[mythtv-users] MythTV vs XBMC

[Brian J. Murrell]

On Thu, 2014-05-08 at 12:46 +0100, Mike Perkins wrote: 
> There's a very good reason for this, and that is that almost every $100 box has 
> been designed and made to be as cheap as possible - that may mean less RAM or a 
> processor which can only /just/ manage the media formats it claims to support.
> 
> The big point is that most of these devices are made with non-standard chips 
> and/or non-standard architectures which means that you would need to have the 
> complete specs of *every* device on the board in order to write (or port) a 
> front end to them.
> 
> You won't get that without signing a NDA and probably forking out $bucks for the 
> privilege. By the time you've gotten your wad of specs and made a start on 
> adapting the frontend logic to this device it will be out of production and the 
> manufacturer will have moved on the the next Ooooh! Shiny! he thinks the punters 
> will want to buy.
> 
> Short answer: diminishing returns. Too much effort and cash for what would be a 
> small number of users. It makes more sense in writing a front-end for 
> architectures that are easy for your potential users to obtain and program. Note 
> that ARM /isn't/ a single architecture: there are significant differences 
> between many of the CPU models.

But I think the original point was, and somebody correct me if I am
wrong (about either the original point or the claim that I infer from
it) that XBMC runs on (some of) these devices where MythFE cannot due to
being more resource hungry.

And XBMC is just more ported(/able?), again, likely just due to the
critical mass it has.  The Android port even, looks identical to the
Linux port.  I would presume that the Windows port looks identical also.
I would presume there is an OS/X port which again looks identical, etc.

So again, this is a point in favour of standing on the shoulders of
giants and putting effort into the places where it's not so good rather
than trying to replicate the giants.

b.

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