<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Feb 7, 2015 at 10:30 AM, Karl Newman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:newmank1@asme.org" target="_blank">newmank1@asme.org</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"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="h5">On Fri, Feb 6, 2015 at 6:49 PM, Phil Wild <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:phil@holobyte.com.au" target="_blank">phil@holobyte.com.au</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 7 February 2015 at 00:51, Dave MythTV <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dave.mythtv@gmail.com" target="_blank">dave.mythtv@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><span>On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 6:11 PM, Karl Newman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:newmank1@asme.org" target="_blank">newmank1@asme.org</a>></span> wrote:<br></span><div><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><div><div><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 3:02 PM, Tom Bongiorno <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tbjr@bongohut.com" target="_blank">tbjr@bongohut.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"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size:12.8px">When considering a frontend only machine, is there any reason to pay the extra $50 for the ECS LIVA-X?</span><div style="font-size:12.8px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856501007" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856501007</a><br></div><div style="font-size:12.8px"><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856501011" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856501011</a></div></div><br></blockquote></div></div></div>I have the first version and I use it for watching SD MPEG-2 recordings over gigabit Ethernet. It has been completely satisfactory and I have no performance concerns about it. Others have reported success with HD content. There is the caveat that deinterlacing with VAAPI is not as high quality as what is possible using VDPAU, but personally I've never noticed a problem with deinterlacing. And of course, buying the Liva-X would not address that issue anyway.<span><font color="#888888"><br><br></font></span></div><span><font color="#888888"><div class="gmail_extra">Karl<br></div></font></span></div>
</blockquote></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br>I'll second this. I've been using the first generation LIVA (second or later production batch with the N2807 CPU, not the first-run N2806 batch), and it has been absolutely flawless as a combined frontend+backend with multiple HD tuners. So it should work great as a frontend only machine.<br><br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">The LIVA vs LIVA-X comparison is interesting, as the LIVA-X is more of a sidestep than an "upgrade". <br><br><br>---------------------------------<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">LIVA Pros:<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Smaller footprint<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* 5V USB power supply (I have mine downwind of a powered USB power bank as a full-time UPS)<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Almost all connectors are on the rear, for tidier cabling. (EVERYTHING is on the rear if you use HDMI or USB audio.)<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Slightly lower power consumption<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Theoretically faster for single-threaded applications<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Confirmed working as a MythTV machine by several people here<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">LIVA Cons:<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* One fewer USB ports<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Taller height<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* No VESA mount<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* 2GB RAM with no option for more<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br>---------------------------------<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">LIVA-X Pros:<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Shorter height<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* One additional USB 2.0 port<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* VESA mount<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Slightly faster CPU (multi-core scores)<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* 4GB RAM option (for extra $$)<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* mSATA for SSD expansion (internal)<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">LIVA-X Cons<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Larger footprint<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Port placement makes for a messier installation (No USB ports on the back!)<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Slightly higher power consumption<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* No longer uses the 5V USB power input<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* Theoretically slower for single-threaded applications<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">* So far untested by anyone as a MythTV machine?<br><br>---------------------------------<br><br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">In my opinion, ECS sort of missed the mark with the LIVA-X. The original LIVA could have been made significantly shorter in height just by rearranging the ports (there's a LOT of empty space inside)... and combine that with a retrofit VESA mount adapter and maybe a few extra USB ports, and it could have been a really solid upgrade. The LIVA-X is "different", but with enough tradeoffs for HTPC use that calling it "better" is subjective. They sort of did what they had to to bring it to parity feature-wise with the NUC and BRIX... not realizing that being smaller/simpler (and soooo much cheaper) than those was what made the original LIVA stand out. <br></div><span><font color="#888888"><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">- Dave<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div></font></span></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><div dir="ltr">My experience with the ECS-LIVA has been less than
stellar. It does not compare to my original Zotac ION. Perhaps it is my
installation and there are areas to improve. Would love to hear how
others have gotten this working properly.<div><br></div><div>My setup:</div><div><br></div><div>ECS-LIVA
running mythbuntu 14.04.1 with mythtv 0.27+fixes and gigabit ethernet
connected directly to a 1080p 50" Samsung plasma via HDMI 1.0, no
external speaker. No PulseAudio (removed).</div><div>Frontend only.</div><div><br></div><div>Problems.</div><div><br></div><div>1. Upscaling of SD content does not anti-alias as well as VDPAU. Straight lines have zagged/pixely edges compared to VDPAU</div><div>2. My audio drifts (not the recordings) as pausing and playing fixes for a short period.</div><div>3.
Using Bob2XHW with fallback to single field interlacing seems to stop
working after a while in LiveTV (I think it drops between recording
changes). I would have to exit out of Live TV and go back in to resolve.
I rarely watch LiveTV but will walk past when kids are watching and
just see this horrible interlaced video so will exit LiveTV and start it
again to fix.</div><div>4. When starting playback of a recording, audio
level is lower for perhaps 30 seconds and then increases (need to
adjust the volume to rectify). This is not all the time, I have to
investigate more but wife complains.</div><div><br></div><div>I found
that OpenGL-slim gave better results for the majority of over-the-air SD
content (Australia) but would drop frames on other types of content so I
reverted back to VAAPI normal.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers</div><div><br></div><div>Phil</div></div><br></div></blockquote><div><br></div></div></div><div>Fixed top-posting. I probably won't be much help to you--mine works essentially flawlessly now. However, I'm only watching SD content over VGA to an old monitor, and using the analog audio output. I'm using VAAPI. I was using HDMI to an analog converter for a while and it was fine, but the converter (or more likely the power supply) stopped working intermittently so I changed the setup. I haven't had any problems with audio drift. You may be able to solve some of your problems by outputting the video at its native resolution and letting the TV do the scaling (and deinterlacing if you're lucky). I think that setting is under the "Display" setup--a checkbox about separate video modes for playback or something like that.<span class=""><font color="#888888"><br><br></font></span></div><span class=""><font color="#888888"><div>Karl<br></div></font></span></div></div></div>
<br><br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Phil-<br></div><div><br></div><div>I'm similar to Karl - I'm using the LIVA's analog audio output, connected direct to my amplifier, but using HDMI for the video to the TV. No audio sync or drift issues of any kind for me. So it must be something with the HDMI audio subsystem, or the processing of HDMI audio in your TV that is causing that problem?<br><br><br></div></div>For your LiveTV issues, I bet you are hitting this bug:<br>Ticket #12319: “Switching LiveTV channels breaks VAAPI acceleration“<br><a href="https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/12319">https://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/12319</a><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">With the audio that is lower for 30 seconds but then increases, do you perhaps have the automatic volume limiting (or equivalent rate-of-change limiting processing) enabled in your TV? All I can think of is that a "pop" or sudden presence of sound when starting a program playback is triggering your TV to drastically drop the volume... and then it slowly brings the levels back up as it adjusts to the nominal volume of the programming. That's a total guess - I don't have any symptoms like that through the analog audio output on my end...<br><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Hope that helps- Good luck!<br></div><div class="gmail_extra">- Dave <br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br></div></div>