[PLUG] Media Frontend Hardware

[Rich Freeman <r-plug@thefreemanclan.net>]

Well, I'm suddenly stuck without a mythtv frontend, which isn't a very
family-friendly situation.  Apparently the hardware I'm running is
about to lose support from MythTV in the next version anyway, so
repairs don't make sense right now.

My main requirements are:
1.  Runs mythtv - ideally easily.
2.  Supports composite or S-Video out.  (This is for a standard-dev TV.)
3.  Can play a reasonable variety of standard-def codecs (ie not too
dependent on hardware decoding).
4.  Is cheap.
5.  Ideally doesn't require mail-order, but I realize my options are
limited there.

I'm open to alternative suggestions as well.  (I took a quick look at
XBMC - not sure I'd use it as a substitute for a frontend, but I might
be talked into that.)

The old front-end is an EPIA M10000 with 512MB of RAM configured for
PXE boot.  The problem is that the VIA drivers are obsolete, so even
if I get it working it will quickly become unsupported (mythtv is
dropping the drivers).

If I were willing to switch to XBMC then hacking an Apple TV might be
an option, but jailbreaking one apparently requires a Mac, which I
don't have.  Also, it looks like the typical XBMC install goes into a
submenu, and mythtv itself gets buried in submenus, and I'm not
convinced that my family is going to figure out how to navigate
through 12 layers of submenus (especially since my wife can't read
very well at the moment due to a recent stroke).

So, any suggestions?

Rich
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