From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Nov 28 14:36:09 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4A3A01065670 for ; Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:36:09 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from Tad1214@aol.com) Received: from imo-d06.mx.aol.com (imo-d06.mx.aol.com [205.188.157.38]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 14ECE8FC12 for ; Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:36:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from Tad1214@aol.com) Received: from Tad1214@aol.com by imo-d06.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v39.1.) id 4.c64.38978ac0 (37070); Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:36:01 -0500 (EST) Received: from Osprey2.cptxoffice.net (ng1.cptxoffice.net [208.74.121.102]) by cia-db05.mx.aol.com (v121_r4.6) with ESMTP id MAILCIADB054-90ce493001d0165; Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:36:01 -0500 Message-ID: <4930019C.30905@aol.com> Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:35:08 -0600 From: Thomas Donnelly User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.17 (X11/20081113) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Dieter References: <200811271824.SAA28283@sopwith.solgatos.com> In-Reply-To: <200811271824.SAA28283@sopwith.solgatos.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-AOL-IP: 208.74.121.102 X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version) X-Spam-Flag: NO Cc: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD as a HTPC! X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:36:09 -0000 Dieter wrote: > You can call it a HTPC, media center, DVR, PVR, or whatever. > > Problem #1 is how to get video to the nice TV/display/screen. > Depending on your hardware you might need s-video, composite, > component, RF, RGB (HV sync, composite sync, or sync-on-green), > DVI/HDMI, or displayport. Have I left out any? Some of these > are hard to find outputs for. :-( > > Problem #2 is decoding the codec(s) you have media in. If the > source is high definition, you need a lot of CPU, or GPU support. > A lot of video is in mpeg2 format, including all OTA TV in the US, > most DVDs, some BluRay, etc. Mpeg2 can benefit from Xv and XvMC. > If you want XvMC, the only open source choice seems to be VIA Chrome. > > http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=openchrome&sektion=4 > > Hmmm is this the same as x11-drivers/xf86-video-openchrome in ports? > Is anyone successfully using this? > > Then we have this, although I don't see a mention of XvMC in the > posting. > > http://ftp.intron.ac/tmp/xf86-video-via-linux.tar.gz > > See "Anyone would help me to test this port? Another VIA > UniChrome/Chrome9 Driver" in -multimedia@ from intron@intron.ac > on 2008-11-12. > > AMD/ATI claims that they have released enough documentation for > someone to implement Xv and XvMC, but as far as I know no one > has done so. They seem more interested in 3D games. :-( > > Problem #3 is keeping the noise down, which means no disks and > keep the power usage down to reduce or eliminate the need for fans. > I assume that NFS is as brain damaged as always? ("stale file handles" > and such) Does FreeBSD have an alternative? > I have found that smb mounts have always worked great. You could spin up an install on a 8-16GB (fill in the blank of Solid State media) and smb mount in your fstab for a /media or I usually do it in ~htpcuser/media