[mythtv-users] Is Nvidia Shield the future for Mythtv Frontend??

Greg Oliver oliver.greg at gmail.com
Wed Dec 26 14:47:54 UTC 2018


On Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 6:45 AM James Abernathy <jfabernathy at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On 12/26/18 7:30 AM, George Poulson wrote:
>
> On Wed, 26 Dec 2018, at 03:18, James Abernathy wrote:
>
> The advances of small multi-core CPUs with built-in GPU has been great
> since I retired from the industry. I know that a PC that you spend $400 for
> will do the job. Also an old PC with a good Nvidia graphics card with do
> the job.  For me form factor is also a big issue.  That's why I spent a lot
> of time debugging performance on the 3rd gen Core i3 NUC. But that
> performance is going down not up.
>
> The RP3 B+ is quite good on Kodi but still lacking on mythfrontend.
> Neither can do SlingTV, Prime Video etc.
>
>
> I'm following this thread (and a related thread on mythtv-dev) with
> interest.
>
> I have a 29.1-fixes combined backend and frontend running on an ASUS Q87T
> mobo with Intel Core i5-4460S CPU and integrated Intel graphics. This all
> works pretty well and mythfrontend's playback of my UK DVB-S2 HD (AVC/H.264
> 1080) content using VAAPI is perfectly watchable, although fast-panning
> scenes and fast-moving credits show that it is only just able to cope.
>
> Sounds like your visual evaluation is the same as mine. I use MPEG2 that
> HDHR receives OTA. If you could change Kodi's frontend to skip like
> mythfrontend, I'd quit looking for improvements.
>
> As a number of other users have commented, mythfrontend's skipping
> performance blows anything KODI-related out of the water, yet KODI's visual
> appearance exceeds that of mythfrontend
>
> I'm looking for alternative frontends and so far I have tested an RPi3
> running Libreelec with KODI's mythtv-pvr plugin, and while its visual
> appearance beats that of mythfrontend, the skipping performance is a bit of
> a disaster.
>
> I've also installed Peter Bennett's Android frontend APK on a Xiaomi
> Mi-box (S905X Quad-Cortex-A53 @2.0GHz, Mali 450 @750MHz, 2GB DDR3, 8GB
> eMMC, 5GHz WiFi) but surprisingly this won't play any of my HD recordings
> without severe stuttering. Even my SD recordings seem to struggle on this
> box, which surprises me given the graphics hardware performance claims,
> which as I'm typing this is making me wonder if I have a WiFi performance
> problem.
>
> I'm considering trying a FireStick4k (I can't justify GBP150+ for a
> Shield) but am sceptical that this hardware will perform any better than my
> MiBox. Can anyone verify decent quality playback of HD UK DVB-S content on
> any Android hardware?
>
> I'll spring for a FireStick4k or a Shield, but not both.  But I want to be
> sure the Mythtv Frontend is as good on the Shield as on a PC with an Nvidia
> GK208 [GeForce GT 710B].  I can't use PCs with Nvidia PCIe GFX cards for
> all my Frontends because of the size and heat, not to mention the cost.
>
> Jim A
>

I have had Shields for quite some time and just yesterday loaded the
mythfrontend on the new model (the new ones are about 1/3 the size of the
originals and a bit snappier).  Mythfrontend runs very well on them - as
fast as any remote frontend I have ever used.  The only thing I noticed
(and it possibly happens on every remote frontend) is that when you are
recording something and watching it and jump to the current recording
position, about 50% of the time it stutters before it catches up properly
for a couple seconds.

Also, if you have a Harmony remote and hub, the keys are much better (you
get the a-z keyboard keys in the harmony app) if you set it up as a Windows
PC rather than a nVidia Shield device.  This of course will keep the power
command from working, but you can set the shield to go to sleep after
inactivity in it's settings to overcome that.  The nVidia devices in
Harmony will only allow you a few buttons to work on the remote - this way,
they all do and you can assign them any way you like as usual.

I watched (with mythfrontend) all day yesterday and never had an issue and
it was an excellent experience all around (except that there should be
football on Christmas like Thanksgiving)!!!

I have not (and will not) buy another TV stick again.  I had suck a bad
experience with the Roku sticks being so slow, I still have a bad tatse in
my mouth.  The new Shields are small enough that I will travel with one
instead of my Roku now.

-Greg

>
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