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The $99 frontend is here. Is this too good to be true?

 

 

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jarod at wilsonet

Jul 2, 2009, 10:28 PM

Post #51 of 54 (597 views)
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Re: The $99 frontend is here. Is this too good to be true? [In reply to]

On Jul 2, 2009, at 4:32 AM, "sonofzev [at] iinet" <sonofzev [at] iinet
> wrote:

> Yes, mine do... I'm using an opteron 170.. with a fully optimised
> (arch=opteron-sse) Gentoo OS underneath which I believe makes a big
> difference...

No, not really. At least, certainly not if you're running a 64-bit
install. Any sane distro's 64-bit compile flags typically aren't going
to be more than a tiny percentage point difference in perf.

Anyone care to guess who employs the bulk of the core gcc devs?... :)
>

--
Jarod Wilson
jarod [at] wilsonet

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jarod at wilsonet

Jul 2, 2009, 10:55 PM

Post #52 of 54 (591 views)
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Re: The $99 frontend is here. Is this too good to be true? [In reply to]

On Jul 2, 2009, at 6:52 AM, Jean-Yves Avenard <jyavenard [at] gmail>
wrote:

> Hi
>
> 2009/7/2 Jarod Wilson <jarod [at] wilsonet>:
>> As I (thought I) said, I watch HDTV content ALL THE TIME without
>> VDPAU.
>> Hell, I'm not even using nVidia graphics, I'm using Intel.
>
> I'm guessing your HDTV content is just mpeg2 ...

I said as much. I do have some h.264 stuff too though.


> My E8500 (3.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 6MB of cache per core), struggle with a
> few bluray RIP (h264 content) I've (the worse being Stardust, it
> stutter like crazy).
> That's 1080p at 24Hz.

Not sure what to say about that. My 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo w/Intel video
handles the bulk of my BD rips fine. Would have to compare apples to
apples though.



> If I want to use any of the advanced software deinterlacer (like Yadif
> 2X) on 1080i content, CPU usage jumps to over 140% and it starts
> stuttering, so I had to settle for lesser deinterlacers (usually
> kernel 2X)
>
> But, you said you don't even use any deinterlacers ... Personally, I
> don't understand how anyone wouldn't be bothered watching
> non-deinterlaced content on TV ...

You seem to assume the video must have real bad interlacing artifacts.
But here's the thing: there aren't any.

> Looks to me more and more than those who criticise heavily VDPAU has
> not being necessary or useful actually never ever tried it.

Haven't tried, because it doesn't buy me much of anything, especially
considering I have Intel graphics in my primary frontend, and my
content being primarily mpeg2.

> Few people here, have commented on how vdpau wasn't necessary, yet
> once they tried didn't go back to their earlier setting.

If its ultimately better video output once its stabilized, sure. But
again, it doesn't buy *me* much right now. I'm likely to play with it
more when I've actually got frontend hw that can use it.


> Personally, I've been using VDPAU exclusively for months. Yes there
> are issues from time to time with the PC freezing, this happens a lot
> with 185.18.14 (at least for me), maybe once a week with drivers
> 180.60.

See, now, that's still way too often for my taste.


> Mark Kendall and Isaac have done a tremendous job here.

Didn't say they weren't doing fantastic work -- they are. Just that
its still a work in progress.


>
>>>> And VDPAU for DVD playback? Why?!?
>
> Because, unfortunately, mythtv doesn't let you use a given decoder for
> a specific codec. only depending on the resolution.
> So if you use VDPAU, it has to be for all content.

Uh. What? Use vdpau only for greater than dvd resolution, problem
solved, no?


> If you use a HD-PVR, it seems that software decoding requires a C2D
> > 3GHz...

Wrong. I have one. Its recordings play on the 2.16GHz c2d. Mine is set
up for only 720p though, to be fair.


>
>> back. My workstation handles anything and everything w/o a problem,
>> but
>> its a core 2 quad w/a quadro fx video card (which does support VDPAU,
>> but I've not bothered to set up for such). Of course, I wouldn't want
>> to put that in the living room...
>
> I think having a dual or quad CPU here will make no difference, only
> the frequency.. h264 decoding currently isn't multi-threaded... So
> with a quad core, you'll find that one core is at 100% the others at 0

Single-slice h.264 decode is still single-threaded. Multi-slice can
use multiple cpus just fine.



>
>> Typical American, I wasn't considering that the rest of the world
>> isn't
>> stuck with the same bullshit broadcast standards we have. Thank you
>> for
>> bringing this to my attention, it all makes more sense now. :)
>
> Oz is stuck with mpeg2 too unfortunately, so we are stuck with very
> low quality content.
> They have just introduced new channels but as they can't use new
> frequencies, all they could do is reduce the quality of the channel to
> broadcast new ones.
>
> One channel even stopped broadcasting a channel is HD just to add
> another one...

Ew.


> Should they have used h264, this would have never happened.

US cable companies are amusingly nuking all their analog for pure
digital, blaming it on the government's mandate that broadcast tv be
all digital soon... Its mainly to reclaim that bandwidth for more
mpeg2 hdtv, I believe. And force customers to upgrade...

--
Jarod Wilson
jarod [at] wilsonet

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jarod at wilsonet

Jul 2, 2009, 11:04 PM

Post #53 of 54 (594 views)
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Re: The $99 frontend is here. Is this too good to be true? [In reply to]

On Jul 2, 2009, at 8:43 AM, Nick F <nikos.f [at] gmail> wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:23 PM, Jarod Wilson<jarod [at] wilsonet>
> wrote:
>> Moral of the story: VDPAU still development code, and not a magic
>> bullet (yet). Don't expect miracles. Play with fire, get burned. Etc.
>>
>> /me really needs to replace his D945GCLF2 w/an Atom 330 Ion or
>> something and find out what he's really missing...
>
> No need to throw out the D945GCLF2 Atom board just yet. I added a
> Sparkle 8400GS PCI card to mine, and now it plays back with all the
> VDPAU goodness I could expect.

Considered it. Would rathet just replace it. If vdpau is a keeper for
me, I need (ok, want) firewire on it too, because it would be next to
my cable box. Still waiting for a board better suited to my needs
though -- the zotac w/o any slots obviously won't do, the Pegatron is
a closer fit. Ideally, I want a board w/onboard firewire.

--
Jarod Wilson
jarod [at] wilsonet

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erik at hovland

Jul 3, 2009, 10:10 AM

Post #54 of 54 (573 views)
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Re: The $99 frontend is here. Is this too good to be true? [In reply to]

> Anyone care to guess who employs the bulk of the core gcc devs?... :)

Disney?

I kid.

E

--
Erik Hovland
erik [at] hovland
http://hovland.org/
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