[mythtv-users] ECS LIVA Frontend

[Larry Kennedy]

On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 12:33 PM, Scott Lipcon <slipcon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just to add my experience - I bought one of the new ECS Liva-X models to
> use as a second frontend.  I got the higher end (4G/64G) model, but I think
> the 2G/32G one would work just as well.   It works ok as a frontend, but
> not without some difficulties.    I had to upgrade to Mythbuntu 14.10 (I
> would have preferred to use the 14.04 LTS releases) in order to get
> reliable HDMI audio.    It wont boot at all if the TV isn't powered on at
> boot-up, which is annoying but not a dealbreaker.  I spent the most time
> trying to get it to not lose its mind whenever the TV was off - I had to
> disable various screensaving/power saving options, DPMS, etc - either HDMI
> video wouldn't come back, or HDMI audio, or both - but eventually I got
> that set right, and it seems to be working well.
>

I was able to successfully deploy two Mythbuntu 12 frontends on the Liva,
but HDMI audio only worked after I did a kernel upgrade to 3.16 or
something like that.  I have one Liva hooked up to an Onkyo receiver, so it
is not directly connected to the TV.  The other Liva is connected directly
to the TV and I have not noticed any issues with booting.  I'll need to
check that to see if mine only boots properly if the TV is on.


>
> I also don't think I'm correctly using VAAPI - the software decode works
> well enough, with the CPU usage around 60-70% on top while playing back
> HDHR-CC content.    I don't know if future kernel/driver updates will allow
> the VAAPI to work, or solve the 'reboot with TV off' problem - but its good
> enough as-is, and for $220, I'm happy.   I also considered the older zotac
> boxes, but they seemed a bit less "turnkey" - having to add RAM and disk,
> or netboot, so it would be been a bit more expensive.
>

I think I tried both VAAPI and OpenGL and couldn't decide which one looked
better.  I never noticed CPU usage running that high with my HDHR HD
content.  I'll check into this and see what mine is doing.


> Scott
>
>
> On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 4:51 PM, Ozzy Lash <ozzy.lash at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 2:32 PM, Michael Wisniewski <mikewiz38 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>   I was then thinking about ditching the whole thing and getting an i3
>>> nuc....but then I would add more for memory.
>>>
>>> Decisions, decisions.....  If only the Atom boxes were cheaper.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> I think the NUCs all have intel graphics, so I think you would have
>> similar issues with it as with the Liva in terms of video quality.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>> http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
>> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20150303/ed35ea77/attachment.html>