[mythtv-users] Re: Any good experiences with Via Epia systems?

[Brent Fisher]

I've been using a VIA Epia M10000-N for about 6 months as a diskless 
front end.  I think that it's perfect.  It's quiet, fits in a small case 
and the support is continually improving in MythTV and X.  I'm using a 
Zalman FanMate to slow the CPU fan down to about 4000 RPM and it's 
pretty much whisper quiet.

I'm currently running MythTV CVS to use the XvMC support and it is 
working really well.  I'm also using the XvMC plug-in for xine which 
works well also.  The GLX support is a lot better than it used to be - 
the MythMusic  Goom visualization runs very smoothly in 0.16.

This unit actually has enough jam to decode mpeg2 and mpeg4 smoothly 
without using the h/w decoding but it uses a bit less CPU with the h/w 
decoding.  I've only recently got xine working with the h/w decoder but 
I've been using it to watch DVDs for months and it only used 30% CPU to 
do software decoding.

I have the SPDIF output working for sound and it has no problem with 5.1 
sound.

Just last night I set up dynamic CPU frequency scaling and I'm planning 
to get standby mode working next to further reduce power consumption.

I really don't have a bad thing to say about it and would recommend it 
to anyone.  I haven't used it as a backend but I'm sure that it would be 
just fine with a pvr-250/350.

Some specific:  Gentoo, kernel 2.6.8.1-epia1, Xorg 6.8.0, MythTV 0.16/CVS

- Brent