Mythtv Backend requirements to support streaming

[Justin Kim]

About how fast a backend is needed to support streaming to Torc?  I'm running a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and it doesn't seem up to supporting playback at any bitrate on my iPad.

On my iPad, I see:

- Constantly stuttering playback

- Unsynched audio

On my backend, I see mythtranscode pegging the CPU.  Right now, the only tuner I have on my BE is an HDPVR.  I've tried playing back both SD and HD recordings.  I've tried all streaming profile settings in Torc.  I'm running over a 5GHz N wireless network.

I'm guessing my problems may stem from an inadequate CPU on my backend.  How beefy a BE CPU is needed to support streaming out to Torc?  Could the recordings coming out of the HDPVR somehow be to blame?

Thanks for any help,

Justin

[Robert McNamara]

Hi Justin,

Yes, your issue is most likely the fact that your source content is from an HD-PVR.  Because the transcode requires a decode into raw frames and a subsequent encode, and because transcode cannot use the GPU to do the decode, all of it must be done in software.  Because the HD-PVR content is moderate to high bitrate H.264 at high resolutions, it's extremely taxing to decode, and then you add the encode on top of that... it's going to take serious CPU grunt to be able to handle that.  The HD-PVR is a great capture device, but in most cases people need to rely on the GPU to do the decode and that's not an option available to us when transcoding.

If your source content were MPEG-2 then you'd likely me able to manage at least medium bitrate and resolution streaming with that CPU.

Best,

Robert

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