[mythtv-users] Cost of MythTV Machines

[Paul Bender]

Ow Mun Heng wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-01-23 at 09:02 -0500, Tom Hines wrote:
> 
>>I assume the systems to which you are referring are HD capable and
>>"just work".  My motive for building my own box was that I wanted to
>>tinker with VIA min-itx mobos and it was just time for another DIY
>>project.  I forget what the price breakdown was, but I'm in it for
>>over $600 now.
>>
>>VIA EPIA M10000 (provides networking, video out, sound)
> 
> 
> A Via is nice, but seriously underpowered. PLaying DVD uses up to 80-90%
> of CPU and let's not even talk about playing RealVideo. That's even
> worst. It won't even play smoothly!!

There is no reason a Via EPIA board with either CLE266 (such as the 
M10000) or CN400 should take 80-90% to play a DVD. With the MPEG2 
hardware accelaration supported by the Openchrome drivers, my DVD 
playback takes less than 10%. However, you are correct that the CPU is 
not very powerful. As a result, playback of non-MPEG2 sources can be a 
problem, depending on the resolution and framerate.