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Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?

 

 

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nick.rout at gmail

Oct 13, 2009, 4:05 PM

Post #1 of 21 (3234 views)
Permalink
Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?

I am debating with myself whether to go single or dual core on an
ionitx board. Quiet is my mantra (its for the bedroom), but I don't
want to miss out on playing any material or any gui experience if the
single core won't do the work.

This is a frontend only, and will probably run xbmc as well as myth
0.22 (when released). It will likely netboot and have no local drive
(except perhaps a CF card). So the only noise will be the motherboard
fan if I get a dual core.

So the real question is, does the dual core really need a fan?

alternatively

Can a single core (which certainly doesn't need a fan) do what I want ?

I have seen reports that the single core can certainly do the
playback, but what about the heavy lifting on the new MythUI and
themes?

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aarond at postec

Oct 13, 2009, 4:09 PM

Post #2 of 21 (3158 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

Have you seen the article on the XBMC website about the ASRock dual core
box? Noise wasn't seen to be a problem, from memory the author claimed
it was quieter than his Xbox (which actually is quite noisy) and quieter
thanhis amp.

-----Original Message-----
I am debating with myself whether to go single or dual core on an
ionitx board. Quiet is my mantra (its for the bedroom), but I don't
want to miss out on playing any material or any gui experience if the
single core won't do the work.

_______________________________________________
mythtvnz mailing list
mythtvnz [at] lists
http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
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hads at nice

Oct 13, 2009, 4:18 PM

Post #3 of 21 (3167 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 12:05 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:
> So the real question is, does the dual core really need a fan?

Although you can run it without a fan (I have been for some time now
with one board) it does get very hot. I don't have any temperature
numbers and I haven't been doing GPU accelerated video yet - I suspect
it may be a little too hot if you do.

hads

--
http://nicegear.co.nz
New Zealand's Open Source Hardware Supplier


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tortise at paradise

Oct 13, 2009, 4:32 PM

Post #4 of 21 (3162 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Hadley Rich" <hads [at] nice>
To: "MythTV in NZ" <mythtvnz [at] lists>
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 12:18 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?


On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 12:05 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:
> So the real question is, does the dual core really need a fan?

Although you can run it without a fan (I have been for some time now
with one board) it does get very hot. I don't have any temperature
numbers and I haven't been doing GPU accelerated video yet - I suspect
it may be a little too hot if you do.

hads

=========================================

Perhaps other relevant questions here are:

Can additional heatsinks be bolted on?

Can larger quieter fans be utilised?

What sort of fan control is available on the board? (Temperature sensitive or full on?)

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mark.dereeper at gmail

Oct 13, 2009, 6:29 PM

Post #5 of 21 (3164 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:05 AM, Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail> wrote:

> I am debating with myself whether to go single or dual core on an
> ionitx board. Quiet is my mantra (its for the bedroom), but I don't
> want to miss out on playing any material or any gui experience if the
> single core won't do the work.
>
> This is a frontend only, and will probably run xbmc as well as myth
> 0.22 (when released). It will likely netboot and have no local drive
> (except perhaps a CF card). So the only noise will be the motherboard
> fan if I get a dual core.
>
> So the real question is, does the dual core really need a fan?
>
> alternatively
>
> Can a single core (which certainly doesn't need a fan) do what I want ?
>
> I have seen reports that the single core can certainly do the
> playback, but what about the heavy lifting on the new MythUI and
> themes?
>

I was able to try a single core board before I put down some hard cash
(thanks SteveV) and whilst it handled all that I tried on it (including NZ
Freeview HD content), I ended up going for the dual core model just because
I wanted to have a bit of longevity. If it lasts as long as the solultion it
is replacing, an old sw modded xbox, I will be very happy. I mostly use it
with XBMC as its myth support is really coming along, just can't do
recodings from it yet.

Compiling XBMC goes well with 2 cores, something I had to do quite a lot
while changes were being made to XBMC trunk to support NZ Freeview HD and
mythtv .22 changes.

The heatsink does get very hot so I installed the provided fan. The noise
level is aceptable, especially compared to my old xbox. It boots off the net
so there are no other moving parts. The noise is not noticable when you are
actually playing some content. I think the fan is full-on all the time, the
linux sensors stuff does not yet seem to support this board chipset combo so
I don't have any temps/fan speeds to go on.


Mark


nick.rout at gmail

Oct 13, 2009, 6:56 PM

Post #6 of 21 (3159 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:29 PM, Mark de Reeper <mark.dereeper [at] gmail> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 10:05 AM, Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail> wrote:
>>
>> I am debating with myself whether to go single or dual core on an
>> ionitx board. Quiet is my mantra (its for the bedroom), but I don't
>> want to miss out on playing any material or any gui experience if the
>> single core won't do the work.
>>
>> This is a frontend only, and will probably run xbmc as well as myth
>> 0.22 (when released). It will likely netboot and have no local drive
>> (except perhaps a CF card). So the only noise will be the motherboard
>> fan if I get a dual core.
>>
>> So the real question is, does the dual core really need a fan?
>>
>> alternatively
>>
>> Can a single core (which certainly doesn't need a fan) do what I want ?
>>
>> I have seen reports that the single core can certainly do the
>> playback, but what about the heavy lifting on the new MythUI and
>> themes?
>
> I was able to try a single core board before I put down some hard cash
> (thanks SteveV) and whilst it handled all that I tried on it (including NZ
> Freeview HD content), I ended up going for the dual core model just because
> I wanted to have a bit of longevity. If it lasts as long as the solultion it
> is replacing, an old sw modded xbox, I will be very happy. I mostly use it
> with XBMC as its myth support is really coming along, just can't do
> recodings from it yet.
>
> Compiling XBMC goes well with 2 cores, something I had to do quite a lot
> while changes were being made to XBMC trunk to support NZ Freeview HD and
> mythtv .22 changes.
>
> The heatsink does get very hot so I installed the provided fan. The noise
> level is aceptable, especially compared to my old xbox. It boots off the net
> so there are no other moving parts. The noise is not noticable when you are
> actually playing some content. I think the fan is full-on all the time, the
> linux sensors stuff does not yet seem to support this board chipset combo so
> I don't have any temps/fan speeds to go on.

Thanks, its the noise when we are trying to sleep that concerns me.
The GAF of the noise of the power supply in my EPIA M9000 system is
very low. After falling asleep in front of TV its a bother to have to
crawl out of bed to turn the myth box off.

Maybe I'll install a big lazy speed fan and some sort of manual speed control.

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stevehodge at gmail

Oct 13, 2009, 6:59 PM

Post #7 of 21 (3152 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail> wrote:

> Thanks, its the noise when we are trying to sleep that concerns me.
> The GAF of the noise of the power supply in my EPIA M9000 system is
> very low. After falling asleep in front of TV its a bother to have to
> crawl out of bed to turn the myth box off.
>
> Maybe I'll install a big lazy speed fan and some sort of manual speed
> control.
>

Is it a frontend only or a combined FE/BE? Can you just switch it off?

Cheers,
Steve


nick.rout at gmail

Oct 13, 2009, 7:13 PM

Post #8 of 21 (3143 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Steve Hodge <stevehodge [at] gmail> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks, its the noise when we are trying to sleep that concerns me.
>> The GAF of the noise of the power supply in my EPIA M9000 system is
>> very low. After falling asleep in front of TV its a bother to have to
>> crawl out of bed to turn the myth box off.
>>
>> Maybe I'll install a big lazy speed fan and some sort of manual speed
>> control.
>
> Is it a frontend only or a combined FE/BE? Can you just switch it off?

Just FE. The difficulty is dragging ones self out of bed to flick the switch.

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hads at nice

Oct 13, 2009, 7:21 PM

Post #9 of 21 (3150 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 15:13 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:
> Just FE. The difficulty is dragging ones self out of bed to flick the
> switch.

I've not done it but I believe you can sleep and resume from USB i.e.
with a remote.

hads

--
http://nicegear.co.nz
New Zealand's Open Source Hardware Supplier


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markk at kc

Oct 13, 2009, 7:23 PM

Post #10 of 21 (3155 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

There's some BIOS updates that I'm going to look at to see if they help
with the fan/temperature identification - just need to make a usb dos
boot device first - which I assume that can be done.

The newer ION motherboards keep the USB bus powered up so a remote can
turn it on as well as off (I use a silverstone case with iMon VFD to do
this, had to make myself a little cable though as the iMon requires a
floppy drive power connector to work).

Currently as it stands, in the bedroom the CPU fan supplied would annoy
me at night.

Mark


On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 15:13 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Steve Hodge <stevehodge [at] gmail> wrote:
> > On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail> wrote:
> >>
> >> Thanks, its the noise when we are trying to sleep that concerns me.
> >> The GAF of the noise of the power supply in my EPIA M9000 system is
> >> very low. After falling asleep in front of TV its a bother to have to
> >> crawl out of bed to turn the myth box off.
> >>
> >> Maybe I'll install a big lazy speed fan and some sort of manual speed
> >> control.
> >
> > Is it a frontend only or a combined FE/BE? Can you just switch it off?
>
> Just FE. The difficulty is dragging ones self out of bed to flick the switch.
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtvnz mailing list
> mythtvnz [at] lists
> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/


Douglas.Pearless at pearless

Oct 13, 2009, 7:26 PM

Post #11 of 21 (3146 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

I have different solution that has zero noise and never overheats!

I use baluns over cat-5e to send the video and audio from my noisy mythtv box in one room to my TV in another and a wireless infrared sender to send remote control signals back.

It works a treat and costs a LOT less than a ION box.

When / if I buy a big flat screen TV, I will upgrade to HDMI over 2 x cat-5e connections

Cheers

Douglas.

Quoting Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail>:

> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Steve Hodge <stevehodge [at] gmail> wrote:
>> On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout [at] gmail> wrote:
>>>
>>> Thanks, its the noise when we are trying to sleep that concerns me.
>>> The GAF of the noise of the power supply in my EPIA M9000 system is
>>> very low. After falling asleep in front of TV its a bother to have to
>>> crawl out of bed to turn the myth box off.
>>>
>>> Maybe I'll install a big lazy speed fan and some sort of manual speed
>>> control.
>>
>> Is it a frontend only or a combined FE/BE? Can you just switch it off?
>
> Just FE. The difficulty is dragging ones self out of bed to flick
> the switch.
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtvnz mailing list
> mythtvnz [at] lists
> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/
>


stevehodge at gmail

Oct 13, 2009, 7:34 PM

Post #12 of 21 (3164 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 3:21 PM, Hadley Rich <hads [at] nice> wrote:

> On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 15:13 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:
> > Just FE. The difficulty is dragging ones self out of bed to flick the
> > switch.
>
> I've not done it but I believe you can sleep and resume from USB i.e.
> with a remote.
>

Resume is the only problem really, it's easy to switch it off/sleep from
software.

Cheers,
Steve


tortise at paradise

Oct 13, 2009, 8:09 PM

Post #13 of 21 (3154 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

----- Original Message -----
From: Douglas Pearless
To: mythtvnz [at] lists
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?


I have different solution that has zero noise and never overheats!
I use baluns over cat-5e to send the video and audio from my noisy mythtv box in one room to my TV in another.
====================================
Can you give us a URL to the baluns you use please, sounds interesting and not the usual TV Balun?

_______________________________________________
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Douglas.Pearless at pearless

Oct 13, 2009, 9:10 PM

Post #14 of 21 (3153 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

Here are some examples:

http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productResults.asp?whichpage=2&pagesize=10&keywords=balun&form=KEYWORD

I am using 4 of these: http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=QC3423&keywords=balun&form=KEYWORD (I got them a LOT cheaper than this) and as they only use 2 pairs of the 4 pairs in a cat 5 cable, I am using a cat5 combiner/splitter at each end to map the 2 x 2 pairs for the 2 baluns to the 4 pairs in the cat 5per http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=YT6090&keywords=cat5&form=KEYWORD but again, I paid only a few dollars for these.

Cheers

Douglas.

Quoting Tortise <tortise [at] paradise>:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Douglas Pearless
> To: mythtvnz [at] lists
> Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:26 PM
> Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?
>
>
> I have different solution that has zero noise and never overheats!
> I use baluns over cat-5e to send the video and audio from my noisy
> mythtv box in one room to my TV in another.
> ====================================
> Can you give us a URL to the baluns you use please, sounds
> interesting and not the usual TV Balun?
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtvnz mailing list
> mythtvnz [at] lists
> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/
>


dylan at deedums

Oct 14, 2009, 1:40 AM

Post #15 of 21 (3128 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

Have a hunt around DealExtreme, e.g.
http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.balun

I've not used their baluns so I can't comment on their quality, but
they're *much* more reasonably priced :)

Dylan

On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 17:10 +1300, Douglas Pearless wrote:

> Here are some examples:
>
> http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productResults.asp?whichpage=2&pagesize=10&keywords=balun&form=KEYWORD
>
> I am using 4 of these:
> http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=QC3423&keywords=balun&form=KEYWORD (I got them a LOT cheaper than this) and as they only use 2 pairs of the 4 pairs in a cat 5 cable, I am using a cat5 combiner/splitter at each end to map the 2 x 2 pairs for the 2 baluns to the 4 pairs in the cat 5per http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=YT6090&keywords=cat5&form=KEYWORD but again, I paid only a few dollars for these.
>
> Cheers
>
> Douglas.
>
> Quoting Tortise <tortise [at] paradise>:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Douglas Pearless
> > To: mythtvnz [at] lists
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:26 PM
> > Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?
> >
> >
> > I have different solution that has zero noise and never overheats!
> > I use baluns over cat-5e to send the video and audio from my noisy
> > mythtv box in one room to my TV in another.
> > ====================================
> > Can you give us a URL to the baluns you use please, sounds
> > interesting and not the usual TV Balun?
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > mythtvnz mailing list
> > mythtvnz [at] lists
> > http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
> > Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/
> >
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtvnz mailing list
> mythtvnz [at] lists
> http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
> Archives http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/mythtvnz/


stevehodge at gmail

Oct 14, 2009, 3:05 AM

Post #16 of 21 (3134 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, Oct 14, 2009 at 9:40 PM, Dylan Hall <dylan [at] deedums> wrote:

> On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 17:10 +1300, Douglas Pearless wrote:
>
> Here are some examples:
>
>
> http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productResults.asp?whichpage=2&pagesize=10&keywords=balun&form=KEYWORD
>
> I am using 4 of these:
> http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=QC3423&keywords=balun&form=KEYWORD (I
> got them a LOT cheaper than this) and as they only use 2 pairs of the 4
> pairs in a cat 5 cable, I am using a cat5 combiner/splitter at each end to
> map the 2 x 2 pairs for the 2 baluns to the 4 pairs in the cat 5per
> http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=YT6090&keywords=cat5&form=KEYWORD but
> again, I paid only a few dollars for these.
>
>
>> Have a hunt around DealExtreme, e.g.
> http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.balun
>
> I've not used their baluns so I can't comment on their quality, but they're
> *much* more reasonably priced :)
>

Definitely don't buy anything from Jaycar (or DSE) without shopping around.
I used to assume Jaycar were generally good value until I noticed this power
meter:
http://www.jaycar.co.nz/productView.asp?ID=MS6115
$36 from Jaycar, $25 from DSE, and $20 from the Warehouse. Exact same model.
That's a huge difference.

Cheers,
Steve


steve.lang at spl

Oct 15, 2009, 8:49 PM

Post #17 of 21 (3076 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

Hey.

Tortise wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Douglas Pearless
> To: mythtvnz [at] lists
> Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:26 PM
> Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?
>
>
> I have different solution that has zero noise and never overheats!
> I use baluns over cat-5e to send the video and audio from my noisy mythtv box in one room to my TV in another.
> ====================================
> Can you give us a URL to the baluns you use please, sounds interesting and not the usual TV Balun?
>
Even though you didn't ask me.... thought I'd mention the Balun's that I
use:
http://homeavcables.com/hdmi-c5s.html

They work well - the EDID learning is great, and they seem to work
pretty much perfectly. Once every coupla months i may have to restart
them and need to 'tune' the equalisation to ensure no dropouts when
someone turns on the lights (equalisation depends on the cable run
length). The second Cat5 in most hdmi Baluns is generally only used for
EDID (via. the DDC channel?) and a single CAT5 can be used for all the
tmds (incl. audio) signals for the standard colour/resolutions . Some of
them state that you can use only 1 pair if you don't need to care about
EDID. Not sure how HDCP works in these scenarios (don't think I have
ever tried playing anything that is HDCP protected.....). In theory,
hdcp is meant to be carried through end-end and multiplexed over the
single Cat-5 with the TMDS stuff, but I don't think my Baluns do that.
Anyway, it works for me...

I have one of the outputs of my 4x2 True Matrix HDMI switch
(http://www.hdtvsupply.com/4x2-hdmi-matrix-switch.html running through
them to the bedroom. HDMI quality incl. sound all over a single Cat-5
(through my patch panel in the wardrobe). Nice. That also means that the
second Cat5 is used for Ethernet.

So, I have all my media stuff in the lounge, multiple sources (Oppo
980H, Topfield TF6000PVR ES, HDX1000) in lounge and any output (lounge
TV or Bedroom via. Baluns above) can be on any or the same source. Next
month I'll throw a Tivo at it (4th input on 4x2 matrix), and after that
replace either the Oppo or HDX with a mythbox...

Cheers -

_______________________________________________
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http://lists.ourshack.com/mailman/listinfo/mythtvnz
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tortise at paradise

Oct 16, 2009, 1:19 AM

Post #18 of 21 (3062 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Lang" <steve.lang [at] spl>
To: "MythTV in NZ" <mythtvnz [at] lists>
Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 4:49 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?


Hey.

Tortise wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Douglas Pearless
> To: mythtvnz [at] lists
> Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:26 PM
> Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?
>
>
> I have different solution that has zero noise and never overheats!
> I use baluns over cat-5e to send the video and audio from my noisy mythtv box in one room to my TV in another.
> ====================================
> Can you give us a URL to the baluns you use please, sounds interesting and not the usual TV Balun?
>
Even though you didn't ask me.... thought I'd mention the Balun's that I
use:
http://homeavcables.com/hdmi-c5s.html

They work well - the EDID learning is great, and they seem to work
pretty much perfectly. Once every coupla months i may have to restart
them and need to 'tune' the equalisation to ensure no dropouts when
someone turns on the lights (equalisation depends on the cable run
length). The second Cat5 in most hdmi Baluns is generally only used for
EDID (via. the DDC channel?) and a single CAT5 can be used for all the
tmds (incl. audio) signals for the standard colour/resolutions . Some of
them state that you can use only 1 pair if you don't need to care about
EDID. Not sure how HDCP works in these scenarios (don't think I have
ever tried playing anything that is HDCP protected.....). In theory,
hdcp is meant to be carried through end-end and multiplexed over the
single Cat-5 with the TMDS stuff, but I don't think my Baluns do that.
Anyway, it works for me...

I have one of the outputs of my 4x2 True Matrix HDMI switch
(http://www.hdtvsupply.com/4x2-hdmi-matrix-switch.html running through
them to the bedroom. HDMI quality incl. sound all over a single Cat-5
(through my patch panel in the wardrobe). Nice. That also means that the
second Cat5 is used for Ethernet.

So, I have all my media stuff in the lounge, multiple sources (Oppo
980H, Topfield TF6000PVR ES, HDX1000) in lounge and any output (lounge
TV or Bedroom via. Baluns above) can be on any or the same source. Next
month I'll throw a Tivo at it (4th input on 4x2 matrix), and after that
replace either the Oppo or HDX with a mythbox...

Cheers -

_______________________________________________

Thanks for taking the initiative Steve, very interesting. At a guess there are two people living in your house? Did you import the
kit direct from US?

It will be interesting to see how it fares when ICT tokens are broadcast etc. I have to wonder what sort of consumer reaction will
occur when ICT are implemented - and suddenly things break....

Hollywood will be hoping it is minimal and sporadic however I am not so sure it will be sparse and sporadic. I wonder if it might
be somewhat more...?


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tortise at paradise

Oct 16, 2009, 1:45 AM

Post #19 of 21 (3066 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Rout" <nick.rout [at] gmail>
To: "MythTV in NZ" <mythtvnz [at] lists>
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: [mythtvnz] Debating the ionitx - single or dual core?


> Is it a frontend only or a combined FE/BE? Can you just switch it off?

Just FE. The difficulty is dragging ones self out of bed to flick the switch.

_______________________________________________

Nick

Why not switch off / suspend to RAM using an IR remote power button? Maybe linked to turn off the monitor / TV power also? ( I
do not recall the display details in the post) Also there is the timer function in the OSD menu however I've not tested it but
presume it powers off?

Some refs:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Customized_Remote_Control_Keys
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/MythTV/Extras
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=810214


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steve.lang at spl

Oct 16, 2009, 3:25 AM

Post #20 of 21 (3063 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

Hiya.

Tortise wrote:
> [...]
>
> Thanks for taking the initiative Steve, very interesting. At a guess there are two people living in your house? Did you import the
> kit direct from US?
>
No probs.

Not quite nuclear (how do you get 2.4 kids and not get arrested by Sue
Bradford?)... Me, wife, 2 kids (5 and 6 weeks). Wife and I have vastly
different tastes shall we say. WAF very important (isn't it always?)
Figured that this would do until the kids were old enough to justify a
TV in their room, by which time we should have had another shift in tech
anyway, or at least better prices for a 8x4 true matrix with built in
single CAT5 Baluns or something.

Yes, I brought them in from US, aint the internet grand! Rapalloav have
a lot of similar stuff, but their Baluns require 2 Cat5's, and their 4x2
TrueMatrix switch that I bought failed on passing audio from the Toppie.
Homeavcables were reasonable for shipping on the Baluns, hdtvsupply was
a bit more. Both sets had multi-voltage supplies (110 - 240) and so with
the help of a pair of pliers and a twist of the american power pins, and
they all worked. Was on a mission to make it work, so gritted teeth and
didn't look at the bill(s)...

Learnt a lot about EDID etc. One panel is a Sony LCD (1366 x whatever)
the other a panasonic (1024 x 768), so there is some complexity there
when both are on the same source (what panel capabilities do you send to
the source?)

The hdtvsupply 4x2 truematrix switch was worth it's weight in gold. It
actually does a good job of sending the right EDID to the source. The
topfiled TF6000PVR ES wasn't sending audio through the equivalent switch
that I purchased locally. Haven't attempted to use the IR routing
function, but the way I understand it works is that it routes IR codes
from the two receivers (one per panel that is connected to outputs) to
the specific input that that output is connected to.
> It will be interesting to see how it fares when ICT tokens are broadcast etc. I have to wonder what sort of consumer reaction will
> occur when ICT are implemented - and suddenly things break....
>
Ahhh, yeah. I kind of refuse to pay any rupert murdoch tax, so don't
have sky, so it's not really been a problem. The truematrix switch is
listed on the site as working with the HD Tivo's, so a reasonable
assumption is that if they implement the copy protection on pay per view
material (internet downloads), that it should still play through the
switch. The Balun's will be interesting....
> Hollywood will be hoping it is minimal and sporadic however I am not so sure it will be sparse and sporadic. I wonder if it might
> be somewhat more...?
>
Here's hoping that they don't cock it up - I finally have decent quality
broadcast and 'recorded' material in two rooms..... (that can be patched
into other rooms) and I don't want to have to do a tech refresh to
support a new favourite show.

BTW: House is now wired with 2 x Cat5 (well, Cat5e) and 1 RG6 into each
room, including the main TV. So, can reconfigure the lounge by moving
the TV cabinet to any other point in the house. 1 x Cat5 for ethernet to
central switch (wifes wardrobe - he he he he he!) 1 x Cat5 for HDMI out
from 4x2 truematrix hdmi switch (located with main a/v gear) and the RG6
is for incoming Satellite and UHF (combined and amplified in, you
guessed it, the wifes wardrobe. I mean, I did it all for her!)

My view was that if I can't do it with 2 x Cat5 and a RG6, then it's not
worth the hassle (don't need everything...)

In my research, I did find devices (from Gefen I think) that would
actually run HDMI over RG6 and the like, but at something like over a
grand per end, wasn't gonna go there....

Cheers -

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hads at nice

Oct 29, 2009, 6:22 PM

Post #21 of 21 (2480 views)
Permalink
Re: Debating the ionitx - single or dual core? [In reply to]

On Wed, 2009-10-14 at 12:05 +1300, Nick Rout wrote:
> This is a frontend only, and will probably run xbmc as well as myth
> 0.22 (when released). It will likely netboot and have no local drive
> (except perhaps a CF card). So the only noise will be the motherboard
> fan if I get a dual core.
>
> So the real question is, does the dual core really need a fan?

I just put together a little dual-core system for a bedroom. The fan was
a bit noisy but I didn't want to leave it out completely for someone
else's system. A 180ohm resistor in the power line of the fan slowed it
down to be pretty quiet and it still seems to keep the heatsink cool
enough.

hads

--
http://nicegear.co.nz
New Zealand's Open Source Hardware Supplier


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