[mythtvnz] Suitable Frontend

[Michael West]

>Hi all,
>
>I have go a Pentium 4 3ghz running as a backend with Mythbuntu - as discussed on this list :-)
>
>This machine is okay - cannot quite cope with recording HD TV, or Commercial Flagging *and* serving media to my laptop. But it can record two (sometimes three) channels, and will do for now. It is too loud for the living room though.
>
>I would like to get a machine for a front end, and any suggestions anyone has. Quiet is good :-)
>
>Given my backend is a P4 - would this be good enough for a front end?
>
>A number of machines have DVI out - can can I use this to output full hd using a DVI to HDMI cable?
>
>Could I use a vga to rca type cable to get full hd?
>
>Anyway - thanks for the help :-)
>
>DOn

If you want a front end that can play back HD you normally need enough power to do de-interlacing or movement will look very bad.  
You can do this with a decent performance modern CPU in software but it will require a more expensive CPU and a higher power bill.
Your next best option is to get a NVIDIA graphics card like a GT-620 for example that can use VDPAU to GPU accelerate 
Video decode and de-interlacing meaning ANY cpu will be good enough.  

If you really want low power and noise then you can get small motherboards (mini-itx) or machines that have atom processors
and ION or ION2 graphics which is NVIDA based and just fast enough to do HD.
These ION based machines may not do some of the high end de-interlacing modes well but they are ok mostly.
Some of these come as very small mini pre built machines or barebones kits but check reviews online for fan noise issues etc.

If you don't want to go for an Atom/ION solution the next best power saving/low noise option is a modern sandy bridge motherboard and CPU.  
Even the cheapest sandy bridge Pentium Dual Core G6xx's are quite efficient.

If your trying to save the most money then any second hand machine with a pci-express graphics slot can be used with just a NVIDIA GFX card added.

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/VDPAU  <-- lots of good info there about different machine/GFX options. 
Note this is a bit out of date now and you may find it hard to source the older generation GFX cards mentioned. 
The GT 520 has been replaced with the GT-610 and GT 430 by the GT-620 but they all should work mostly.
Higher end cards than these will work just as well but more money and power required so unless you want to use it for more than myth don't bother.

Also watch out for HDMI on the GFX card as some of the earlier NVIDA cards do not have full support for sound output over HDMI.

Also if it's just a front end only you will just need a basic hard drive to boot off but you may want to get a cheap 30GB or larger SSD instead as they are quite cheap.

Michael