FrontEnd

Keybinding Markup

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title: FrontEnd
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## Frontends

### Main

*   [Apple TV][1] - Old living room frontend 
*   [Xios DS][2] - New frontend

### Extra

*   [PS3][3] - Extra 
*   [N770][4] - Portable frontend

## Requirements

*   HDMI/DVI out 
*   5.1 audio output 
    *   Connect to [Z5500][5] (Optical or Digital Co-ax) 
*   1080p video playback 
*   mini PCI slot? (for BCM90015) 
*   Silent 
*   Integrated IR? 
*   More RAM than the ATV1?

* * *

## Hardware

[Recommendations thread][8]

*   Mac Mini 
*   Via Epia - Low Power for SD (P3 600MHz) 
*   [Apple TV][1] 
*   ASRock Vision 3D 
*   Zotac 
*   [Boxee Box][10] - closed hardware, GPL violations 
*   [Intel NUC][11] 
*   [Shuttle XH61V][12]

| Product                                     | Platform | HD    | IR  | Audio         | miniPCI | Price £    |
|:------------------------------------------- | -------- | ----- | --- | ------------- | ------- | ---------- |
| [AppleTV][1] 1                              | x86      | 1080p | yes | optical       | yes     | ebay £100  |
| [Celeron NUC][13]                           | x86      | 1080p | no  | HDMI          | yes     | [142+][14] |
| [Zotac ID80][15]                            | x86      | 1080p | USB | optical       | yes     | ~300       |
| Zotac ID17                     | x86      | 1080p | USB | optical       | yes     | [190][17]  |
| Lenovo Q190                                 | x86      | 1080p | no  | optical       | no      | [158][18]  |
| Acer Revo L80                               | x86      | 1080p | no  | spdif         | 2       | [190][19]  |
| G-Box Midnight                              | arm      | 1080p | yes | hdmi          | no      | [70][20]   |
| Nano1 Slim+[1][21]                          | arm      | 1080p | yes | hdmi          | no      | [50][22]   |
| Pivos XIOS DS                               | arm      | 1080p | yes | hdmi          | no      | [130][23]  |
| SolidRun CuBox i2 | arm      | 1080p | yes | hdmi, optical | no      | [$80][26]  |

1 Recent Pivos linux builds locked to XIOS hardware. Not compatible with Sumvision or Geniatech boxes [⇑][27]

### Cases

<http://avrio.co.uk/acatalog/New_cases.html>

*   GA-L01 mini-ITX

* * *

## Bandwith and CPU Power

### CPU Power

*   HD needs at least P4 3GHz 
*   XvMC necessary for HD 
*   GeForce FX5200 fanless and supports XvMC 
    *   Allows Chromakey hack and has colour and contrast adjustment not present on 6-series

### CPU Demand

| **Task**                                    | **Min CPU**                  |
||
| MPEG2 SD, Play DVD             | 600MHz                       |
| MPEG2 HD                       | 1GHz AMD + XvMC |
| DivX, XviD, H.264 | ?                            |
| MPEG4 HD                       |                              |
| Rip DVD                                     |                              |

* * *

## Links

<http://tvease.net/>   
<http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/pages/products/data_hvr1100.html>   
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauppauge\_Computer\_Works#Table\_of\_products][35]   
<http://ivtvdriver.org/index.php/Supported_hardware>   
[MythTV performance Hacks][36]   
[DVB-T coverage checker][37]   
<http://parker1.co.uk/mythtv_silent.php>   
<http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~mfgalizi/epia/index.html> - VIA EPIA Compact Flash frontend   
[HD Hardware requirements][38]   
<http://www.mythic-beasts.com/resources/appletv/>   
<http://www.apple.com/uk/appletv/>   
<http://www.apple.com/uk/appletv/specs.html>   
<http://www.mactel-linux.org/wiki/Dmesg_appletv>   
<http://www.wikiappletv.com/>   
[Best TV Box for XBMC][39]

[1]: /AppleTV/AppleTV
 [2]: XiosDS
 [3]: PS3
 [4]: N770
 [5]: Z5500
 [8]: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94199
 [10]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxee_Box
 [11]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Unit_of_Computing
 [12]: http://www.shuttle.eu/products/slim/xh61v/overview/
 [13]: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=167464
 [14]: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-next-unit-of-computing-kit-celeron-intel-qs77-c847-11ghz-2xhdmi-ddr3-sodimm-5xusb-20
 [15]: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=165797
 [17]: http://www.ambros.co.uk/builds/1742/ambros-zbox-id17-intel-system.html
 [18]: http://www.i-store-online.com/product_info.php?currency=GBP&language=en&info=p73609_lenovo-ideacentre-q190-ve73bge-freedos.html
 [19]: http://www.ebuyer.com/395449-acer-revo-l80-nettop-pc-dt-smcek-003
 [20]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linux-XBMC-G-Box-Midnight-Streaming/dp/B00CAT7XZY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_computers_8#productDescription
 [21]: #fn1_1
 [22]: http://www.ebuyer.com/502270-sumvision-cyclone-nano-slim-media-player-black-edition-cyclonenanoslim-rm
 [23]: http://www.xiosds.co.uk/
 [26]: http://www.solid-run.com/product/cubox-i2/
 [27]: #fnr1_1
 [35]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauppauge_Computer_Works#Table_of_products
 [36]: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2055198,00.asp
 [37]: http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/coverage.html
 [38]: http://www.linuxis.us/linux/media/howto/linux-htpc/determining_your_needs.html
 [39]: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=167811

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