ATV1 vs Mac Mini PPC 1.25 Ghz
#1
I have been testing various OSes and installations of XBMC on various platforms. I put together some stats for those that may be interested in how the Mac Mini G4s stack up to Apple TV (Gen 1) in performance.

How I got this...
I ran Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu 10.10) on the Apple TV and used the system profiler and Benchmark. This was a few weeks ago.

Today I was running (a "Minted" version of, and thus the Green) Ubuntu 10.10 PPC on the Mac Mini 1.25 Ghz and since it is nearly the same OS I took the opportunity to conduct the tests.

I think overall we can see how the 1.25 G4 stacks up to the Celeron in the ATV1 . I estimate you would need a 30% faster CPU to get ATV1 performance , that is assuming all else is equal. More than likely however as the Mac Minis evolved there were performance enhancements in the hardware that could change this 30% speed estimate

Image

I still believe however that after having seen the performance difference of XBMC on linux vs OSX on the ATV1 that the Mac Mini G4 1.25 GHZ is viable for streaming SD content IF it were on Linux!
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#2
Don't forget to measure the GPU differences. Nvidia 7300 vs ATI Radeon 9200. The GPU weighs heavy in that while pictures frames would be decoded in software using ffmpg, they are yuv and the GPU does the yuv to argb convert for display. Slow shaders and your playback ability becomes crippled regardless of if you have the CPU ponies to actually decode it.
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#3
As I stated in my original post I did the test on the ATV before and did nothing on GPU tests I onbly replicated the tests on the Mac Mini, knowing I had the ATV results.

I understand the GPU issues and appreciate your input to the thread.

I might also point ouit however I once configured a Nvidia (8600??) on a 1.5 Ghz VIA CPU and the results were HORRIBLE for XBMC despite the Nvidia, board. So then again its not ALL in the video either. That particular Via CPU is a dog and probably tests slower than the Mac Mini
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#4
you seem to know everything so I'll just let you play then.
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#5
ATV1 + Broadcom Crystal HD

You simply don't have GPU decoding on the PPC Mac Mini, and that's going to kill it.

I use an ATV1 + BCHD running Crystalbuntu as my most used HTPC right now and I love it. The whole thing cost me less than $100, plays everything I throw at it, outputs 1080, and with pre-Eden the GUI is as responsive as it is on my Core2Duo laptop.
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#6
I did qualify my statement in the original post

"...that is assuming all else is equal"
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#7
Okay, in the last two days I have installed and tested

XBMC10.0 on Debian Stable

and

XBMC nightly (it said 10.1+ GIT*) On Debian SID



In booth cases thew 1.25 GHZ Mac mini was at 100% (I do not mean less than 100%) CPU utilization just for the menu display. There was a 4 second delay on average between a keypress and a change on screen. I dont think either of the builds I tested would even be viable on a G5. If the G4 was at 100% CPU I would imagine the G5 would be at 75% at least. They were both from debian-multimedia repository

In comparison, XBMC for OSX PPC is a dream with all its imperfections and crashes. At least it is usable.

I suppose that may also be why there is no Linux PPC official release because it is a dog on Linux PPC
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#8
MarkosJal Wrote:I suppose that may also be why there is no Linux PPC official release because it is a dog on Linux PPC

It's just because there is almost no one using Linux PPC.

See http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=450397&postcount=2
"My PowerBook G4 has the same CPU as my mac mini (1.25GHz), but it has an ATI Radeon 9600 (9200 on the mac mini). It can use ARB shaders.
I have no problem watching h.264 video with youtube plugin. CPU is "only" around 50%."

I tried Linux (a while ago) on my PB and it was working quite well.
On the mac mini I never found proper X drivers under linux.

As davilla said, you can't just look at the CPU. The GPU makes a big difference.
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#9
Wow, OP did say "SD" content, why must you fry him?
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