I think some of the hardware you picked is a little off base. Much of what you picked is already obsolete!

For example, I don't think AMD even makes the Duron any more. And why use an old, crippled half-chip.

If heat is an issue - and we know it is, then one of the mobile chips Turion or Pentium-M are far better choices. And the next generation of both those due out this summer smaller process - thus cooler still.

And why a separate video card? That just adds to part count, assembly, and heck even the need for a bus. There are lots of budget priced boards with much better video than Mx4000 out now. For example on the AMD side the Gforce 6100 - 6150 chipsets.

And perhaps consider utilizing one the USB ports and a dirt cheep thumb drive as your boot/local storage device. Someone's going to point out the "limited number of writes" but the CF card would have the same problem.

Go back and speck things with low end parts currently in production (but perhaps not bottom of the line already on the way out). Bet you'll come out with higher performance, lower heat, and equivalent or better cost.

I think you missed the processor detail I posted further down:



However, I have since talked to AMD in detail about volume purchasing and my notes are a bit inaccurate, the 1.4Mhz does still have a fan, the 1Ghz is now fanless.

That being said, they are positioning the Sempron family for embedded apps going forward.

As far as the dedicated card or AGP slot is concerned, it allows for much higher powered 3D cards to be introduced/upgraded if a gaming opportunity emerges. You're right, the embedded chips are an option as well, although current driver support and feedback regarding those chipsets has been somewhat negative.

There was a strong interest in making a number of (somewaht) legacy games avaiable on the box, portentially up to the Call of Duty 1 franchise, which runs quite smoothly on such a box, although not that well under linux...

-Jeff

PS - The thumb drive suggestion is an intersting one, and as it relates to performance I have a Kingston Data Traveller II+ here that I can copy a full ISO to in less than 2 minutes, so I don't think writes are an issue. What is a potential issue is getting an internal USB slot sorted out.

I think the overall lack of interest in your post has to do with the list of applications you propose for this box. I know I wouldn't pay even $5/mo more on a cable bill for such a box. Those apps are becoming too common on cell phones and are easy to surpass on a full-powered laptop.

Has your company made up its mind that there is a market for these services and is determined to offer them no matter what? If not, it seems to me that there would be more of a market at the high end. Offer your customers Mythic Dragons or comparable with features equivalent to MythTv (or just running MythTv) and I'd bet you'll suddenly see people shelling out all kinds of cash for such an option.

The difficulty with MythTv right now is setup and installation (and other occasional performance glitches) and if the cable company was handling setup, installation, and maybe hired a few coders to improve MythTv where it needs it, then THAT would really be something.

Brian

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3 pcHDTV cards & Winegard SS-2000 Square Shooter Antenna, ethernet over power on R7.

Our market has significantly different demographics from the US market.

[...]


If not the US, which country's cable subscribers might benefit from the feedback provided to you in this thread?

_________________
KnoppMyth R5.5
MythiC Dragon v2.0
Join the KnoppMyth Frappr!

We are located in the West Indies in the Caribbean.

One thing that I read as a downside: The content is stored on the cable co's servers. Part of the reason I prefer MythTV to Tivo et al is I know that nobody is harvesting my viewing habits for free.

<begin rant>
My personal information regarding viewing habits has value, as is proven by Janet Jacksons super bowl breast and the comment from Tivo that: "It was the most rewound segment ever". Tivo is harvesting personal information AND they have the nerve to charge for a subscription. In my opinion that is wrong. They should either provide listing info for free OR charge for a subscription. (Of course I also think non-free TV - cable - should have no commercials - but that's another rant). I also believe zap2it has done it just right: They require a simple survey to be filled out quaterly, and in exchange provide free listings. This is a highly equitable solution. Google is another example: Tons of free services, but they are very clear about farming your information in exchange for the service. Cable company based content opens the door for more Tivo like information abuse.

I think your goal of using an open hardware platform is to be commended, and if coupled with open software could also help to prevent similar abuses, but cable co server only content gives me the willies.
<end rant>

Ranting aside, I agree with a prior post (even if the HD was misinterpreted) that a new STB really must support High Definition content. I'm not clear if the planned box would only do YouTube like stuff, but if so, it doesn't sound attractive.

I think the MVP is an excellent example of how much better the STB arena could be: It's cheap, it used standard bootp protocols, and Hauppage provides a little help (in the form of information) to the open source community (excluding the low level decoder details which may or may not be copyright related...). The point being, the little powerPC w/ a dozen meg of ram makes a pretty darn good MythTV client. If the MVP hardware/spec were totally open it could be even better.

Maybe another approach to design this is to figure out what it would take to build an "MVP" like box (fanless, cheap) that supports HighDef playback using standard PC hardware? Such a device could be configurable to use the cable co servers for storage (w/ appropriate disclosures of infomation use...) or to use a myth backend in ones own home, or BOTH. Then, if the cable co's servers really can provide better service, then best solution would bubble up to the top....

Any developments on this?

Feel free to pm me with news on this,
I know several other similar strategy+tech
parallel efforts around the globe (not us)