[mythtv-users] ECS LIVA Frontend

[Ozzy Lash]

On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 2:12 PM, Karl Newman <newmank1 at asme.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 11:59 AM, Michael Wisniewski <mikewiz38 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> If you search liva+mythtv on google you will find some results that
>>> should address at least some of your questions. This is the one I'm most
>>> interested in http://lists.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/2015-
>>> January/375223.html, though that deals with a FE/BE running, amazingly,
>>> on that hardware.
>>
>>
>> I did see some of those threads, but I'm a little concerned about some of
>> the questions that I asked.  I bought a raspberry pi to use with xbmc/kodi,
>> and before buying it, people said it worked.  Technically, yes, it does
>> work, but at a subpar experience.  Menus are slow, especially when
>> scrolling.  Decoding h.264 works, but try throwing something else at it
>> (like mpeg2 without the license), and it gets sluggish.
>> I also bought a firetv after the pi died for use with kodi.  Just like
>> the pi, it works, but there's some quirks with it.  For example, it doesn't
>> decode mpeg2 very well, the menus are quick, but my old lirc remote doesn't
>> work so I'm forced to use only a few buttons with the firetv remote.
>>
>> I'm just trying to see what the consensus is on this box, now since a
>> month or two has passed.  It looks like it works, but there are some quirks
>> with it....which is kind of steering me away from it and finding something
>> cheap with vdpau support.
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
> This does not have the same problems that the RPi or the old Atom boards
> have with screen navigation, etc. On mine it's just as snappy as my primary
> frontend/backend. MPEG-2 works fine, with VAAPI. I'm only using SD but
> plenty of reports say that HD MPEG-2 is fine too. I have some DVD rips in
> my video library which were encoded by Handbrake to h.264 which seem to
> play okay over the network (GigE), but I haven't watched them extensively.
> At the time, I said I think this is the cheap, featureful, powerful but
> very low energy device we've all been waiting for as an ideal MythTV
> frontend. If you have a requirement for top-shelf deinterlacing you'll
> probably need to look to nVidia for VDPAU, which will be significantly
> larger, more expensive and more power hungry.
>
> To answer one of your other questions, yes it's an x64 chip and boots via
> 64 bit UEFI only, so your install media will need to support that (I had
> trouble with the default Gentoo image).
>
> Karl
>
>
>
I'll agree with Karl.  I have one of these, and menu navigation is snappier
than what it replaced (a first generation ion system).  It plays back
broadcast  HD MPEG2 with no problems, and I've not noticed any problems
with my ripped dvds.  I don't have any ripped bluerays, but I have heard
reports that these are fine as well.

When I first swapped between the two, I tried looking closely at the
outputs of the 2 devices, and while it did seem a little different, I can't
say that one was noticeably different than the other.  I don't watch a lot
of recorded sports, though, so perhaps that would show up the deinterlacer
differences.

I have since bought a second, that I have up and running myth, but haven't
really used yet.  I also bough a vga to svideo cable so that I may hook it
up to an older tv in the office to have a frontend there.  Either that or
keep it around as a standby when the old bedroom frontend finally goes out.

Bill
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