[Discuss] Returned to the NVIDIA fold

[tmetro+blu at gmail.com (Tom Metro)]

Rich Braun wrote:
> After last month's Intel CedarView driver debacle, and at Tom's
> suggestion to dig through the MythTV forum for comments about
> graphic cards, I chose a new system.
> 
> The product I chose is the Zotac Zbox ID80... I got the system
> up and running...in about 30-40 minutes of effort; 
> HD video playback uses about 6% CPU.

Glad to hear the approach worked out for you.


> ...dig through the MythTV forum for comments about graphic cards...
> The MythTV forums are relatively quiet on this topic, so I had to
> make an educated guess.

Specifically the issue of video card selection, or front-end hardware in
general? My observations was (I only look in at the list occasionally)
that front-end hardware was a perpetual topic, and with integrated
graphics being near universal for low-power front-end hardware, you
can't really separate the discussion of the two.


> The one tiny downside with this product is that the extra GPU chip
> costs extra electric power...

So what did you find them saying about the AMD Fusion platform? My
understanding is that it has an integrated GPU, and is a platform people
are keen to use for uses like a MythTV front-end. I haven't looked at
the MythTV list with respect to Fusion, but a while ago ran across some
discussion of it in XBMC forums where they were working towards GPU
acceleration support.


> My future 10-watt video front-end solution will just have to wait for
> the future to arrive.

Have you tried a Raspberry Pi? :-)

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/