[mythtv-users] Can "Trashure" computer cut the MPEG2 mustard?

Gabe Rubin gaberubin at gmail.com
Wed Mar 4 22:48:53 UTC 2009


On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 2:26 PM,  <stefan_jones at comcast.net> wrote:
> I found a nice little Biostar bare-bones micro-desktop (iDEQ200v) in the
> trash this morning. It booted up and seems nicely equipped. With a little
> work (more memory, larger HD) I'm wondering if it might make a good low-end
> MythBox.
>
> Well, I know for sure that it is better than my first box, which could
> capture and stream analog and capture digital. So I guess my question really
> is: Do you think this could stream HD digital without stuttering?
>
> Athlon 3200 (2.2 Ghz)
>
> 512 KB memory (DDR 333, PC2700)
>
> GeoForce 6200, 128 mb onboard, in an 8x AGP port
>
> I'm going to put in a SATA drive I have on hand.
>
> If it could handle streaming HD, I'd put a Happauge HVR 1600 in its one
> available PCI slot.
>
> If not, no great loss. I'll install ubuntu and give it to a friend.
>

I have a combined FE/BE based off a Biostar iDEQ 210P with a Sempron
3100+ in it, a gig of memory (I used to have 512 megs, but added more
for mysql purposes), and a GeForce 6200 (used to use a GeForce 5200
until it overheated due to me unplugging the fan on it).

I use it to play analog (captured from a PVR-350) and HD (captured via
firewire).  It is not flawless (live HD tv stutters quite a bit), but
I run into very few issues playing my HD content.  I had to do some
tweaking though (with vsync options, rtp, xorg.conf, and some other
issues that I picked up on the Wiki) to get the best performance.

However, my box uses an nForce 3 chipset.  Yours uses VIA, and I know
there were DMA issues with VIA chipsets.  Whether that is a non-issue
with this chipset, I don't know.  But it can't hurt to try it out
without making any upgrades.


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