[mythtv] MythTV on low cost embedded hardware

stuart stuart at xnet.com
Sun May 13 03:14:54 UTC 2007


Hi Michael (Tom & Greg)...

Michael Drons wrote:
> more hardware info.
> 
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=103474&atid=634923&func=detail&aid=1108839
> 
> I dont believe the device has a encoder on it.  It can
> only decode mpeg2 streams.
> 
> But it makes a great frontend, has not fans and is
> small.  Support is slowing moving forward, but it
> seems  only a few people are working on mythtv
> support.  The device is also supports replaytv and
> slim server.
> 
> -Mike
> 
> --- Thomas Pham <pham_thomas at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Thank you Greg.
>>
>> I used the IBM stb25xxx device before.
>> As I recall, the device also has a built-in IDE hard
>> disk interface.
>> The Hauppauge MediaMVP just did not make use of it
>> probably for cost reason.
>> Hmmm. I wonder if the device has enough horse power
>> and memory space to 
>> support both frontend and backend.
>> I will need to check it out.
>>
>>
>> Tom
>>
>>
>>> From: Greg Estabrooks <greg at phaze.org>
>>> Reply-To: Development of mythtv
>> <mythtv-dev at mythtv.org>
>>> To: Development of mythtv <mythtv-dev at mythtv.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [mythtv] MythTV on low cost embedded
>> hardware
>>> Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 11:49:56 -0300
>>>
>>>> Or is it based on a PowerPC STB chip. I
>> remembered that IBM used to make 
>>> STB
>>>> devices that were based on the PowerPC with
>> built-in MPEG2 decoder 
>>> hardware.
>>>
>>>  It's based on an ibm stb25xxx PPC chip + mpeg2
>> decoder .

I doubt there is enough power for a real Mythtv front end on a MediaMVP.

We are having enough problems getting it all to fit now (MythTV, 
ReplayTV, Slimserver-client, NFS file browser, JPEG decoding, FLAC 
decoding, OGG decoding, Internet Radio, Web Server, VLC-client, 
VNC-client, support for IEE VFDs (sorry no ORBITAL VFD support, they are 
expensive)...).  So much so that some are working on a modular approach 
to loading applications on an as-needed bases.

Development has been slow lately as the principles players concentrate 
on the modular version.  I think more people testing the code and 
providing feed back will help.

For me, however, the main blocker for the mvpmc.org / MythTV project is 
the lack of an intelligent MythTV back end that can transcode videos as 
needed.  Right now, my MythTV box records from NTSC and ATSC sources. 
The NTSC will play back just fine.  However the ATSC will not.  Most of 
the recordings require too much band width at the client end.  And all 
ATSC / MythTV recordings contain an audio track that we (mvpmc.org 
project) can not keep in sync with the video.

If MythTV could detect the type of client or the limitations of the 
client and act accordingly (i.e. transcode the video in the back end 
machine), it would make the mvpmc.org project a solid solution for most 
if not all MythTV low cost / thin client needs.**

** Note, the MediaMVP is not a HD capable box (that's why I said 
"most").  It only has Composit & S-Video output.  However, most consider 
the S-Video output as being good.  I don't know of any HD capable box 
that has an open source project ported to it.







More information about the mythtv-dev mailing list