[mythtv-users] Mac Frontend requirements for HD playback

[Craig Treleaven]

At 8:39 PM -0700 6/30/08, Daniel Segel wrote:
>I don't know the technical terms, but it's US Standard HDTV encoded with a pcHDTV-5000 card. Some of it is 1080i, some is 720p. Playback of either one is spotty - frames dropped every 2-3 seconds. I also tried running it in a window, but it didn't help so I think the problem is somewhere other than CPU limits.
>
>... decided to go back to Mac OS because I want to run Toast for playing back TiVo shows as well as MythTV, so I installed 10.4 and am trying that now.

OK, what version of Myth are you running?  If .21-fixes, what settings are you using for Playback?  (Utilities/setup->Setup->TV settings->Playback)  I do not understand how which Playback Profiles (3/10) are appropriate for OSX users but I have a working system using the Slim profile.

Are you using digital audio output?  Video frames are keyed to the audio so audio problems can lead to messed up video playback.

What does System Profiler report about your machine.  The Hardware Overview on this mini says:

Hardware Overview:

  Model Name:	Mac mini
  Model Identifier:	Macmini1,1
  Processor Name:	Intel Core Duo
  Processor Speed:	1.66 GHz
  Number Of Processors:	1
  Total Number Of Cores:	2
  L2 Cache:	2 MB
  Memory:	1 GB
  Bus Speed:	667 MHz

Do you have any other machines that CAN play these files smoothly?  At least in our area, the rain and heavy humid air has messed up my reception a couple of times recently.  Are you sure you have a clean recording?

BTW, other people have run Myth (both frontend and backend) on G5 machines.  There is a thread on AVSforum about folks running .20 and .20.2 -
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=842657

Craig