Hello.
I want to use a mini computer to run mythfrontend. I bought a Bacchabox for this purpose (see http://www.amazon.com/BacchaBox%C2%AE-L ... =bacchabox for specs), but it isn't up to the task. The video and audio stutter. (Bandwidth is *not* the issue, but apparently processing power or perhaps the video card is.)
I was wondering if anyone else has used a mini-computer as a mythfrontend. I like to have high-quality recordings, so I guess that processing power is important, but I'm not a hardware guy and so would appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks.
Mini-computer for Myth
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Re: Mini-computer for Myth
Memory and cpu should be fine, and I'd be inclined to suspect graphics or network.
1. Can you try it with a direct ethernet link rather than wifi?
2. API graphics support has been traditionally poor, but we've seen success stories in the last 2 years or so. See:
https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/User_Manual:Setting_Up#ATI
Scroll down to VAAPI - do you have it set in frontend setup?
Phil
1. Can you try it with a direct ethernet link rather than wifi?
2. API graphics support has been traditionally poor, but we've seen success stories in the last 2 years or so. See:
https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/User_Manual:Setting_Up#ATI
Scroll down to VAAPI - do you have it set in frontend setup?
Phil
Re: Mini-computer for Myth
i just got a second dell model3050
I have only had them about a month, so i can't talk to longevity. But this thing is very small, with about the foot print of a CD case and less than two inches tall, it is very quiet and i had no problems at all getting mythbuntu up and running on it. every thing just worked
i have two, one I'm using wirelessly and its work fine
I have only had them about a month, so i can't talk to longevity. But this thing is very small, with about the foot print of a CD case and less than two inches tall, it is very quiet and i had no problems at all getting mythbuntu up and running on it. every thing just worked
i have two, one I'm using wirelessly and its work fine
Re: Mini-computer for Myth
You do not need a powerful CPU as the TV transmissions are already in MP2/MP4 format, myth just takes the stream and dumps it on the HDD. I would suspect graphics as ATI Radeon Graphics is no where near as well supported as NVIDIA. If you want a combined front and backend machine then make sure it has NVIDIA graphics by reading the mythtv wiki to see what is written on the topic.
Your other option instead of throwing your Bacchabox is to use it as a backend only and use a raspberry pi2 or an odriod c1+ as the frontend.
The other complication you need to consider is if your recordings are MP2 or MP4 and if the TV stations are transmitting progressive or interlaced video. Interlacing needs more GPU grunt and if you use handbrake to recompress the video and remove interlacing the CPU of the backend is then important.
I use a script which I posted on this forum to remove the interlacing and turn the MP2 into mp4 files for the raspberry pi2 running OSMC.
This setup then saves money as the backend can power down when not recording as the recordings can live on a NAS. You can purchase a MP2 decoding license for the rpi2 so you do not need to re-encode to MP4.
Hope that helps.
Your other option instead of throwing your Bacchabox is to use it as a backend only and use a raspberry pi2 or an odriod c1+ as the frontend.
The other complication you need to consider is if your recordings are MP2 or MP4 and if the TV stations are transmitting progressive or interlaced video. Interlacing needs more GPU grunt and if you use handbrake to recompress the video and remove interlacing the CPU of the backend is then important.
I use a script which I posted on this forum to remove the interlacing and turn the MP2 into mp4 files for the raspberry pi2 running OSMC.
This setup then saves money as the backend can power down when not recording as the recordings can live on a NAS. You can purchase a MP2 decoding license for the rpi2 so you do not need to re-encode to MP4.
Hope that helps.