...I have been noticing a lot of digital set top boxes that have started to pop up. Lots of networking hardware companies are making all sorts of devices that are designed to be client systems to multimedia servers and services.

Currently, there is no such device for the Mythtv community. Its ironic because that is exactly what Mythtv is perfect for: its build on a client/server architecture.

There has been success on building front-end only systems that serve as set-top boxes. The original XBox can be modded into a front end. The Mac Mini can also be used. Then there are people who roll their own front ends using Mini-itx based computers that can be built to look like small set-top boxes and even home theater equipment.

While these solutions work well, I'd like to see some real dedicated hardware specifically designed to be a front-end client to Mythtv. No Xbox modding, no Mac Minis, no hand built PC's. Real multimedia appliances that are designed from the ground up to work with Mythtv.

I started some digging, and I ran across an integrated processor from Sigma called the SMP3600. It combines a 300 Mhz MIPS CPU with dedicated DSP's, various video decoders, Video processing, and IO all in one chip.

Using the processor as a base, its very possible to design a set-top box that has the look and feel of a DVD player, but is really no more than a Mythtv front end. The processors archiecture supports h.264, mpeg2, and can be used as a processing system for HD-DVD and Blue-ray DVD players as well. Imagine...an HD-DVD or Blue-ray DVD player that doubles as a Mythtv front-end with support for H.264 and has build in wired and wireless networking. It would be the ultimate compliment to any existing Mytthv system.

Details on the processor can be found here: http://www.sigmadesigns.com/public/Prod ... eries.html

nice idea.. but your talking about a HUGE amount of work to create something that can already be done with a XBOX or PC as you have said..

I run XBOX frontends. I really dont see what the big deal is with modding an xbox to run homebrew software, its dead easy. I think the best frontend that looks like it belongs in your TV cabinet is an xbox at this stage.

I too have an XBox running as a front end. While to solution works, and is very cheap (Xboxes can be found retail for less than $150), its not exactly what I'm talking about.

The XBox gets the job done, but its missing far too many components to be taken seriously as a true dedicated front end. For one, you have to mod the XBox to use it as a front end. Now a dayz, you can do this with a software only method that allows you to avoid even opening the Xbox. Its a very easy modd to do, but this is still something that some people won't feel comfortable doing.

Also, the Xbox offers no hardware acceleration for any video processing. Coupled with its 700mhz processor, and you get one slow front end. Good enough to get the job done...true. But I wouldn't dare to watch an HD recording on an Xbox. In contrast, Mini-itx based PC's have faster processors, and MPEG2 decoding on the hardware. The Mini-itx spec is great for building a front end that is both faster than the Xbox, more quiet, smaller, and more home theater ergonomics to boot!

The only thing missing from the Mini-itx based solutions is lack of support for HD codecs. Recording an HD recording in MPEG2 will probably be about 10gig/hr at 1080. Thats quite a big recording. Standard definition MPEG2 recording are about 2 gigs per hr. Put into perspective, recording HD will cut your storage capacity by a factor of 5 (80%).

Unless you want to upgrade your mythtv setup to a multi-terabyte storage, your only other solution is to transcode HD recording to something like H.264 that will preserve quality but keep file sizes small. But, if you do trascode to MPEG4, or XVID, or something else, your going to run into problems playing the content on most frontends. Mini-itx doest have decoding support for advanced codecs like H.264 and XVID. Which means that decoding of that spec will be done on the processor. Solutions like the Xbox offer no hardware accelerated codecs...which means your going to be decoding on a 700mhz Pentium 3!

You can all but forget about HD on the Xbox! And as HD recording becomes more and more mainstream within the Mythtv community, were going to find ourselves in a solution where there are no good front-end solutions other than rolling your own dedicated PC for the task. This processor from Sigma may be a solution to the potential problem.