<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 2:57 PM, Gary Buhrmaster <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gary.buhrmaster@gmail.com" target="_blank">gary.buhrmaster@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 12:35 AM, Mike's JdJ <<a href="mailto:stepsisters@comcast.net">stepsisters@comcast.net</a>> wrote:<br>
.....<br>
<div class="im">> I am using an Intel DC3217IYR NUC as a Front End<br>
<br>
</div>For anyone looking to purchase "today", I would look<br>
at the new Haswell based NUCs with HD4400 (the i3 NUC)<br>
or HD5000 (the i5 NUC) graphics support. They should<br>
use even less power than the 3rd generation processor<br>
NUCs at only a slight increase in price, and the new GPU<br>
has some additional capabilities (although I do not think<br>
the current Linux driver can use those capabilities yet).<br>
The current weakness for a potential front-end is known<br>
to be the GPU de-interlacing support in Linux. For some<br>
(those that do not see artifacts, those that can tolerate<br>
artifacts, or those whose TV can support de-interlacing<br>
on its own), that may not be an issue today. The codes<br>
committed to the master tree by Intel suggests that some<br>
improvements will be seen in the future, but that is the<br>
future.<br>
<br>
As many know, Intel has decided to end development<br>
of their reference design desktop motherboards. The<br>
NUC is where Intel is putting its resources (and moved<br>
at least some of the desktop motherboard team). It<br>
expects the that (about) 4" x 4" NUC motherboard<br>
(another half inch or so with case) will meet the needs<br>
of most of the consumers who desire desktop systems<br>
(other than the enthusiast market, where all bets are<br>
off, and 200 watts just for the first graphics card is not<br>
unusual). With Intel announcing some interesting<br>
processors are currently only available in soldered<br>
(not socketed) versions, the entire desktop market<br>
is transitioning in interesting ways.<br></blockquote><div><br><br></div><div>I referred to the XBMC market in an earlier post in this thread, and a couple of points need to be made from my extensive reading about the NUC on their forum:<br>
<br></div><div>1. XBMC users tend to be watching progressive video (rips, downloads whatever) and therefore deinterlacing is less important to those people. Mythtv users OTOH tend to be watching recorded, interlaced material - eg 1080i. I still have a gut feeling that nvidia deinterlacing via vdpau will come out top in this contest.<br>
<br></div><div>2. Many XBMC users use windows, so their positive results may be skewed from a linux user's perspective.<br><br></div><div>3. For general purpose use the celeron version of the NUC is seen as sufficient, without getting into the expense of an i3 or i5.<br>
<br></div><div>4. There is an Intel bug when playing 24.976 (or whatever that ugly frame rate is) video. This has apparently been fixed in Haswell. I am also unsure whether this is is windows issue only. Worth remembering if a flicker every few minutes in a movie bugs you.<br>
<br></div><div>5. There are other small form factor options. This is quite a decent machine <a href="http://www.aliexpress.com/item/X-26-2G-RAM-8G-SSD-ULP-Dual-core-INTEL-C1037U-smallest-windows-pc-linux-arm/1236469668.html">http://www.aliexpress.com/item/X-26-2G-RAM-8G-SSD-ULP-Dual-core-INTEL-C1037U-smallest-windows-pc-linux-arm/1236469668.html</a><br>
<br></div><div>The shipping was quite expensive, but compared to a NUC in my market (New Zealand) it is great value. There are options for a bigger SSD and more ram. There is also apparently a version with an alloy case and no fan. I have mine loaded with Openelec at present, I will try mythbuntu on it.<br>
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