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Neuros LINK Mixes Quiet, Aesthetics, and Ubuntu
jonniee writes with a link to Dr. Dobb's Journal's look at a rather cool living-room-suitable media-centric computer from Neuros (presented as being suitable mostly for developers and serious hobbyists for now), excerpting: "The Neuros LINK is essentially a quiet x86 PC running Ubuntu Linux with an ATI graphics card delivering video via VGA, DVI, and HDMI output. ... What makes the LINK such a compelling platform for these folks and Linux/open source developers in general is the recognition that a real business entity is stepping forward to spend the money necessary to market and commercialize what tech enthusiasts have been doing for years."
I wonder how quiet it is, some of the pictures had fans...
At least you clicked the link. ;-)
In the text accompanying those pictures it said 27dB. Not quiet, but not noisy either.
There is another reason for considering Nvidia. They have vpdau:
VDPAU (Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix) is an API designed by NVIDIA for its GeForce 8 series and later GPU hardware, targeted at the X Window System on Unix operating-systems (including Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris).[1][2][3] This VDPAU API allows video programs to offload portions of the video decoding process and video post-processing to the GPU video-hardware.
This would allow them to use fairly quiet and cheap processors, like the atom, and still get flawless HD 1080p output.
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
In my experience, watching video on Linux is hardly limited by the graphics card, and you certainly don't need a gaming monster to get get good video. I'm only interested in a good Xv implementation for hardware scaling, since the video formats are evolving anyway.
My current media machine has a Mini-ITX motherboard with integrated Intel graphics and a Core Duo T2300 at 1.66 GHz. When I watch 720p H.264 (that's the most my monitor is capable of), only one CPU is used at 60%, and of course everything is smooth. The machine has only one fan, rated at 24 dBA, but it's running at 7 V instead of 12, so it's even quieter. The power supply is a passively cooled one (like PicoPSU) rated at 80 W.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
NetBSD Controlled Toaster
A 3.2GHz Core2 should be able to handle any video an HDPVR can throw at it. The HDPVR really isn't even that high bitrate. Peaking at 13.5mbps, it's less than half what you might find on Bluray disks. The problem is that it is single sliced. You can currently only use one core per slice. The ffmpeg-mt branch should being decoding within range of most dual core processors.