[mythtv-users] Memory requirement

[Eivind]

On Tuesday 21 December 2004 23:19, Andrew Close wrote:

> that said, what are the minimum requirements of a front end system
> that is just used as a front end?  obviously it needs some sort of tv
> out (assuming you're connecting to tv) and audio out.
> i've noticed some threads that say the front end usually needs to be
> more powerful than the backend (assuming the backend is using one of
> the pvr-x50 cards) because it has to decode the mpg2 streams.
> any thoughts?

Depends on if the frontend has a hardware-accelerated tv-out with 
mpeg-decoding.

If it does, it can get by with ridicolously small amounts of CPU. I have a 
Via Epia M10000 board, the board has tv-out with hardware-decoding of 
mpeg. The CPU is 1Ghz, and about equivalent to a 800Mhz P-III, but it 
doesn't use more than a small fraction of that to display a mpeg-stream. 
When looking in top it is seldom using more than around 5-10% of the CPU.

A test shows that the 1Ghz CPU is sufficient even if I disable the 
hardware-decoding of the mpeg-stream, but then it's no longer overkill, 
cpu-usage grows to 70% or so, you probably don't want a much weaker cpu 
than that if you want to avoid stuttering or dropped frames.


Obviosuly if you're using HDTV-resolution you'll need more. I use PAL.


	Eivind Kjørstad