Thin client recommendations

[medic29]

I have been looking at the option to do away with my MVP and go to a PC setup, and have been drawn to the thin client options and many questions.
Some people on the MythTV forums praise these units because some only have flash memory, no moving parts, no noise and are very small. But when moving to the realm of thin clients questions such as how fast does the proc speed need to be, what are the other hardware recommendations/minimums needed, what kind of cardbus or usb TV out device can be used (and well supported!) with gbpvr come to mind and I haven't a clue.
I do have a SFF IBM computer I can turn into a client but that would add to the cluttered AV area under my TV plus the extra heat and noise (not that the SFF makes a lot of noise).

Any words of wisdom about this?

Thanks
Jeremy

[ilovejedd]

Thin clients are sufficient for standard definition content but with all the additions necessary to be able to connect it to a TV, you're probably better off sticking with the MVP.

[medic29]

By my searching it does seem the MVP is easier to stick with as you pointed out.
But I am curious, what kind of hardware is available to connect thin clients to a TV? I haven't found much but I am interested in what is out there.

[martint123]

I used (and still do on a small TV) an MVP and they take a lot of beating.
Personally, I'd prefer them to a client PC of any form.

For HD content I've gone for a PCH A100 http://www.popcornhour.com which has excellent and growing support with gbpvr.

[medic29]

When I first looked into the gbpvr I saw the A100 model but the prices were still quite high. Right now I have a 32" Sony WEGA TV. This flatscreen model sure does give a awesome picture. The one thing I find irritating is the flicker control. I read about the higher end TV’s sometimes doing better without it on, but in comparison from a regular TV channel the MVP display is about a 20% drop in quality when set on high. Even worse when I turned it completely off.
I’ve messed around with some of the early all-in-wonder cards and wasn’t all that impressed with the quality of the TV out signal (refresh rate, screen dimensions). I was hoping cards such as the PVR-350 or similar had improved significantly and would provide an image as clear as when I see now.

When you said it was easier to hook up a MVP, were you thinking along the lines of having to purchase a additional TV out video card plus the hassle of a full PC setup?

[ilovejedd]

With all of the thin clients' limitations, the only way I can think of to connect them to a TV without VGA or DVI input is through a converter such as this one. Computers aren't exactly designed with interlaced displays in mind, hence, as you've experienced, getting a glitch free output to your TV can be a time-consuming and frustrating process. That's why it's easier to go with a Popcorn Hour or MediaMVP off the bat. There's a very newly released motherboard designed for the HTPC market that has TV-out built-in - the MSI MS-7411. It's also available as a bundle with a 5.1ch or 7.1ch sound card. Definitely more expensive than a Popcorn Hour or MVP but I'm very interested to see how it performs. It looks to be just the motherboard I was looking for.

[martint123]

When you said it was easier to hook up a MVP, were you thinking along the lines of having to purchase a additional TV out video card plus the hassle of a full PC setup?

Exactly. Size, cost, noise (or silence) and the MVP, in my mind, integrates with gbpvr better than a pc client.

With SD material on our 37" LG LCD, the PCH does and excellent job at upscaling.

[medic29]

Good gracious! 2x audio out with a video, firewire, HDMI subwoofer? and component out. I am also curious on how well this will work.