[mythtv-users] Upgrading from 32-bit to 64-bit and maybe a distro switch?

[Preston Crow]

On Wed, 2009-06-17 at 12:33 -0600, Brian Wood wrote:
> I do use 64-bit OSes for server applications, I'm wondering how
> specifically it might help the core Myth operations.
> 
> Obviously transcodes could be faster, but is anything else helped? 

Commercial detection should also be faster.  It should also give you a
little more help in playback, though that only really matters for HDTV
without VDPAU.  Other than that, I don't know of anything else where CPU
performance matters to Myth (well, mytharchive is a form of
transcoding).

> I suppose I could ask the same question about multiple cores,
> obviously they help Myth to an extent, but would you be better off
> getting a faster single core or a dual-core chip?

Multiple cores are nice for preventing hiccups when some background task
is running at the same time as playback.  That was a problem with HDTV
on my old AMD 2500+ before I upgraded.

> Of course I usually try to get the fastest and the most cores I can
> afford.

I get the slowest CPU of the newest generation so as to minimize power.
(Usually the newer chips use less power for the same work.)

> On a 32-bit combined FE/BE I rarely hit swap with 1GB of RAM, which
> causes me to think 4GB or more would be a waste of money and power.

My old system had 1GB, and ran for 5 years hardly ever touching swap.
My new system has 2GB, but I have .5GB set aside for the integrated
nVidia 9400 video.

> I think putting money into faster disk I/O might be a better place to
> put my money. That seem to be the limiting factor I what I can do.

For Myth, you just want to get fast enough, and then stop, as anything
beyond that is just wasted.  If you're also using the box for other
things, then that may change your decision, but that's beyond the scope
of this list.