[mythtv-users] Frontend Appliance, Maybe

[Ken Mink]

Hello All,
    There's been a number of posts about low power or small frontend 
boxes. I thought I'd share some info on my current project and get some 
feedback on the viability of it.

    Years ago I used 1st gen AppleTVs as MythTV Frontend boxes. They 
were small, quiet, and reasonably cheap. They have a NVidia GPU that was 
supported by XvMC. However, they could only handle up to 720p and there 
was no support for HDMI audio. With XvMC being EOL'ed in Myth and more 
and more 1080(i/p) content, I switched to NVidia ION based frontends. I 
tried, unsuccessfully, to sell my ATV1s and they ended up on the parts 
shelf.

      I recently I discovered that a lot of ATV1s were being re-purposed 
as XMBC boxes by replacing the Mini-PCIe WiFi cards with a CrystalHD 
cards. I prefer the MythTV frontend to XBMC(just a personal preference). 
Since MythTV supports CrystalHD, I figured I give a whirl. I currently 
have Ubuntu 12.04lts with MythTV 0.25.3 and NVidia 304 running on a 
ATV1. MythTV is playing SD recordings fine with HDMI audio. I haven't 
tackled LIRC yet, I'm just using a keyboard.

      I haven't ordered a CrystalHD card yet. How is MythTV's support 
for CrystalHD? I've been googling and there's not too much info. It all 
seems to relate to XBMC.

Thanks,
Ken