[mythtv-users] Combined BE\FE (Sandy Bridge)

[Michael T. Dean]

On 08/23/2011 07:40 PM, Andrew Barbaccia wrote:
> I recently saw these from ASRock, but they are not available in the US 
> yet (no pricing or performance reviews). Seems like they might make a 
> pretty capable sandy bridge FE / BE with room for an additional HDD. I 
> like how the remote IR is integrated into the case - I dislike having 
> the dongle sitting on my TV cart.
>
> http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.asp?Model=CoreHT%20Series
> (click product specs, then CoreHT-231D)
>
> For those with a SB processor, what deinterlacing options are 
> available at this point? I've read a few different reports of VA-API 
> support existing, but no deinterlacing. Does that mean playback is 
> handled by hardware but software still does all decoding?
>

Someone else on IRC mentioned the ASRock Vision 3D:

http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.asp?Model=Vision%203D%20Series
http://www.asrock.com/microsite/Vision3D/index.asp?c=Main

whose big benefit is that all models come with a GeForce GT425M (meaning 
VDPAU support).  (IMHO, this is the new Mac Mini replacement, now that 
the Mac Mini is using Intel and AMD GPUs.)

There are models with Core i7, i5, and i3 and with BD or DVD drive.  
Unfortunately, newegg only seems to have the i5 w/ BD version:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856158019

so it's not dirt cheap.  SuperBiiz (never bought from them, not 
recommending them...) has an i3 w/ BD for about $80 less (but they're 
sold out of the black model i3 w/ BD, which was $135 less).

White i3: http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-V3D137W
Black i3: http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-V3D137B

and, FWIW, they also have the black i5 w/ BD, but it's about $85 more 
expensive than newegg's:

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-V3D156B

(which may say something about how much the i3 versions should be worth).

There are also several on Amazon, but their prices seemed higher.  Not 
sure if these are out-of-production models or if they just didn't ship 
many to the US.  Others may have better luck finding them in their 
countries: http://www.asrock.com/microsite/Vision3D/index.asp?c=Buy .

No clue about the VA-API stuff.

Mike