Ubuntu Netbook release as Media Center?

[Brian Cluff]

Stephen wrote:
> I have a computer i want to build as a media center, however i am
> trying to decide what will work best, the TV i have is a normal non HD
> TV and any resolutions other than 640x480 go to blur city. however at
> this resolution i lose any function because a majority of dialog boxes
> are to big.

I've found that I needed to run most video cards at a higher resolution 
that what the TV requires so that it would end up looking good on the 
TV.  Try running you computer and 1024X768 or higher and see if that not 
only solves you problem, but causes your video to look better.

> Thinking about this i was wondering if the netbook release of Ubuntu
> would be counter productive or not.

A netbook optimized install won't really gain you much.  They still run 
the same software, and they mostly have resolutions of 1024x600, so 
dialogs will be too big on a 640x480 display.

> optionally if anyone has any other ideas id be willing to experiment with them.
> 
> the 2 computers i am rolling about are a VIA epia system or a full
> desktop (thats really overkill for a media center)

If you are going to do a mythtv setup, I will add in these 2 cents for 
my experience.
The epia motherboards don't have enough horse power to playback HD 
video, so anything you record will have to either be pulled in via a 
standard definition capture card or have the HD video transcoded to a 
standard definition format before it can be watched.
Not being able to watch a show for a few hours was the reason I retired 
all my epia based mythtv frontends.

Brian Cluff