[mythtv-users] FE upgrade to support 4k TV

[Peter Buelow]

Hello, I've been doing some research about this, and want to know what
people think about migrating to a 4k TV, specifically with respect to Myth.
Mostly I know there isn't much 4k content yet, but I don't upgrade often,
so I want to get something that will be relevant for 7-10 years (assuming
the device lasts that long). I see several threads related to this question
(some 2 years old), but I can't find anyone who has just asked directly
about migrating a Myth setup to 4k and what problems and challenges go with
that. It's a basic FE setup, connected to the TV through a fairly new Onkyo
receiver (TX-NR616). The receiver claims to support 4k for compat TV's, but
I haven't verified/tested that yet. I hope I can reuse my current home
theater setup without a lot of changes.

Specific questions.

1. I keep reading in several threads that 4k decoding might be changing
before long. Is this an h.265 problem? Will changes to specs mean any 4k TV
is hobbled at best in a year or two? Or can decoders be upgraded? They said
the same thing about HD changing and screwing early adopters long ago, but
that didn't amount to much that I remember. I see ffmpeg work related to
this though, so maybe I don't care?
2. I know Myth on it's own will work fine in 4k, but do I need bleeding
edge Nvidia and new cabling for video playback, or can I live with my
current card/cables and make all video resolutions work? The setup is
currently a GTX 460, AMD 64 bit something or another (at least 5 years old,
pry older, see below), and standard HDMI cabling. I watch FOTA TV in HD on
it streaming (GbE) from a dedicated BE, plus several hundred of my movies
transcoded using Handbrake for easy access streaming from the same BE.
3. I'll transcode any new content to 4k (why not?) if/when Handbrake
supports, plus we do a lot of 4k video recording of my daughter because our
phones/cameras support it, so mostly this effort is to support that for
now. Will Myth have issues, and will I have to build the SW on my own, or
should it work out of the box on the latest Fedora using yum (rpmfusion
built version)?

My plan is to do a wholesale FE update for new capabilities. My current
setup is fairly old cause it just works. The only big changes in the last 8
years are a new Nvidia card and a new flash drive. So I'll do a new
MB/CPU/RAM/Video(?) but same case (Antec Silver I love). Mostly, I want to
see if I can't get another 8-10 years with minimal changes like before.
What started this was my wife promised we could buy a new TV for the Super
Bowl a year ago, so I think I want to go 4k now as it's not that much more
expensive. Plus, we keep our TV's for a long time. The unit being replaced
is a 47 inch LG that is almost 8 years old now. And I like the 70" Vizio at
Costco a lot. Samsung had one on display at Best Buy as well that I thought
was visually outstanding though much more expensive.

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

-- 
Pete
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