[mythtv-users] Nvidia ION => NUC - good idea?

[Jay Harbeston]

> On Oct 3, 2020, at 12:00 PM, Paul Gardiner <lists at glidos.net> wrote:
> 
> On 03/10/2020 16:13, Greg Oliver wrote:
>> On Sat, Oct 3, 2020 at 9:54 AM Paul Gardiner <lists at glidos.net <mailto:lists at glidos.net>> wrote:
>>    On 03/10/2020 15:18, Mike Perkins wrote:
>>     > On 03/10/2020 12:35, Paul Gardiner wrote:
>>     >> On 01/10/2020 12:25, Paul Gardiner wrote:
>>     >>> I've been using an old zbox as frontend for years now. It has
>>    worked
>>     >>> really well, especially where it matters: video playback is
>>    perfect,
>>     >>> interlaced or not, whatever the frame rate, with the TV always set
>>     >>> correctly. Where it lacks a bit is in boot speed and a bit of
>>    lag in
>>     >>> the menus but I don't find that hugely important. What is more
>>    of a
>>     >>> problem is that I'm more frequently these days wishing to play
>>    HEVC
>>     >>> encoded content and it just can't handle that at all: presumably
>>     >>> because of the GT 610 graphics chip. So I'm considering moving to
>>     >>> NUC. Is that a good idea? If so, any recommendations for which to
>>     >>> choose?
>>     >>
>>     >> Actually, this looks like it would do the job if only I could find
>>     >> somewhere in the uk selling them:
>>     >> https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-n40-mini-pc
>>     >>
>>     > Well, it does say "Free worldwide shipping".
>>    Yeah, I saw that right after I posted. :-) Seems to claim duty free
>>    too. I may have found my new frontend.
>> My laptop has that same graphics and I have another one with CML G2 Intel Graphics.  I loaded mythfrontend on them under Fedora 32 and selected VAAPI Normal for playback.  Both have excellent playback on all media I selected (USA ATSC and also 264 and 265 content).  I did not have any golf or hockey recorded - I used to save them just for testing, but I lost them somehow.  My guess based on other content is they would play well though.
> 
> Thank you. Much appreciated. I had seen a little conflicting information on the web regarding that chip's capabilities with HEVC, so that's really helpful.
> _______________________________________________


There are several variations of the referenced box available on Amazon. I have 2 older versions of these boxes, and am pleased with their performance using linux. I bought them for about $100 each, and the newest one I have is a z83 cpu with 4 cores, and 4GB ram and 64GB SSD builtin. More than plenty for a Mythfrontend!

I use VAAPI2 on them in v31.

Regards,
Jay