[mythtv-users] Looking for reliable, inexpensive HD front end only box?

[Dave Richardson]

> drew einhorn wrote:
>> There has been quite a bit of discussion of SD boxes, recently.
>>
>> But I'm thinking about building a HD box, and I was wondering
>> about what folks are using for HD front ends these days.
>>
>>
>
> You don't ask a simple question.  There is a wide range of 'HD',
> requiring far varying amounts of power.
>
> Lowly broadcast mpeg2 that can be decoded with any Athlon64 or Core2, as
> well as higher end P4s and AthlonXPs.  HDPVR output requires a very high
> clockrate processor.  Bluray/HDDVD and the high bitrate h264 DVB
> broadcasts require a very high clockrate dual core processor, or
> probably any quad core processor.
>
> Then there is VDPAU for hardware decoding, and while this lets you get
> by with a comparatively simple machine, there are caveats.  It can only
> handle mpeg2, h264, and VC1.  XviD/DivX/mpeg4asp are not supported,
> although those are usually only used for standard definition content,
> and as such are fairly trivial to decode.  It is limited in levels and
> profiles of the codecs it does support, so if you have encoded something
> in h264 and have carelessly left set it to level 5.1, or used too many
> reference frames, or used macroblocks it did not like, you're out of
> luck.  It is not very robust in dealing with stream errors.  Newer
> drivers have improved this, but it still handles stream errors in
> recordings, or even some optical media, far less gracefully than
> libavcodec.
> _______________________________________________

@Raymond, you said

"Then there is VDPAU for hardware decoding, and while this lets you get
by with a comparatively simple machine, there are caveats.  It can only
handle mpeg2, h264, and VC1.  XviD/DivX/mpeg4asp are not supported,
although those are usually only used for standard definition content,
and as such are fairly trivial to decode. "

I'm building my ION right now, had intended to use VDPAU on it as a
frontend machine.  I have content in lots of formats...  DVD and ripped
DVD, .AVI, various MPEGs.  Can you link to or elaborate more on your
point?  Am I about to be disappointed with VDPAU??  Maybe I
mis-interpreted your point?

Thx! D.