[mythtv-users] Pentium M laptop as frontend for HDTV?

Steven Adeff adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com
Mon May 5 20:44:00 UTC 2008


On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 3:01 PM, R. G. Newbury <newbury at mandamus.org> wrote:
> Kevin Kuphal wrote:
>  > On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:24 PM, Scott D. Davilla <davilla at 4pi.com> wrote:
>  >>> I'm looking for a frontend for my bedroom. Currently I have a laptop
>  >>> with a processor that is just barely too slow to do HDTV (it starts to
>  >>> stutter after about 10-15mins of playing back HDTV). I think its a
>  >>> Celeron M 1.6GHz with 1GB of RAM and a Intel 910GML graphics card.
>  >>> Other than the HDTV issue it runs fine, and it plays HDTV fine for
>  >>> those first 15mins, then it seems to need to "chill" for about
>  >>> 10-15mins to "cool off" or it just stutters constantly.
>  >>>
>  >>> So I'm looking to replace it. I'm looking at some laptops that have
>  >>> Pentium M's, up to 1.8GHz. I know the AppleTV has a 1.0GHz Pentium M
>  >>> and seems to do fine with 720p, but not so well with 1080 content, so
>  >>> I'm wondering if anyone knows what the minimum Pentium M required to
>  >>> smoothly play back 1080i with deinterlacing enabled is (since I'll be
>  >>> connecting it to a LCD monitor).
>  >> 1.7 GHz Pentium-M or better would do fine if you had and nvidia
>  >> chipset. I have one here for cross-testing against the 1GHz Pentium-M
>  >> in the AppleTV. You will need an nvidia display card and not the 8xxx
>  >> or 9xxx as these do not have XvMC. A 5xxx, 6xxx or 7xxx will be fine
>  >> but watch your 6xxx choice as some do not have XvMC.
>  >>
>  >> Since you have an 910GML video in the Laptop, you are out of luck,
>  >> maybe a fast Pentium-M without any deinterlacing enabled.
>  >>
>  >> If you don't want to use XvMC, then any Core Duo Mobile will be fine,
>  >> the lower clock versions run cooler than the Pentium-M. But I don't
>  >> think you can put a Core Duo Mobile in a Pentium-M socket, you might
>  >> check though.
>  >
>  >
>  > I don't think this is the case anymore.  The Intel page lists the 910GML as
>  > a supported chipset and based on the information added to the Wiki recently,
>  > Intel is supporting XvMC on all their supported chipsets.
>  >
>  > Kevin
>
>  I (Geoff Newbury) was the one who updated the wiki, as a result of my
>  testing of the recent release of the xf86-video-intel-2.3.0 driver by
>  Intel. That driver enables XvMC on ALL Intel chipsets from the i810 up.
>
>  It would be a lot cheaper for you to add XvMC capabilities to your
>  laptop. It sounds like it is really close to being capable as it stands.
>
>  The only oddity I have found is that the setup plays SD recordings from
>  my PVR in green, if I try to use XvMC down at that level. So I use
>  libmpeg from 0x0 to 720x480 and XvMC above there.
>
>  The Wiki sets out the whole process. I gather that the usual suspects
>  provide packages which are xvmc-ready, so you may not have to re-compile
>  mythtv. You*will* spend some time fiddling with Playback Profiles, I
>  suspect.
>
>  Geoff

Thanks for the info Geoff. I'm going to get to compiling the driver
when I get home (the laptop is currently powered off so I can't just
ssh in). I'll see how it goes. SD is fine on the laptop so I'll just
setup the profiles as you mention.

If it works, it will at least hold me over until I can comfortably
find the money in my budget to get a Mac Mini to use as a frontend and
not worry about the processor speed issue anymore.

Does the Mac Mini require an HDCP monitor for its HDMI output? I assume not...

thanks again everyone for your input!
-- 
Steve
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