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Atom ion based HTPC
http://forums.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20544		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Digriz77 [ Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Atom ion based HTPC
Hi,

Im just looking for some advice.

Im looking at building a low powered (my power bill is killing me) mythtv setup.

I have decided (untill further advice) on the following:

Combined MB and CPU/GPU - Point of View ion330 with Pci-e slot - dual core 1.6ghz
Hard Drive - WD scorpio blue - 2.5" 320gb hard drive
Ram - 1gb of Sodim ram (laptop ram in a desktop - whod have thought)
Tuner - Usb dual tunner - TinyTwin
Case and PSU - Antec isk 300 with inbuilt 65watt dc power board
Optical - not at this stage.

they say under load the system draws around 45 watts of power.

Now my question is that all these new mother boards only output hdmi, vga or dvi. I had thought about plugging in my pci-e graphics card with svideo out. its a nvidia 7300. My concern is how much extra power these are going to use and will it defeat my purpose of getting a low powered system.

Is there a way to see how much power they will use up or do I have to suck it and see.
Author:  graysky [ Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:35 am ]
Post subject: 
You have to purchase a $30 kill-a-watt meter and do the experiment yourself. No way to predict for sure.
Author:  Digriz77 [ Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:10 am ]
Post subject: 
Thanks for that Graysky. yeah i actually have one of those meters. Ill give it a go in one of my windows machines to see what difference it makes.

will there be much difference between windows and linux in regard to power requirements for a graphics card?
Author:  graysky [ Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:51 pm ]
Post subject: 
Dunno for sure but I would think not or minimal.
Author:  uteck [ Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:10 pm ]
Post subject: 
That video card will not work with hi-def video if you use an Atom CPU, the CPU just can't handle the decompression without using vdapu which offloads all the video processing to the GPU. And the 7300 is not supported by vdapu. I am using the Atomic Ant in my sig, so you should be able to find that card for cheep and it works with vdapu and plays back 720p h264 video fine which normally stutters and is unwatchable without it enabled.
Author:  nharris [ Sun Nov 22, 2009 7:16 am ]
Post subject: 
You might want to consider the Acer Aspire Revo if you have not already purchased hardware. Although it's $130 more, I would suggest the 330 version.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
Author:  opel70 [ Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:23 pm ]
Post subject: 
uteck wrote:
That video card will not work with hi-def video if you use an Atom CPU, the CPU just can't handle the decompression without using vdapu which offloads all the video processing to the GPU.


Have you actually tried it and had this problem? I have an Atom 330 FE (dual-core model, Intel chipset / video) running in my kitchen output to a 1080p monitor and all of my HD content play without problems. Additionally, I have used MiniMyth on my Atom 230 netbook from work, also without any problems. Though that screen is only 1024x576. All of my HD content is OTA, but a combination of 720p and 1080i.
Author:  uteck [ Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:10 am ]
Post subject: 
opel70 wrote:
uteck wrote:
That video card will not work with hi-def video if you use an Atom CPU, the CPU just can't handle the decompression without using vdapu which offloads all the video processing to the GPU.


Have you actually tried it and had this problem? I have an Atom 330 FE (dual-core model, Intel chipset / video) running in my kitchen output to a 1080p monitor and all of my HD content play without problems. Additionally, I have used MiniMyth on my Atom 230 netbook from work, also without any problems. Though that screen is only 1024x576. All of my HD content is OTA, but a combination of 720p and 1080i.

Yes, I tried with videos encoded with h264 codex and it was unwatchable. Normal tv shows I recorded played fine. HD OTA recordings also stuttered for me, but I am using a HDHomerun to record OTA, so perhaps it has higher needs for playback?
Author:  Martian [ Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:04 am ]
Post subject: 
uteck wrote:
HD OTA recordings also stuttered for me, but I am using a HDHomerun to record OTA, so perhaps it has higher needs for playback?


An OTA ATSC program recorded via an HDHomerun will be no different than one record with any other ATSC tuner.

Martian
Author:  opel70 [ Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
uteck wrote:
Yes, I tried with videos encoded with h264 codex and it was unwatchable. Normal tv shows I recorded played fine. HD OTA recordings also stuttered for me, but I am using a HDHomerun to record OTA, so perhaps it has higher needs for playback?


Hmm, don't have any h264 encoded videos. However, all of mine are recorded using an HDHR as well. Though, any digital recording device will get the same output, as it does a direct copy of the transmitted stream.

Maybe it is the default playback options that MiniMyth has that makes it work. No idea. Just know that all Atom systems I have tried have worked fine with any HD material I have tried, either in a Myth frontend, or directly copied and played in Windows. The single-core I've tried had 1GB of memory, and the dual-core has 2GB (if it makes a difference).
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