CPU Horsepower Needed for HD on MVP?

[Taddeusz]

How much CPU is needed to be able to transcode HD in realtime for the MVP? I want to get an HDHR before the HD media extender comes out. I have a few H.264 QuickTime files that I've tried playing. The 720p files mostly play with quite a bit of stuttering. The 1080p files are totally unwatchable.

My SageTV server is fairly heafty from what I've seen from others here. It's an AMD X2 3800, 2GB RAM and is connected with a gigabit ethernet connection. The CPU is only hitting around 50-55% while transcoding the 720p files but is still stuttering. I've since changed the function of the SageTV box to favor background tasks and cache since I'm using it strictly as a server. Still there is no change in playability of HD content. If this is any indicator of how the HDHR content will play I may hold off until the HD extender comes out.

A side problem I've been having with the MVP extender is that the HD content that I have doesn't play in the correct aspect ratio. Widescreen DVD's (usually) play fine and are in the correct aspect ratio. Although, I had a weird thing with one of the extras on the Heathers DVD last night. All other HD content I try to play is stretched to fit the screen and the extender software doesn't seem to have any option to actively adjust the aspect ratio like the SageTV client does. It's as if they expect you to have an HDTV if you're going to play HD content. Which I don't yet.

Any ideas would be great.

[flavius]

There are several threads in this forum. Is reducing transcoding quality an option? Can you overclock?

[Taddeusz]

I don't want to overclock. I want something that's rock solid not something that will blow up in my face from overheating months down the road. It needs to run 24/7. Taking risks with overclocking just isn't an option.

I am considering upgrading the server but for now that's what I have.

[Fluffdaddy]

Yes, some of us are not overclockers. I also like my hardware stock

[garyellis]

I seemed to have had the same problems you do....I used a Nvidia 6200 TC video card. I switched to a Nvidia 6600GT OC and the problems went away on my main TV. I don't play anything above 720P, but it works fine - no stuttering. Then when I upgraded to 6.1.18, the transcoding to the MVP started working. Before the MVP would have audio and video out of sync..Now the HD to MVP is fine with the new release of Sage.

Gary Ellis

[Taddeusz]

I have the latest version of SageTV and I have stopped using my server as a client since I bought the MVP.