[mythtv-users] EPIA support questions

[Paul Bender]

> What about using the system as a frontend-only (i.e., using the onboard
> video as the output video device)?  Do good drivers exist for these
> video devices?
>
> I noticed that there's an EPIA MII-series board that uses:
> Integrated VIA Unichrome AGP graphics w/MPEG-2 Accelerator
>
> Unfortunately, I don't know enough about video hardware to know how the
> MPEG-2 accelerator is accessed and used.  Would a Myth frontend take
> advantage of this?  If so, would one just set it up as a "normal" video
> card, and the mpeg acceleration will kick in when mpeg is being played,
> and ignored otherwise?

Boards such as the EPIA M and MII series the CLE266 chipset. The Open
Source Unichrome drivers support the CLE266 chipset. Using these drivers,
MythTV, Xine and MPlayer can take advantage of the MPEG2 hardware
acceleration.

> What about some of the other EPIA boards, such as the "V" series video
> boards (it lists only "Integrated AGP 4X Graphics" as its video
> "card").  Is it well supported?

You want a board with the CLE266 chipset. Otherwise, you will not have the
MPEG2 hardware acceleration.

> Also, I'm curious what the minimum and recommended EPIA CPU
> configuration would be for a frontend-only system.  I don't think I
> understand how these VIA CPUs map power-wise to Pentimum and similar CPUs.

I use an EPIA ME6000 to play back MythTV recorded NTSC programs without
any problems. I use the diskless MythTV frontend distribution located at
<http://www.linpvr.org>.