imho, the board of the Popcorn Hour, which is used in various forms in different boxes, has a lot of potential as a media director. HDi for example bundles it with a Blu Ray drive in a nice enclosure (http://hdi.co.il/fullhd_players/). And the pure board (without any enclosure), can be had for fairly little money, 250EUR, iirc. You have HDMI, Component, S/P-DIF, USB and more connectors available.
Quote from: posde on April 12, 2009, 01:12:44 PM
imho, the board of the Popcorn Hour, which is used in various forms in different boxes, has a lot of potential as a media director. HDi for example bundles it with a Blu Ray drive in a nice enclosure (http://hdi.co.il/fullhd_players/). And the pure board (without any enclosure), can be had for fairly little money, 250EUR, iirc. You have HDMI, Component, S/P-DIF, USB and more connectors available.
Yep the B-110 board looks interesting - what do others think? Thom? (**this should be broken out into a new thread Colin**)
http://www.digitalreviews.net/reviews/video/popcorn-for-all-syabas-popcorn-hour-a-110-and-b-110-network-media-tanks-rev.html (http://www.digitalreviews.net/reviews/video/popcorn-for-all-syabas-popcorn-hour-a-110-and-b-110-network-media-tanks-rev.html)
http://www.popcornforum.de/showthread.php?tid=2792
have not checked if all bits are there to deploy on the box itself. The big Q, can we utilize the SMP8635 properly? Given the history I doubt.. otherwise it would fit our needs..
br, Hari
Reading thru the posted thread, it seems as if they are still not opensourcing the really relevant bits. :(
Quote from: posde on April 13, 2009, 02:06:40 PM
Reading thru the posted thread, it seems as if they are still not opensourcing the really relevant bits. :(
Hmmm...right. The driver for the SMP8635 is the key for us... this chip would give us an incredible Video capability...
Andrew
Quote from: totallymaxed on April 13, 2009, 02:45:20 PM
Quote from: posde on April 13, 2009, 02:06:40 PM
Reading thru the posted thread, it seems as if they are still not opensourcing the really relevant bits. :(
Hmmm...right. The driver for the SMP8635 is the key for us... this chip would give us an incredible Video capability...
[hint]Maybe a company should try to get into contact with SigmaDesign, and checkout what needs to happen...[/hint]
:)
no doubt that we can get a SDK, the Q is can we live with the conditions.. we've been there with the via driver already.
br, Hari
Well, we have other closed source stuff in LMCE already. Look at the USB-UIRT for example. Yes, closed source is not perfect. And I think, one should look at the SDKs rules, to see, how much we would depend on SigmaDesign, if we would need support for later kernels etc.
Quote from: posde on April 13, 2009, 02:58:08 PM
Quote from: totallymaxed on April 13, 2009, 02:45:20 PM
Quote from: posde on April 13, 2009, 02:06:40 PM
Reading thru the posted thread, it seems as if they are still not opensourcing the really relevant bits. :(
Hmmm...right. The driver for the SMP8635 is the key for us... this chip would give us an incredible Video capability...
[hint]Maybe a company should try to get into contact with SigmaDesign, and checkout what needs to happen...[/hint]
:)
Hint taken ;-)
Andrew
Quote from: posde on April 13, 2009, 03:56:41 PM
Well, we have other closed source stuff in LinuxMCE already. Look at the USB-UIRT for example. Yes, closed source is not perfect. And I think, one should look at the SDKs rules, to see, how much we would depend on SigmaDesign, if we would need support for later kernels etc.
Hmm... I guess the B110 is completely re-flashable... ie without any limitations?
Andrew
you'll get proprietary bits in the SDK to utilize the GPU. That's what I'm talking about. The base system itself is not the real issue. But I'd be very interested to see what's "in the box" :-)
br, Hari
hari sounds like someone who is looking for a sponsor of a popcorn hour and the SDK :)
Quote from: posde on April 13, 2009, 05:31:51 PM
hari sounds like someone who is looking for a sponsor of a popcorn hour and the SDK :)
Well we're prepared to sponsor a unit or two....but I'd like to make sure we all agree that we have chosen the best board. Of course we could choose one and find its the wrong choice...that always a risk...a risk we just have to accept. But lets spend another week making sure we have made a good choice.
Any other candidate boards?
Andrew
This will give a whole new meaning to "Hari gets his popcorn"...
but seriously, I am excited to see this process. I have been dying to upgrade a few MD's and something along these lines would be great.
before we get demo boards I'd say we check the sdk conditions. If we have to sign NDAs and manage a private closed source branch for it, I'd pass. But I fear there might be no other license option in that area. The moko guys tried hard to get a chip with open 3d specs. Maybe there is sth from Intel, they have their PXA/.. stuff and a good GPU with open drivers..
br, Hari
Quote from: hari on April 13, 2009, 05:45:33 PM
before we get demo boards I'd say we check the sdk conditions. If we have to sign NDAs and manage a private closed source branch for it, I'd pass. But I fear there might be no other license option in that area. The moko guys tried hard to get a chip with open 3d specs. Maybe there is sth from Intel, they have their PXA/.. stuff and a good GPU with open drivers..
br, Hari
ok Hari i agree with the sdk conditions & NDA's etc etc. Re PXA the CPU/IO etc looks fine but the GPU side looks a little light weight tom me? They dont seem to have anything like the Sigma's capabilities? On the other hand if they have open drivers and SDK's then maybe this balances out? Whats you take on this?
i'm still telling you guys, the omap with ti's DSPs may be the right fit here. See the BeagleBoard.. http://www.beagleboard.org/
-Thom
Quote from: tschak909 on April 13, 2009, 07:00:54 PM
i'm still telling you guys, the omap with ti's DSPs may be the right fit here. See the BeagleBoard.. http://www.beagleboard.org/
-Thom
Thom...read my earlier post... this is a discussion...nothings decided yet.
Don't just 'tell' us... 'sell your case' on this board. Does it have fully accelerated & open drivers for full HD playback etc?
Andrew
Googleing, I found this thread: http://markmail.org/message/cav3xyrlanfuu773 - Way over my head, but maybe helpful tidbits of information.
the beagleboard looks quite interesting, yes.
Quote from: posde on April 13, 2009, 07:51:41 PM
Googleing, I found this thread: http://markmail.org/message/cav3xyrlanfuu773 - Way over my head, but maybe helpful tidbits of information.
Hmmm... but is 720p enough? Should we not look to target a board that can deliver 1080p?
Andrew
Quote from: totallymaxed on April 13, 2009, 08:58:45 PM
Should we not look to target a board that can deliver 1080p?
That was the point I was trying to get across ;)
imho, whatever energy is used to get a working MD on an ARM-like plattform, should be directed towards a fully 1080p capable solution.