I run dual CPUs on my backend and I think if you've got the cash its an awesome way to do things. I have two P3 Tualatin 1.3GHz CPUs and capture HDTV off my STB using firewire with no problem while running transcoding and commercial flagging and streaming to the frontend. I like how it makes it so a really busy thread can get its own CPU and the other threads are happy running on the other CPU.
Devan On 5/7/05, Galen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Been checking on the hardware... please correct me if I'm wrong here! > > The potentially cost-viable CPU options with a few sample prices > attached: > 1) AMD Athlon MP (2800 2.13 GHz = USD ~197, can't find anything faster) > 2) AMD Opteron (242 1.6 GHz = USD ~158, 244 1.8 GHz = USD ~203) > 3) Intel Xenon (2.8 GHz = USD ~220, 2.66 GHz = USD ~199) > (did I miss any cost-viable options?) > > For each of these CPUs, what would the comfortable minimum be for > HDTV playback only? (I will have an GeForce card, but I believe that > I will lose XvMC acceleration if I want to do any fancy deinerlacing > tricks. Is this correct?) I am trying to assess the price difference > and practicality of a dual-CPU setup. Also, what anybody know sort of > heat production are we talking about per-CPU here? > > Does MythTV compile properly for 64-bit and actually offer any > practical performance gains? (Or am I going to completely regret that > I even *thought* of trying 64-bit code... I am thinking that may be a > "yes" for the time being...) > > -Galen > > On May 7, 2005, at 3:03 PM, Galen wrote: > > > I'm one of those lurkers... I'm not yet in possession of my own > > MythTV box, but I'm rather familiar with *nix and am working on > > plans (and finances) for an awesome HDTV MythTV box. When I get it > > done, it will be killer. (I am, however, somewhat of a newbie when > > it comes to x86 hardware. I've lived in RISC land too long...) > > > > I've been looking into the specifications for a MythTV system, and > > it occurred to me, it seems like an awesome application for a dual- > > CPU/core setup. HDTV decoding is pretty high-end in terms of system > > demands, so purchasing much more CPU than required for decent HDTV > > playback (~A64 3200, P4 3 GHz) gets really expensive, really fast, > > and it's simply impossible to purchase twice the CPU required for > > HDTV playback w/decent de-interlacing and various other functions. > > More CPU means you can do more post-processing, commercial > > flagging, maybe even background transcoding (with the proper nice > > values, of course). > > > > It seems like a dual-CPU system would be an excellent solution to > > this problem. Size the CPUs such that one CPU is able to > > comfortably handle the single largest realtime function (HDTV > > decoding), and then the other CPU is free so you can do some > > *awesome* de-interlacing, commercial flagging, etc without ever > > impacting the HDTV playback. The same effect would happen with dual > > core CPUs, but they are only getting started. Dual CPUs are here, > > today. I've done enough work with dual-CPU systems to realize that > > while they don't offer "double" the performance for traditional > > mono-threaded applications, for some multi-threaded applications > > that rely on realtime response (i.e. video playback), they're > > better than a CPU that's twice as fast. > > > > Does this make sense? I'm curious if anybody has tried this, and > > with what CPU/motherboard? Any thoughts as to some optimal hardware > > configurations (CPU speed/type/mobo)? What would my practical > > options for de-interlacing be with a setup like this? > > > > -Galen > > _______________________________________________ > > mythtv-users mailing list > > mythtv-users@mythtv.org > > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users > > > > > _______________________________________________ > mythtv-users mailing list > mythtv-users@mythtv.org > http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users > > > -- Thanks, Devan Lippman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________ mythtv-users mailing list mythtv-users@mythtv.org http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users