[tooter]

Hi I've recently finished building my custom built budget htpc.
And need a little help tweaking it so I can play 1080p mkv content.
I have a asus m2a-mv mobo Athlon x2 5600 CPU
5.1 dts coax to my amp
Built in ati x1250 gpu all squeezed in to a customised ps3 case I'm very happy with how it looks and it's pretty quiet my only problem is the 1080p and some 720p content seems to have slight jitter when playing if pos I would like some help solving my problem I have had a good play with all the settings and searched the net but no joy.
Oh and at the moment to is on a wired 100 mb Ethernet connection to my nas.
Thanks.

[PatK]

Using the keyboard command 'o' while watching a video you will get an OSD popping up, look carefully for any bottlenecks (NAS networking is suspect) and see in which area you have issues and tweak accordingly. If you're not sure what the referenced numbers mean, there is a wiki explanation.

Check the wiki for recommended hardware configurations.

This post would be better in the forum 'Hardware for XBMC' you'll get a lot of tips & tricks.

[jhhoffma]

IIRC, The x1250 does not support HD-accelerated h264 or mpeg4 playback (which I assume your 1080p content is), so your CPU has to do all the work.

Frankly, I don't think you're going to get there with that setup, especially given your case constraints.

Like PatK said, NAS might be an issue, but I doubt it.

Might want to look at finally upgrading that old system with a low-cost i3/mITX setup. Should be possible for <$250, with a little couponing..

[tooter]

Ok thanks for th reply I'll have a look when I get home in ur opinion should my hardware be able to cope with 1080 p.?

[tooter]

Ok thanks if I used a external player like mpv-hc would it be possible o get smooth playback with 1080p or am I flogging a dead horse with this. I have been looking at one of these Msi E350DM-E33 are they any good will this play 1080p ok.

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/E350DM-E33...v=Overview

[jhhoffma]

am I flogging a dead horse with this.

This...

If your GPU doesn't do hardware acceleration, you have three options:

1) Do decoding in software = not likely with your CPU, at least not any way you'd want to use it.

2) Upgrade to a discrete GPU = probably not enough room inside a PS3 for one.

3) Upgrade CPU/Mobo/RAM = the MSI config you mentioned should work ok, but Intel options are better in performance/watt. You don't need a fancy GPU to do 1080p decode, just something newer. I'd look for an i3-type setup.