[mythtv-users] asus memo pad 7

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 3:43 PM, Brian J. Murrell <brian at interlinx.bc.ca> wrote:
.....
> So is HLS transcoding a requirement now?  What if I am in the same
> network as the MythTV BE (or have enough upstream bandwidth on my
> Internet connection) and have enough bandwidth to stream the native
> MPEG2 stream?

In my experience, there are few devices (manufacturers)
that have chosen to license and enable hardware MPEG2
decoding.  While the latest and greatest devices might
have the CPU power to (mostly) decode MPEG2 in software,
anything other than SD is usually unwatchable.  As H.264
decoding is universally enabled in hardware (although older
devices may be limited to specific profiles), a stream in
that format is the only one that is likely to be acceptable
to most, regardless of the transport (HLS, or DASH, or
something else).  If you have a device that has licensed
and enable the MPEG2 decoder in hardware (or have
the latest snapdragon 810 chip), count yourself among
the very special few.

How one gets to H.264, of course, is different than the
transport.  Some transcode early and often, and some
MSOs are moving to H.264 content (Comcast is in
trials, and once the more important issues are resolved,
I can envision them rolling it out in 12-18 months),
although the US FCC ATSC requirements insure
MPEG2 is going to be around for quite some time.

It should be noted that while enabling it and using it
is still just a thought, the last few gen Intel CPUs
can do real-time transcoding of a stream in their VPU.
nVidia (nvenc) and AMD (vec) have equivalents.  Yes,
some may need to actually upgrade either their system
to get reasonable results.  Such things happen.