Mailing List Archive

Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content)
Hi,

I've searched around in the list and wiki but haven't found if someone is
running a recent graphics card to drive a 4K TV for both UI and content -
does one exist with good support for both MythTV and Linux? Preferably one
that can do 4K hardware acceleration.

Thanks,
Deyan
Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
On 1/31/21 3:24 PM, Deyan wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've searched around in the list and wiki but haven't found if someone is running a recent graphics card to drive a 4K TV for both UI and content - does one exist with good support for both MythTV and Linux? Preferably one that can do 4K hardware acceleration.

I'm running an nvidia 1650 on linux, doing 4k output. I occasionally use it for mythtv. It is actually overkill for what I use it for, but when I bought it, the choice of graphics cards supporting 4K was somewhat limited. Not quite sure if that falsl into 'rcent graphics card' or not.

Not quite sure about power consumption on it. Note that for 4K content, it depends on the format of that content - I suspect that any newer graphic card will have hardware support for the common video codecs used for 4K. But if you buy an older card (one of the earlier cards supporting 4K), it may not support the latest codecs.

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Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
On Sun, 31 Jan 2021 15:24:24 -0800, you wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I've searched around in the list and wiki but haven't found if someone is
>running a recent graphics card to drive a 4K TV for both UI and content -
>does one exist with good support for both MythTV and Linux? Preferably one
>that can do 4K hardware acceleration.
>
>Thanks,
>Deyan

For (relatively) low power, try looking for fanless cards, such as the
Nvidia GT1030s. I am not sure how good their 4k support is as I do
not have a 4k TV yet, but they do have at least basic 4k support.
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Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
On Mon, 1 Feb 2021 at 08:11, Stephen Worthington
<stephen_agent@jsw.gen.nz> wrote:
> For (relatively) low power, try looking for fanless cards, such as the
> Nvidia GT1030s. I am not sure how good their 4k support is as I do
> not have a 4k TV yet, but they do have at least basic 4k support.

As Stephen has said, I think the GT1030 is about the minimum for good
NVDEC decoding coverage (if you are looking to the future and moving
away from VDPAU), it is more than powerful enough and isn't a power
hungry monster. (I use one myself for testing). Older cards will
probably give you adequate decoding of just H264/MPEG2 (either with
VDPAU or NVDEC) if you are just looking for handling broadcast
material.

In terms of discrete cards, any more recent AMD card is probably more
than capable as well, is better supported under linux but they don't
seem to do small, low power cards like Nvidia (I'm using an RX 460
atm). I also use the integrated GPU with an AMD 3400G (VEGA 11?) and
that is more than capable. (Both work well with VAAPI but VDPAU does
not currently work with MythTV - not sure why).

Intel wise, any CPU with integrated graphics from Coffee Lake onwards
will give you good hardware video decoding coverage, though I'm not so
sure how well the older models would cope with running the UI at 4K.

The biggest issue I've found with 4K support is not the resolution but
the framerate - you need to check carefully whether your
TV/GPU/Motherboard combination will support 60fps at 4K (I got caught
out with my Intel CoffeeLake motherboard).

Looking to what might be of interest in the future:-

- I'm just testing GSync (Nvidia) and FreeSync (AMD) support in
master - both of which work well (DisplayPort connections only)
- HDR support is coming along (looks like only AMD and some SoCs) -
I'm getting my displays to enable HDR but can't turn it off at the
moment.
- there is ongoing work to enable DRM video rendering and the new
V4L2 request API - so fingers crossed the Pi4, for example, will be a
much more capable option for 0.32 (improved H264 handling and HEVC 4k
as well)

Regards
Mark
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Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
Thank you very much for the replies and the very detailed information from
Mark!

This gives me a base to start looking - I was considering the 3400G but
wasn't sure if that would be enough - I might start with it and then
consider discrete options later.

Regards,
Deyan

On Mon, Feb 1, 2021 at 1:28 AM Mark Kendall <mark.kendall@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 1 Feb 2021 at 08:11, Stephen Worthington
> <stephen_agent@jsw.gen.nz> wrote:
> > For (relatively) low power, try looking for fanless cards, such as the
> > Nvidia GT1030s. I am not sure how good their 4k support is as I do
> > not have a 4k TV yet, but they do have at least basic 4k support.
>
> As Stephen has said, I think the GT1030 is about the minimum for good
> NVDEC decoding coverage (if you are looking to the future and moving
> away from VDPAU), it is more than powerful enough and isn't a power
> hungry monster. (I use one myself for testing). Older cards will
> probably give you adequate decoding of just H264/MPEG2 (either with
> VDPAU or NVDEC) if you are just looking for handling broadcast
> material.
>
> In terms of discrete cards, any more recent AMD card is probably more
> than capable as well, is better supported under linux but they don't
> seem to do small, low power cards like Nvidia (I'm using an RX 460
> atm). I also use the integrated GPU with an AMD 3400G (VEGA 11?) and
> that is more than capable. (Both work well with VAAPI but VDPAU does
> not currently work with MythTV - not sure why).
>
> Intel wise, any CPU with integrated graphics from Coffee Lake onwards
> will give you good hardware video decoding coverage, though I'm not so
> sure how well the older models would cope with running the UI at 4K.
>
> The biggest issue I've found with 4K support is not the resolution but
> the framerate - you need to check carefully whether your
> TV/GPU/Motherboard combination will support 60fps at 4K (I got caught
> out with my Intel CoffeeLake motherboard).
>
> Looking to what might be of interest in the future:-
>
> - I'm just testing GSync (Nvidia) and FreeSync (AMD) support in
> master - both of which work well (DisplayPort connections only)
> - HDR support is coming along (looks like only AMD and some SoCs) -
> I'm getting my displays to enable HDR but can't turn it off at the
> moment.
> - there is ongoing work to enable DRM video rendering and the new
> V4L2 request API - so fingers crossed the Pi4, for example, will be a
> much more capable option for 0.32 (improved H264 handling and HEVC 4k
> as well)
>
> Regards
> Mark
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@mythtv.org
> http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
> MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
>
Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
---- On Mon, 01 Feb 2021 21:47:40 +0000 Deyan <mythtv@bektchiev.net> wrote ----



Thank you very much for the replies and the very detailed information from Mark!



This gives me a base to start looking - I was considering the 3400G but wasn't sure if that would be enough - I might start with it and then consider discrete options later.



Regards,

Deyan







bit late to the party but figured i'd also chime in.. I'm using an athlon 3000g for my BE, which uses vega3 graphics. this review shows it can do 4k@60fps 10bit HDR on both vp9 p2 and h265 GPU decoding without issue: https://androidpctv.com/review-amd-athlon-3000g-opinion/

icing on the cake for me is it's also a 35w cpu which can be passively cooled



while the 3000g is not on a FE that i can actually test, i have been playing with emby and it appears to even be able to handle transcoding a single 4k video down to 720p on CPU side. let alone GPU, but thats needs an emby licence which i havent bought.
Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
On 2/1/21 2:27 AM, Mark Kendall wrote:
> On Mon, 1 Feb 2021 at 08:11, Stephen Worthington
> <stephen_agent@jsw.gen.nz> wrote:
>> For (relatively) low power, try looking for fanless cards, such as the
>> Nvidia GT1030s. I am not sure how good their 4k support is as I do
>> not have a 4k TV yet, but they do have at least basic 4k support.
>
> As Stephen has said, I think the GT1030 is about the minimum for good
> NVDEC decoding coverage (if you are looking to the future and moving
> away from VDPAU), it is more than powerful enough and isn't a power
> hungry monster. (I use one myself for testing). Older cards will
> probably give you adequate decoding of just H264/MPEG2 (either with
> VDPAU or NVDEC) if you are just looking for handling broadcast
> material.

I recently purchased a 4k TV and am using a NVidia 1030 fanless GPU.
Xorg automatically went into 4k mode when I connected the new TV via
HDMI. My version of mythtv is not the latest (v30.0-58-g4761e7a6d4). I
am still using VDPAU decoding. CPU is i3-2100T.

That said, I have audio sync. issues for a few seconds, periodically.
Sometimes the GUI is laggy (MythCenter wide).

My purchase last year was the HDHR-4k model so I am hoping to be able to
play 4k content. I am pondering moving to a NUC10 and an external hard
drive enclosure for recordings.

Bob
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Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
> On 9 Mar 2021, at 2:34 am, Bob <mythtv@cox.net> wrote:
>
> On 2/1/21 2:27 AM, Mark Kendall wrote:
>> On Mon, 1 Feb 2021 at 08:11, Stephen Worthington
>> <stephen_agent@jsw.gen.nz> wrote:
>>> For (relatively) low power, try looking for fanless cards, such as the
>>> Nvidia GT1030s. I am not sure how good their 4k support is as I do
>>> not have a 4k TV yet, but they do have at least basic 4k support.
>> As Stephen has said, I think the GT1030 is about the minimum for good
>> NVDEC decoding coverage (if you are looking to the future and moving
>> away from VDPAU), it is more than powerful enough and isn't a power
>> hungry monster. (I use one myself for testing). Older cards will
>> probably give you adequate decoding of just H264/MPEG2 (either with
>> VDPAU or NVDEC) if you are just looking for handling broadcast
>> material.
>
> I recently purchased a 4k TV and am using a NVidia 1030 fanless GPU. Xorg automatically went into 4k mode when I connected the new TV via HDMI. My version of mythtv is not the latest (v30.0-58-g4761e7a6d4). I am still using VDPAU decoding. CPU is i3-2100T.
>
> That said, I have audio sync. issues for a few seconds, periodically. Sometimes the GUI is laggy (MythCenter wide).
>
> My purchase last year was the HDHR-4k model so I am hoping to be able to play 4k content. I am pondering moving to a NUC10 and an external hard drive enclosure for recordings.

What works well for me is a nuc10 i3 with 2T m.2 for system snd recordings and external usb-3 for movies.
It has thunderbolt, but I don't see any reasons to go 40G/s on a sata disk limited to 500 M/s.

Somebody, sorry to forget who, maybe JohnP, set me a link to a dance clip. I was having smoothness issues. Turns out that they were broadcast artifacts and play back is as smooth as you could want. (The so-you-can-dance clip was as extreme an example as you could hope to find) (but all this is 1080)
James
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Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
On 08/03/2021 23:37, James wrote:
>
>
>> On 9 Mar 2021, at 2:34 am, Bob <mythtv@cox.net> wrote:
>>
>> On 2/1/21 2:27 AM, Mark Kendall wrote:
>>> On Mon, 1 Feb 2021 at 08:11, Stephen Worthington
>>> <stephen_agent@jsw.gen.nz> wrote:
>>>> For (relatively) low power, try looking for fanless cards, such as the
>>>> Nvidia GT1030s. I am not sure how good their 4k support is as I do
>>>> not have a 4k TV yet, but they do have at least basic 4k support.
>>> As Stephen has said, I think the GT1030 is about the minimum for good
>>> NVDEC decoding coverage (if you are looking to the future and moving
>>> away from VDPAU), it is more than powerful enough and isn't a power
>>> hungry monster. (I use one myself for testing). Older cards will
>>> probably give you adequate decoding of just H264/MPEG2 (either with
>>> VDPAU or NVDEC) if you are just looking for handling broadcast
>>> material.
>>
>> I recently purchased a 4k TV and am using a NVidia 1030 fanless GPU. Xorg automatically went into 4k mode when I connected the new TV via HDMI. My version of mythtv is not the latest (v30.0-58-g4761e7a6d4). I am still using VDPAU decoding. CPU is i3-2100T.
>>
>> That said, I have audio sync. issues for a few seconds, periodically. Sometimes the GUI is laggy (MythCenter wide).
>>
>> My purchase last year was the HDHR-4k model so I am hoping to be able to play 4k content. I am pondering moving to a NUC10 and an external hard drive enclosure for recordings.
>
> What works well for me is a nuc10 i3 with 2T m.2 for system snd recordings and external usb-3 for movies.
> It has thunderbolt, but I don't see any reasons to go 40G/s on a sata disk limited to 500 M/s.
>
> Somebody, sorry to forget who, maybe JohnP, set me a link to a dance clip. I was having smoothness issues. Turns out that they were broadcast artifacts and play back is as smooth as you could want. (The so-you-can-dance clip was as extreme an example as you could hope to find) (but all this is 1080)
> James

I think that was me posted the dance clip, and yes seconded: you
couldn't wish for better playback than from these little devices. I
recently found some H264 (High 10) videos which the graphics chip
doesn't support and they played perfectly even though decoded on the CPU.

I use mine just as a frontend. It sounds like you are running it as
front and backend combined. Interesting. What sources do you have and
what capture devices?
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Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
> On 9 Mar 2021, at 11:52 pm, Bob <mythtv@cox.net> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks for the response. What enclosure are you using for the external HDD? I suspect I need aluminum or metal of some sort since the disk will always be spinning (heat issues, I live in Arizona). I currently have WD 5400RPM drive so it should get too hot. Thanks.

It is not a WD passport but a seagate 'same thing' of 5T ie a little plastic box and heat is no problem

Perth can get hot. I turn on the aircon at 33C inside (um 90F) (outside 40) and smartmon shows the temp in 40s

James
Re: Current generation low-power graphics card to use for 4K TV (both MythTV frontent and content) [ In reply to ]
> On 9 Mar 2021, at 7:48 pm, Paul Gardiner <lists@glidos.net> wrote:
>
> I think that was me posted the dance clip, and yes seconded: you couldn't wish for better playback than from these little devices. I recently found some H264 (High 10) videos which the graphics chip doesn't support and they played perfectly even though decoded on the CPU.
>
> I use mine just as a frontend. It sounds like you are running it as front and backend combined. Interesting. What sources do you have and what capture devices?

Indeed it was thee, sorry to forget.
My nuc is the backend, I occasionally do some frontend stuff on it. I mostly use (soto voce) my mac laptop as a frontend (and have other linux machines that can do FE.

[sandypit] /home/jam [1001]% lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bc2:ab28 Seagate RSS LLC
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 2040:8265 Hauppauge
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 2040:0265 Hauppauge
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0aaa Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I am about 10 km from transmitters with a (professionaly installed) external ant and yet the Haupauge are by far the best tuners that I've tried (pixellation on HD). I've also tried the jellyfish samples and the nuc does not falter till 80MHz HVEC

Quite OT I like mac hardware. Linux does not run well well on the macbook pro, but linux VMs work very well.
Sadly (from an idealogical viewpoint) Parallels runs much quicker than Virtualbox. If I have significant work to do eg build myrh (from src) then the VM on the laptop is the most power machine I have

James