[mythtv-users] Need (suggestions for) lean mythfrontend

Johan johan.vanderkolk at dommel.be
Sun Jul 6 22:18:19 UTC 2008


On Sun, 2008-07-06 at 14:27 -0700, Paul Bender wrote:
> Johan wrote:
> > I put my hand on a mini PC, installed Ubuntu Hardy on it with Gnome 
> > desktop and mythtv 0.21-fixes.
> > Unfortunately it seems a bit underpowered. The system monitor displayed 
> > takes 100% CPU (25% for system monitor and 75% for Xorg). It actuall 
> > runs myth fine, up to the moment an OSD is displayed, then audio starts 
> > to crackle and errors appear in the log. Guess it's running at its max.
> > 
> > So I need some recommendations to build a lean, custum built kernel and 
> > if possible a minimized version of myth. All I need initially would be 
> > the option to play live TV and recordings/movies. Nice to have: firefox
> > 
> > The box has 2 videocards, one built-in and one PCI FX5200. Would prefer 
> > the built-in one (so I could remove the FX5200 and add a USB 2.0 PCI 
> > card), but that is again a nice to have. It has only one PCI slot.
> > 
> > 
> > Johan
> > 
> > below is the output of sysinfo:
> > 
> > System information report, generated by Sysinfo: 7/6/2008 10:10:56 PM
> > http://sourceforge.net/projects/gsysinfo
> > 
> > SYSTEM INFORMATION
> > Running Ubuntu Linux, the Ubuntu 8.04 (hardy) release.
> > GNOME: 2.22.2 (Ubuntu 2008-06-03)
> > Kernel version: 2.6.24-19-generic (#1 SMP Wed Jun 18 14:43:41 UTC 2008)
> > GCC: 4.2.3 (i486-linux-gnu)
> > Xorg: unknown (13 June 2008  01:08:21AM) (13 June 2008  01:08:21AM)
> > Hostname: johan-desktop
> > Uptime: 0 days 3 h 24 min
> > 
> > CPU INFORMATION
> > CentaurHauls, VIA Nehemiah
> > Number of CPUs: 1
> > CPU clock currently at 731.000 MHz with 64 KB cache
> > Numbering: family(6) model(9) stepping(8)
> > Bogomips: 1465.12
> > Flags: fpu vme de pse tsc msr cx8 sep mtrr pge cmov pat mmx fxsr sse up 
> > rng rng_en ace ace_en
> > 
> > MEMORY INFORMATION
> > Total memory: 1003 MB
> > Total swap: 1608 MB
> > 
> > STORAGE INFORMATION
> > SCSI device -  scsi1
> > Vendor:  ATA     
> > Model:  FUJITSU MHV2040A
> > 
> > HARDWARE INFORMATION
> > MOTHERBOARD
> > Host bridge
> > VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8601 [Apollo ProMedia] (rev 05)
> > Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8601 [Apollo ProMedia]
> > PCI bridge(s)
> > VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8601 [Apollo ProMedia AGP] (prog-if 00 [Normal 
> > decode])
> > USB controller(s)
> > VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a) 
> > (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
> > VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a) 
> > (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
> > ISA bridge
> > VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 40)
> > Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686/A PCI to ISA Bridge
> > IDE interface
> > VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus 
> > Master IDE (rev 06) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
> > Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. 
> > VT82C586/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT8233/A/C/VT8235 PIPC Bus Master IDE
> > 
> > GRAPHIC CARD
> > VGA controller
> > Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1 (rev 6a) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
> > Subsystem: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1
> > 
> > SOUND CARD
> > Multimedia controller
> > VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
> > Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller
> > 
> > NETWORK
> > Ethernet controller
> > Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
> > Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RT8139
> > 
> > NVIDIA GRAPHIC CARD INFORMATION
> > Model name: GeForce FX 5200
> > Card Type: PCI
> > Video RAM: 128 MB
> > GPU Frequency: 250 MHz
> > Driver version: NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module  173.14.05  Mon May 19 
> > 00:06:12 PDT 2008
> 
> It is possible that with the NVIDIA 5200's XvMC support, you can make 
> SDTV work. However, with the built in video hardware, I doubt that you 
> will have any hope of making it work. With that processor (even at 
> faster speeds), MPEG2 hardware acceleration is needed for acceptable 
> playback.
> 
> Building a custom, lean MythTV frontend distribution is not likely to 
> make a significant difference. Compiling for the specific processor will 
> give you a small performance increase over compiling for the i386, but 
> nothing that will make a real-world difference.
> 
> However, if you want to give it a try, then you might try using MiniMyth 
> <http://minimyth.org>. The binary version of MiniMyth is compiled for a 
> pentium-mmx and is optimized for a processor with a small cache. In 
> addition, if you are willing to compile MiniMyth yourself, then you can 
> compile it for the VIA Nehemiah processor. In either case, all software, 
> not just the kernel and MythTV, is compiled with the particular 
> optimizations.

I hope I'm looking at minmal improvements to get it to work. Right now,
using XVMC it has a stable picture and acceptable sound, but only when
OSD comes on it starts giving errors. Not using any de-interlacing
though. 
The built-in chipset VT8601 is supposed to have some 2d/3d hw
acceleration, but I don't know to which extent. I think XVMC is better,
so I'll stick with that. SD is all I want, its very good if you get it
digital via DVB-S.

I'm running a self-compiled SVN version of myth on the backend, so
compiling would not be a problem neither would building a kernel (well
I've done it before, not a guarantee for future success), minimyth I did
check, but that boots from USB only as far as I could see. I'll give it
a second look.

Johan
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