[mythtv-users] MythTV vs XBMC

Greg Thompson gthompson20 at gmail.com
Thu May 8 12:10:54 UTC 2014


On Thu, May 8, 2014 at 8:08 AM, Brian J. Murrell <brian at interlinx.bc.ca>wrote:

> 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.



I believe XBMC looks the same everywhere since they decided to use All
OpenGL for their interface, rather than QT and a window manager... Someone
Correct me if I am wrong!

Greg
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