[mythtv-users] ECS LIVA Frontend

[Phil Wild]

On 28 February 2015 at 00:02, Dave MythTV <dave.mythtv at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 3:01 PM, Calvin Dodge <caldodge at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 26, 2015 at 2:30 PM, Ozzy Lash <ozzy.lash at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 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

I would recommend looking at your budget before purchasing if you want
a high quality output. I am in Australia and most of our free-to-air
content is standard definition (unfortunately). The ECS Liva does not
upscale this content very well (you get jaggies). I've also found that
my audio drifted quite noticeably from the video signal when using
audio over HDMI.

If you, or your family watches LiveTV, there is a VAAPI bug that stops
the output stream being de-interlaced at program transitions. I'm
fairly certain I've seen this happen at ad transitions as well. You
can fix by exiting and restarting the stream but it is annoying when
it happens. Mine is on an outdoor TV that does not get used much and
so I've not spent a lot of time trying to find a resolution to what
I've experienced.

If I were to purchase again, I'd look for a cheap integrated atom
motherboard with a PCI-E slot and add a $50 nvidia card to it.