<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 30, 2008 9:20 AM, Scott D. Davilla <<a href="mailto:davilla@4pi.com">davilla@4pi.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="Ih2E3d"><br></div>I see conflicting performance. With my mythfrontend only 1GHz<br>pentium-m, 256MB ram AppleTV running linux, I can do mpeg2 software<br>decode of 480p (less than 25 percent cpu) and 720p (60 percent cpu).<br>
That's great for a less than $250 silent box that includes 40GB hard<br>drive, 10/100BaseT ethernet, 802.11 b/g and n wireless IR w/<br>controller, HDMI video, component video, analog and optical audio.<br><br>1080i mpeg2 software decode saturates the cpu and I need to do xvmc<br>
assisted mpeg2 decode. However, ever since the ffmpg sync about six<br>months ago, 1080i with xvmc has been creeping up in cpu usage. What<br>was once 45-55 percent is now 65-80 percent cpu usage. Have not tried<br>svn since before the multi-record sync. From the commits on the dev<br>
list, the code is still settling down. Maybe in a few weeks, I'll try<br>svn again.<br><br></blockquote></div><br>I agree that there is a big difference in the resource requirement to decode HD depending on the content. Not only is the format make a difference (1080i, 720p, etc.) but also the scenes being displayed (rotating large panoramas seem to be the biggest strain along with fast action scenes).<br>
<br>On the xvmc front, I tried to use it repeatedly over the years and was never satisfied. While it mostly worked, I was always frustrated with the tradeoffs. With the low cost for adequate CPU/GPU/memory, xvmc just does not make sense to me.<br>
<br>With that said, I've repeatedly looked at the AppleTV box. It's an attractive value for a quiet and really small device. But I'm waiting until there's enough horsepower to play HD in all scenarios.<br>
<br>Tom<br>