[mythtv-users] HD Playback

[Krzysztof Adamski]

On Thu, 2009-02-19 at 19:07 -0600, MrVining wrote:
> This HD Video playback thing still has me stumped.  It seems there is  
> soo many different options and settings.  I read a lot about someone  
> did this or that and now CPU load is at 15% or what ever.  Anyway I  
> have decided I'm going about this the wrong way, instead of asking  
> for tips on what will make my hardware run okay, I'll just ask what's  
> the best?
> 
> I have my backend all set up, or on it's way (4TB RAID5 &  
> 3xHDHomeRun, multi Gigabit Network Cards).
> 
> Now I'm building the front ends and this is mission critical for me,  
> if the wife doesn't have TV, I don't get to the office...  LOL but  
> kinda true, don't get me wrong "Apples to Apples" and "Back-seat  
> Drawing" are fun, but I need my HTTP/WoW.  We have a big screen 16:9  
> HD TV with a free HDMI input, and a THX certified Yamaha receiver  
> (only using 5.1 atm, hope to change to 7.1 after we move in a year or  
> so).  She records mostly 1080i programs.
> 
> There seems to be lot's of playback options so what one yields the  
> highest quality picture?
> 
> What hardware is needed to drive that decompression (zero dropped  
> frames)?
> 
> If you had 2-3k to drop on a front end for a client what would  
> components would you use?
> 
> 
> No need to respond negatively, if you're not going to have fun with  
> it don't bother to respond.  Basically if you won the lottery what  
> would your front end be made up of, and what settings would you shoot  
> for?

If cost is no object, one thing that I would do for the frontend is to
build a powerful machine that sits in a basement (or someplace far away
from the TV) and use a HDMI extenders (like
http://www.audioauthority.com/product_details/1391A/HDMI/5/2).
This way no noise and no headaches about building a nice looking and
quiet frontend (Audio and remote have to be extended too).  

K