[mythtv-users] Google Nexus Player as MythTV Frontend

[Joseph Fry]

On Wed, Oct 15, 2014 at 10:37 PM, Tom Harris <thom.j.harris at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Google announced their $99 Nexus Player device today:
> http://www.google.com/nexus/player/
>
> It is based on a quad core Atom processor (
> http://blogs.intel.com/evangelists/2014/10/15/new-nexus/ ).    There was
> nothing about it in this announcement, but based on past info it's supposed
> to support HW accelerated MPEG2 (I guess the intel video is capable).
>
> To me this looks really interesting as one of two possibilities:
>
> 1) If you can load Linux on it, it's a great little inexpensive x86 box
> for standard Linux+mythfrontend
>
> 2) With good MPEG2 support, an Android MythTV frontend could make for a
> nice streamer box for MythTV + Netflix/Amazon/HBO/Chromecast/etc.
>
>
I see a couple of weaknesses.

1.  The lack of wired networking, even 802.11ac can struggle with mpeg2 HD
content.  It does have a micro USB port, so perhaps a USB network adapter,
but that would probably consume CPU cycles.

 2. The remote leaves something to be desired... and since it's bluetooth,
it may not be easy to find a compatible remote with more buttons... perhaps
one of the playstation remotes or something? (eg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880107005)

3. I am not sure how well the PowerVR GPU will work in mythtv.  It is
supported by VAAPI using the proprietary drivers... so it may work great,
but it may not.

4. Only 1GB of RAM, may be a bit low for some themes, folks with a large
video collection, or lots of channels.

However, other than the networking, I suspect that the other 3 issues could
be remedied with a well written app specifically for the device... of
course someone would need to write that app.
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