[mythtv-users] Biting the bullet...new frontend recommendations

[Tom Dexter]

On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 7:57 PM, Barry Martin <barry3martin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Tom!
>
> I'm thinking it's finally time to bite the bullet and think about
> building a new frontend,
>
> I'll pretty much agree with Jerry's response as  'just about anything works'
> though have staid with Intel and nVidia as they seem to be better supported
> -- both by Linux and them supporting/cooperating with Linux.  I've built and
> in some cases rebuilt several Frontends over the years.  Probably sounds
> like a dumb comment but the CPU speed does make a difference, not in video
> playback but in 'reaction time': the time it takes to load a new show (not
> to mention boot!).  Probably don't need anything more than a good dual core.
> For memory it seems 2 GB is right for a dedicated Frontend.  Now if you are
> planning to use the Frontend as an auxiliary computer for mail, etc., I'd go
> with a more robust system (and I have here).
>
> FWIW as a 'spare' Frontend you could go with a Raspberry Pi 3 B+.  Here I
> use an RPi 3B as a secondary Frontend (I have two Backends and some FEs look
> at one and others the second.  Pixellation issues; sometimes one BE records
> properly and sometimes the other does.)  Anyway the little ol' RPi does
> great as a Frontend.  There is a bit of a lag while loading but AFACT 1080
> stereo playback is flawless.  In some ways the RPi works better than the
> desktop FE it sits next to.  Here I did find the WiFi connection was
> borderline, but as you stated you were using a wired connection that's not
> an issue.  If you decide to try this option I would suggest getting the
> newer RPI 3B+ which is a little bit faster plus offers 5GHz wireless.
>
> Barry

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've seen a lot mentioned here about
the RPI and had never really looked into it at all. Interesting that
it plays 1080 well. I see that they have only their own built in
graphics of course. I'm assuming all the decoding and deinterlacing is
done with the CPU? What deinterlacing do you use for 1080i?

Thanks!
Tom