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+---- Thread: Noob; GPU Acceleration Support (/showthread.php?tid=74289)
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Noob; GPU Acceleration Support - rajsharma714 - 2010-05-21
Hello,
I'm running the latest version of XBMC, which I think is 9.11. My PC specs are i5 Lynnfield CPU, 8GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of RAM with Windows 7 64-bit.
I was thinking about building a HTPC (Windows 7 64-bit) to put in the bedroom so I could use XBMC to watch all my movies that.
My movies are 1080p MKV files created with MakeMKV.
My questions:
On my current desktop specs and current XBMC for Windows, do I have GPU acceleration support regardless if it matters do to the powerful CPU?
I was planning on getting a NVIDIA ION graphics processor when I build my HTPC. Which the NVIDIA ION graphics processor also support GPU acceleration for Windows?
How do I check to see if GPU acceleration is active or not on Windows? Are certain GPU cards only supported and some not for Windows?
I also might buy a Mac Mini from a friend on the cheap, so is there GPU acceleration supported on Mac? Will the NIVIDA GeForce 9400M support it or is it capable or doing so? Or would it be easier just to pop for the Crystal HD Card?
Thanks!!
- SlaveUnit - 2010-05-21
9.11 does not have DXVA (GPU offload), newer SVN version of XMBC will have it.
the AIT 5770 does do DXVA. For the least amount of problems I recommend getting the latest drivers for it (19.4 I believe).
You can see if your system supports DXVA by getting "DXVA checker". Google it.
In newer SVNs hitting "o" when a video plays will tell you if DXVA is working.
Both the ION and ION LE support DXVA. Not all cards support DXVA such as older ones. Nvidia has different levels of support they have for it. Some, like the 9xxx series only support it for x264 but not VC1. etc
I dont know macs at all. Still haopy to say ive never own an Apple product.
- rajsharma714 - 2010-05-21
Quote:9.11 does not have DXVA (GPU offload), newer SVN version of XBMC will have it.
That's good news!
I think I read in the Wiki that you can have XBMC use another video player to play your video files. Assuming that's true, could you have XBMC use a video player that does support DxVA?
Quote:Both the ION and ION LE support DXVA. Not all cards support DXVA such as older ones. Nvidia has different levels of support they have for it. Some, like the 9xxx series only support it for x264 but not VC1. etc
I will build the HTPC using ION so that way I won't have to update hardware when DxVA is available with XBMC.
Thanks for your reply SlaveUnit.
- SlaveUnit - 2010-05-21
Well technically DXVA support is out now. Its just in SVN version. Currently there are a lot of changes happened to the code in XBMC. SVNs are builds that represent that new code. So if you want to test out an SVN version you can get one from here: http://sshcs.com/xbmc/
Just be forewarned that certain things may not work. But you can play with DXVA and check it out if you want to. Most importantly if you try the latest SVN and you are coming from 9.11 your movie db will be updated and there is no going back to 9.11 with that same database.
A new "stable" version of XBMC is slated for 5/30. That is just a tentative date though. But it should be pretty soon. Most new video cards will support DXVA just fine now. The ION should be fine but if you have a certain card in mind just ask. Im sure someone has it. You can read about the Nvida chipsets here. Your best bet is ones with B & C type chips. You can see the differences between htem in the chart here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo
- rajsharma714 - 2010-05-21
Quote:Well technically DXVA support is out now. Its just in SVN version. Currently there are a lot of changes happened to the code in XBMC. SVNs are builds that represent that new code. So if you want to test out an SVN version you can get one from here: http://sshcs.com/xbmc/
Just be forewarned that certain things may not work. But you can play with DXVA and check it out if you want to. Most importantly if you try the latest SVN and you are coming from 9.11 your movie db will be updated and there is no going back to 9.11 with that same database.
I'll for sure check out the SVN version of XBMC. I don't mind not going back to 9.11 with the same database. I'm going to get around to learning how to get XBMC provide with me thumbnails and short movie descriptions from imdb.com once I get all of this information figured out.
Quote:Most new video cards will support DXVA just fine now. The ION should be fine but if you have a certain card in mind just ask. Im sure someone has it. You can read about the Nvida chipsets here. Your best bet is ones with B & C type chips. You can see the differences between htem in the chart here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo
I was going to get this and purchase RAM and a SSD for it. It's small and effect with a N wireless card, which is exactly what I need. Otherwise I'll just get a HTPC case and build it from ground up using a onboard NVIDIA GeForce 9300.
Thanks for providing me with the link to download the SVN version.
- ZorG - 2010-05-21
I have a Asus AT3IONT-I motherboard wich have Intel ATOM 330 and nVidia ION GPU + 1gb of RAM.
I tested playing HD-video files (1080p, h264) on XBMX 9.11 (Linux and Windows 7 versions), on both of them I had many skipped frames.
When viewing same video files on Media Player Classic Home Cinema, I also had skipped frames, but much less.
Using xbmc-r28256-trunk does not solve the problem.
DXVA supporting will solve my problem?
- steelman1991 - 2010-05-21
ZorG Wrote:I have a Asus AT3IONT-I motherboard wich have Intel ATOM 330 and nVidia ION GPU + 1gb of RAM.
I tested playing HD-video files (1080p, h264) on XBMX 9.11 (Linux and Windows 7 versions), on both of them I had many skipped frames.
When viewing same video files on Media Player Classic Home Cinema, I also had skipped frames, but much less.
Using xbmc-r28256-trunk does not solve the problem.
DXVA supporting will solve my problem?
Make sure you have turned DXVA on in System\Video\Playback, if you have then see SlaveUnits post above (#4) and follow the link and try one of the svn versions. Be aware of the other issues highlighted by him as well.
- ZorG - 2010-05-21
Ok, Now it works fine, but I have feeling that ION is not good for HD
Thank You
- rajsharma714 - 2010-05-21
ZorG Wrote:Ok, Now it works fine, but I have feeling that ION is not good for HD
Thank You
Well I'm using a Macbook Air with 2GB of RAM 2.13Ghz Intel Core Duo 2 with a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and when I used the SVN version, playback was much better on the Macbook Air, but intense action scenes such as in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Ring. But other movies that have no intense action scenes like The Proposal work just great.
So I'm not sure if it's XBMC since it's not a stable release and it's still a work in progress. Or if it's just my GPU in my Macbook Air. I have a feeling it's my GPU and on top of that I think my HD MKV movies are using the MPEG-2 codec where as Apple is all about H.264, and with DxVA, my GPU would only do partial acceleration compared to full acceleration.
Does anyone know how to check if your video is in H.264 or MPEG-2 codec?
- spiff - 2010-05-21
hit 'o' while playing.
- ZorG - 2010-05-21
On my Macbook Pro with GF9400M - XBMC works perfectly - thats why I try to use a nVidia ION
- rajsharma714 - 2010-05-21
spiff Wrote:hit 'o' while playing.
Thanks for the tip. I hit "O" and the video is in VC-1 and after Googling it, it says it codec are in one of the following format: H.261, H.263, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 Part 2. And I'm pretty sure it's MPEG-2, since I believe that's what MakeMKV uses to make MKVs. And when I played LOTR: Return of the Ring with the current SVN, the CPU is still pretty much maxed out my fps are around 19-20 unless I'm looking at the wrong info. Hopefully it's just my GPU. Maybe I'll try to encode my video from MPEG-2 to H.264 and see if I get better results.
- rajsharma714 - 2010-05-21
ZorG Wrote:On my Macbook Pro with GF9400M - XBMC works perfectly - thats why I try to use a nVidia ION
Wait, it runs perfectly fine on your Macbook Pro running GeForce 9400M?! Well I hope the movies you are watching are using the H.264 codec, instead of MPEG-2 since I hope that's the reason why HD movies kind of lag during intense action scenes.
Do you know if your movies are using H.264 or not?
- ZorG - 2010-05-21
Give me a minute, I'll check this out
Most of HD-video files are h264, i'll try to get mpeg-2, and test it
- >>X<< - 2010-05-21
ZorG Wrote:Give me a minute, I'll check this out
dropped 7 frames when playing was started
What's with the CPU 107% ?