From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Feb 2 18:48:24 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 846F316A4CE for ; Wed, 2 Feb 2005 18:48:24 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mailhub01.unibe.ch (mailhub01.unibe.ch [130.92.9.52]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 61C7E43D2D for ; Wed, 2 Feb 2005 18:48:23 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from roth@droopy.unibe.ch) Received: from localhost (scanhub03-eth0.unibe.ch [130.92.254.67]) by mailhub01.unibe.ch (Postfix) with ESMTP id E70A525BB60; Wed, 2 Feb 2005 19:48:20 +0100 (MET) Received: from mailhub01.unibe.ch ([130.92.9.52]) by localhost (scanhub03.unibe.ch [130.92.254.67]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with LMTP id 14229-04-48; Wed, 2 Feb 2005 19:48:15 +0100 (CET) Received: from asterix.unibe.ch (asterix.unibe.ch [130.92.64.4]) by mailhub01.unibe.ch (Postfix) with ESMTP id E5CA625BB36; Wed, 2 Feb 2005 19:48:18 +0100 (MET) Received: from droopy.unibe.ch (droopy [130.92.64.20]) by asterix.unibe.ch (8.11.7p1+Sun/8.11.7) with ESMTP id j12ImIU18335; Wed, 2 Feb 2005 19:48:18 +0100 (MET) Received: (from roth@localhost) by droopy.unibe.ch (8.12.10+Sun/8.12.9/Submit) id j12ImXna021200; Wed, 2 Feb 2005 19:48:33 +0100 (MET) Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 19:48:32 +0100 From: Tobias Roth To: Drew Tomlinson Message-ID: <20050202184832.GA21168@droopy.unibe.ch> References: <20050201164641.E64418@atlantis.403forbidden.net> <42011B91.2070101@mykitchentable.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <42011B91.2070101@mykitchentable.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i X-message-flag: Warning! Using Outlook is insecure and promotes virus distribution. Please use a different email client. X-Virus-checked: by University of Berne cc: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Hardware recommendations for MythTV/FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 18:48:24 -0000 On Wed, Feb 02, 2005 at 10:27:29AM -0800, Drew Tomlinson wrote: > > I've been watching this thread as I am interested in building such a > setup also. Can anyone comment on whether the 350 offers any benefit > over the 250? As I understand it, the 350 also includes a hardware > decoder for MPEG-2 playback. Is this any significant advantage? My PVR > will be based on an 1gz AMD Athlon. yes, if you're going to use i8the tv-out. it's a very high quality tv-out, back when i bought it (14 months ago) it was far superior to all other available tv-out solutions (think gfx cards or via onboard tv out). another advantage is that you do not need a graphic card anymore if you plan to use the tv as your only output. this saves power, lowers heat production and allows for mainboards with few pci slots. of course there are disadvantages too: - no FreeBSD driver (yet?) - even under linux, the decoder is not very well supported, if you feed it any other movie format than what comes out of the decoder. it's however possible to use the tv-out without the decoder, all you need is a halfway decent machine (2k celeron works nicely and probably is even overkill) - no use for a hdtv cheers, t.