[mythtv-users] Testing the HDTV Waters

[Kevin Kuphal]

Calvin Harrigan wrote:
> I've been using Mythtv with SD for years now.  I've decided to try HD, 
> there are quite a few OTA HD channels available in the area.  I browsed 
> through the list looking for minimum configurations needed to play back 
> HD.  The specs seemed a bit high.  My current setup is an Athlon XP 1800 
> with a FX5200 video card, 512 Megs ram. 360 gigs storage.  According to 
> what I've read, what I have is not powerful enough.  But being stubborn 
> I downloaded a couple HD clips.  One in mpeg and one in wmv format,1080i 
> and 720p respectively.  Suprisingly enough both clips played 
> flawlessly.  I was blown away by what I've been missing with HD.  The 
> concern is that I played the clips using the mplayer from within 
> mythtv.  Is the mythtv built in player able to play HD as efficiently?  
> The native format of the tv it's connected to is 1280 x 720 via 
> dvi->hdmi.  So the 1080i was scaled.  Does anyone else have a similar 
> low end setup that is using hd successfully?  Is an 1800 just too slow?  
> Any comments appreciated.
>
>   
WMV format isn't the same as playing back native 1080i and 720p 
content.   The 1800 is too slow.  You need more than 3Ghz to do software 
HD playback.  With the FX5200, however, if you can get XvMC playback 
working, you should have no problem doing HD playback as the 5200 will 
take over much of the CPU load.

Kevin