Mailing List Archive: MythTV: Users

hd-pvr playback plans - sanity check

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mdschiller.mythtv at gmail

Nov 18, 2009, 9:35 PM

Post #1 of 7 (436 views)
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hd-pvr playback plans - sanity check

I have an older frontend box that I would like to upgrade so that it
could playback recordings from my HD-PVR. The processor is an Athlon
64 2800+ running at 1.8 GHz, and the motherboard has a PCIE x16 (it's
not a PCIE 2 motherboard).

From what I've read in a few threads, including this one
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/407875 , I think I
should be able to get good HD playback of the recordings if I upgrade
my video card to:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187034

But, as my processor is pretty old, and rather underpowered, I'm
looking for feedback from the community to see if anyone has had
success with similar hardware.

Thanks,
Mike
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ron.garrison at gmail

Nov 19, 2009, 12:01 AM

Post #2 of 7 (405 views)
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Re: hd-pvr playback plans - sanity check [In reply to]

On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 9:35 PM, Mike Schiller
<mdschiller.mythtv [at] gmail> wrote:
> I have an older frontend box that I would like to upgrade so that it
> could playback recordings from my HD-PVR. The processor is an Athlon
> 64 2800+ running at 1.8 GHz, and the motherboard has a PCIE x16 (it's
> not a PCIE 2 motherboard).
>
> From what I've read in a few threads, including this one
> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/407875 , I think I
> should be able to get good HD playback of the recordings if I upgrade
> my video card to:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187034
>
> But, as my processor is pretty old, and rather underpowered, I'm
> looking for feedback from the community to see if anyone has had
> success with similar hardware.
>

Since my old hardware was AGP I went ahead and updated my MB to an i5,
so I can't comment from that side. What I will tell you is I ordered
this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125274

and playback from my HD-PVR has been smooth. OSD is smooth. When I'm
playing back an HD-PVR recording (720P) it uses about 2% of one of my
i5 cores. When I playback an HD recording from my Air2PC HD card, it
uses about 20% of one of my cores (as mpeg2 hardware excelleration is
only partial whereas H.264 is full).
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mdschiller.mythtv at gmail

Nov 19, 2009, 6:30 AM

Post #3 of 7 (392 views)
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Re: hd-pvr playback plans - sanity check [In reply to]

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 3:01 AM, Ron Garrison <ron.garrison [at] gmail> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 9:35 PM, Mike Schiller
> <mdschiller.mythtv [at] gmail> wrote:
>> I have an older frontend box that I would like to upgrade so that it
>> could playback recordings from my HD-PVR. The processor is an Athlon
>> 64 2800+ running at 1.8 GHz, and the motherboard has a PCIE x16 (it's
>> not a PCIE 2 motherboard).
>>
>> From what I've read in a few threads, including this one
>> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/407875 , I think I
>> should be able to get good HD playback of the recordings if I upgrade
>> my video card to:
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187034
>>
>> But, as my processor is pretty old, and rather underpowered, I'm
>> looking for feedback from the community to see if anyone has had
>> success with similar hardware.
>>
>
> Since my old hardware was AGP I went ahead and updated my MB to an i5,
> so I can't comment from that side. What I will tell you is I ordered
> this:
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125274
>
> and playback from my HD-PVR has been smooth. OSD is smooth. When I'm
> playing back an HD-PVR recording (720P) it uses about 2% of one of my
> i5 cores. When I playback an HD recording from my Air2PC HD card, it
> uses about 20% of one of my cores (as mpeg2 hardware excelleration is
> only partial whereas H.264 is full).
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users [at] mythtv
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

Ron,

Thanks for that info -- it's a big help.

Can anyone comment on a similar setup with an older mobo/cpu?

Thanks
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james.orr7 at gmail

Nov 19, 2009, 7:01 AM

Post #4 of 7 (396 views)
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Re: hd-pvr playback plans - sanity check [In reply to]

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 12:35 AM, Mike Schiller <mdschiller.mythtv [at] gmail
> wrote:

> I have an older frontend box that I would like to upgrade so that it
> could playback recordings from my HD-PVR. The processor is an Athlon
> 64 2800+ running at 1.8 GHz, and the motherboard has a PCIE x16 (it's
> not a PCIE 2 motherboard).
>
> From what I've read in a few threads, including this one
> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/407875 , I think I
> should be able to get good HD playback of the recordings if I upgrade
> my video card to:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187034
>
> But, as my processor is pretty old, and rather underpowered, I'm
> looking for feedback from the community to see if anyone has had
> success with similar hardware.
>
>
I have an AMD Sempron 3000+ (also 1.8 GHz) on my frontend which I run with
VDPAU and this card ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139018

It works flawlessly on recordings from my HDHR, I don't have an HD-PVR so I
can't speak for that but I imagine it wouldn't be much different.

beww at beww

Nov 19, 2009, 7:06 AM

Post #5 of 7 (391 views)
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Re: hd-pvr playback plans - sanity check [In reply to]

On Thursday 19 November 2009 08:01:44 James Orr wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 12:35 AM, Mike Schiller
> <mdschiller.mythtv [at] gmail
>
> > wrote:
> >
> > I have an older frontend box that I would like to upgrade so that it
> > could playback recordings from my HD-PVR. The processor is an Athlon
> > 64 2800+ running at 1.8 GHz, and the motherboard has a PCIE x16 (it's
> > not a PCIE 2 motherboard).
> >
> > From what I've read in a few threads, including this one
> > http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/407875 , I think I
> > should be able to get good HD playback of the recordings if I upgrade
> > my video card to:
> > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187034
> >
> > But, as my processor is pretty old, and rather underpowered, I'm
> > looking for feedback from the community to see if anyone has had
> > success with similar hardware.
>
> I have an AMD Sempron 3000+ (also 1.8 GHz) on my frontend which I run with
> VDPAU and this card ...
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139018
>
> It works flawlessly on recordings from my HDHR, I don't have an HD-PVR so I
> can't speak for that but I imagine it wouldn't be much different.

It might be. HDHR recordings are MPEG2, and the HD-PVR records in h264, which
takes a lot more oomph to decode, but with VDPAU it's mostly happening in the
GPU anyway.

--
Brian Wood
beww [at] beww
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ron.garrison at gmail

Nov 19, 2009, 8:35 AM

Post #6 of 7 (380 views)
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Re: hd-pvr playback plans - sanity check [In reply to]

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 7:06 AM, Brian Wood <beww [at] beww> wrote:
> On Thursday 19 November 2009 08:01:44 James Orr wrote:
>> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 12:35 AM, Mike Schiller
>> <mdschiller.mythtv [at] gmail
>>
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> > I have an older frontend box that I would like to upgrade so that it
>> > could playback recordings from my HD-PVR. The processor is an Athlon
>> > 64 2800+ running at 1.8 GHz, and the motherboard has a PCIE x16 (it's
>> > not a PCIE 2 motherboard).
>> >
>> > From what I've read in a few threads, including this one
>> > http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/407875 , I think I
>> > should be able to get good HD playback of the recordings if I upgrade
>> > my video card to:
>> > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187034
>> >
>> > But, as my processor is pretty old, and rather underpowered, I'm
>> > looking for feedback from the community to see if anyone has had
>> > success with similar hardware.
>>
>> I have an AMD Sempron 3000+ (also 1.8 GHz) on my frontend which I run with
>> VDPAU and this card ...
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139018
>>
>> It works flawlessly on recordings from my HDHR, I don't have an HD-PVR so I
>> can't speak for that but I imagine it wouldn't be much different.
>
> It might be. HDHR recordings are MPEG2, and the HD-PVR records in h264, which
> takes a lot more oomph to decode, but with VDPAU it's mostly happening in the
> GPU anyway.
>
> --

My understanding (and experience from my setup) is that VDPAU (Feature
set A) is better on h.264 than Mpeg2, because it decodes h.264
completely in hardware, whereas for MPEG2 its only partial. I got
this info from the VDPAU section of wikipedia.

Ron
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ron.garrison at gmail

Nov 19, 2009, 8:39 AM

Post #7 of 7 (389 views)
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Re: hd-pvr playback plans - sanity check [In reply to]

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 8:35 AM, Ron Garrison <ron.garrison [at] gmail> wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 7:06 AM, Brian Wood <beww [at] beww> wrote:
>> On Thursday 19 November 2009 08:01:44 James Orr wrote:
>>> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 12:35 AM, Mike Schiller
>>> <mdschiller.mythtv [at] gmail
>>>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >
>>> > I have an older frontend box that I would like to upgrade so that it
>>> > could playback recordings from my HD-PVR. The processor is an Athlon
>>> > 64 2800+ running at 1.8 GHz, and the motherboard has a PCIE x16 (it's
>>> > not a PCIE 2 motherboard).
>>> >
>>> > From what I've read in a few threads, including this one
>>> > http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/407875 , I think I
>>> > should be able to get good HD playback of the recordings if I upgrade
>>> > my video card to:
>>> > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187034
>>> >
>>> > But, as my processor is pretty old, and rather underpowered, I'm
>>> > looking for feedback from the community to see if anyone has had
>>> > success with similar hardware.
>>>
>>> I have an AMD Sempron 3000+ (also 1.8 GHz) on my frontend which I run with
>>> VDPAU and this card ...
>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139018
>>>
>>> It works flawlessly on recordings from my HDHR, I don't have an HD-PVR so I
>>> can't speak for that but I imagine it wouldn't be much different.
>>
>> It might be. HDHR recordings are MPEG2, and the HD-PVR records in h264, which
>> takes a lot more oomph to decode, but with VDPAU it's mostly happening in the
>> GPU anyway.
>>
>> --
>
>
> My understanding (and experience from my setup) is that VDPAU (Feature
> set A) is better on h.264 than Mpeg2, because it decodes h.264
> completely in hardware, whereas for MPEG2 its only partial. I got
> this info from the VDPAU section of wikipedia.
>
> Ron
>

I will add that the video card that Jame's listed above appears to
have feature set B (where mine has feature set A). Feature set B i
supposed to have complete acceleration for both MPEG2 and H.264, but
appear's to have some limitations on certain H.264 widths.

Ron
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