The new Freesat based HD Mythbox specification
The BBC have announced that they are to launch the new Freesat service in the second quarter of 2008. This service is similar to the existing Freeview service whereby it's free and doesn't cost anything to view - however it is received through a satellite dish and more importantly it will carry High Definition programmes. It is also an ideal platform to build HD programming on as it has plenty of capacity unlike Freeview over terrestrial. But HD content uses H.264 encoding, requiring hardware capable of decoding and outputting over a DVI or HDMI connection.
Another recent development is the introduction of Blu-ray and HD-DVD content, both of which are also encoded in either H.264 or VC-1. Given that more and more films will be made available in these formats, it would be nice to have the capability to play one (or both) of these formats. At the same time as Blu-ray and HD-DVD, HD TV's have started becoming the norm, with their High Definition functionality just waiting to be utilised. Hence, there are many good reasons to consider a specification for an all new Mythbox v2, or MythboxHD.
Below is a constantly updated list of possible components that are being considered for the MythboxHD, along with any respective links. This list is likely to change over time.
Motherboard/CPU:
The motherboard and CPU needs to provide enough processing power to decode H.264 and VC-1 streams contained in the Freesat tranmissions, and on Blu-ray/HD-DVD content. At the same time, it will need to decode AC-3 streams and record. We don't want the new MythboxHD to struggle (which was sometimes the case with MPEG-4 content with the original Mythbox) so a little more power would be welcomed.
- Intel Flying Creek DG45FC - This board is Mini-ITX based yet packs the new X4500HD graphics chipset which supports hardware decoding of H.264 and VC-1, and will output the result via the built in DVI and HDMI ports. Support for Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad processors with 1333MHz bus will mean we have plenty of power - albeit possibly at the cost of requiring a fan. Optical SPDIF and Gigabit LAN connectors are provided. See this reference.
- Jetway J9F2 Extreme - The Jetway is another Mini-ITX based motherboard, and also has both DVI and HDMI outputs. It supports Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile processors with a 667MHz bus, which includes the T5500, T5600, T7200, T7400, and T7600. Video support is provided by the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 chipset, which according to Intel's website can carry out 'High Definition Content Decode' (presumably hardware decoding of H.264 content). Unfortunately this board doesn't provide any SPDIF output port, so you would be limited to using the HDMI port for digital audio output. However, since this board uses the mobile CPU version's, the power usage would be lower than that of the Flying Creek board. See here for details.
TV Card
The TV card will need to receive Freesat transmissions and be capable of handling the HD channels as well as the SD ones.
- Hauppauge WinTv Nova-S2 HD DVB-S2 & DV Tuner - Being a DVB-S2 tuner, this card supports the reception of both High Definition and Standard Definition services. See the full spec here and the product to purchase from dabs.com here.
Wireless Card
The wireless card will not only need to be supported by Linux, but will also need to support operating as an access point. Since there are draft 802.11n based cards now available (and it's highly likely that a firmware upgrade would bring the card to a final 802.11n standard) one of these newer cards would be preferred.
- Linksys Wireless-N Notebook Adapter WPC300N - Having a PC Card interface makes this card compact and tidy, and removes the need for more than one PCI slot. It also currently has partial support by the Madwifi driver, with AP support and 802.11n support yet to be added. This driver is slated for inclusion in the kernel (see here). See the dabs product page here.
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