM, Thomas Mashos <thomas at mashos.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2014 at 1:35 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Has anyone received this stick yet? I ordered on 20 October, was told
>> it would be shipped at the end of that month. I have since then been
>> put off a number of times with the last promise being a firm one that
>> it would ship on 15 December via DHL.
>>
>> On 15 December (yesterday) I get a message that it is stil not
>> available or shipped: "I am sorry it is still delayed now. And the
>> producing department still not lead the mass production now. So so so
>> sorry."
>>
>> I am not even sure what that means. I cannot fathom whether
>> manufacturing has even started.
>>
>> These crooks have 375 orders, some for more than one unit. At US$110 a
>> pop, that is a significant wad of cash they have in exchange for ...
>> nothing!
>>
>> To cap it off the current price has gone UP to US$118.
>>
>> In case it is not clear, I ordered from the page in the OP in this
>> thread, ie http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sell-Mini-PC-with-both-Android-Windows-8-system/2044898752.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 12, 2014 at 5:13 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 9:01 PM, Xander <lexvictory at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>>>> On Sunday, 9 November 2014, 13:49, Joseph Fry <joe at thefrys.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> > So I came across this article at Neowin.net regarding a Windows 8 HDMI stick: http://www.neowin.net/news/intel-bay-trail-based-usb-stick-capable-of-running-windows-81-goes-on-sale
>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>> > In addition to the Windows stick, it mentions that both Microsoft and Mozilla are coming out with ChromeCast-style sticks of their own. I started to wonder... Is it time to throw away the dream of the $99 FE and look to devices like these instead? They would be low power, easy to setup and maintain (well, to plug into the tv), and cheaper than an entire computer.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The standard response to such queries - which are very common these days - is :
>>>>>>> While some of these may be able to play some of the media type, they generally have a number of downsides. The biggest of these is that to work, someone has to write the frontend to run on that platform.
>>>>>>> After that, there are often restrictions on decoding (closed libraries, limited stream type support).
>>>>>>> And then there are often significant restrictions - eg small memory sizes.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So yes, for some of them it is probably possible to port the frontend. But it's going to take someone with the skills, knowledge, time, and most importantly desire to do it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Not using the Myth Frontend means not getting the Myth user experience.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Your standard response doesn't really work here - the device is an
>>>>>>Intel IA processor (ok, it's in the Atom family but will run the x86 code
>>>>>>without modification) and has Intel HD graphics (VAAPI)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Here is a link to the datasheet for the processor
>>>>>>https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/atom/atom-z36xxx-z37xxx-datasheet-vol-1.html
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>The data sheet for this processor states:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>- Full HW acceleration for decode of H.264, MPEG2, MVC, VC-1, VP8, MJPEG
>>>>>- Full HW acceleration for encode of H.264, MPEG2, MVC
>>>>>The decode I knew about.  The encode is interesting for transcoding and streaming MPEG2 content.  Does ffmpeg have any support for this?
>>>>>
>>>>>No... the only open source transcoder I have found for VAAPI that I am aware of is gstreamer.... but it's broken at the moment.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Assuming the Windows version is the standard x86 variety could you not just use the windows version of Myth FE? I imagine the HW decoding stuff would hook into DXVA, which is compiled into the MythWindows builds I do.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sorry if formatting of message is munted; using webmail.
>>>> ______
>>>
>>> I have been hassling the vendor to ship, and he has now put shipping
>>> off to the 25th. However to appease my grumpiness he is DHLing instead
>>> of china-snail-mail-post.
>>>
>>>
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>
>
> I have not received mine yet, but I did get notification on Nov 18th
> that mine shipped.

That's another of their tricks. Aliexpress has a system whereby if the
order isn't shipped within a certain time, the order is automatically
cancelled by the system. So they marked them all as shipped to avoid
automatic cancellation. It was a lie (in my case anyway). This from
the seller on 8 December:

"And in order to keep your order from closed automatically by
aliexpress,we just prefulfill a Chinese tracking,and the tracking
information will be updated in this week."