[Chigoami]

Hi
Last week I installed xbmc on my (old) pc and connected it to a new Samsung 3D tv. I absolutely love all the features xbmc brings to the whole setup but when I play 1080p mkv files and 3D SBS 1080p mkv files the video becomes very choppy. It just manages to play 720p if there are no other programs running.
The pc contains:
- Intel pentium dual core E5200@2,5 GHz
- intel g33/g31 express chipset family (built in graphics Card)
- 350 watt psu
- 2gb ram

the CPU maxes out when playing the HD files
I did soms research and figured that adding a gpu like a GF 210 would fix the problem using hardware acceleration.
In the computer store however, the salesman told me that a gpu would only slightly make a difference and that i probably need a better cpu, so i decided to make this post and ask u guys.

Will a decent gpu make my movies run without stuttering or do i have to upgrade the whole pc?

Thanks in advance!

[noggin]

I'd suggest a GPU upgrade. I have a similar generation CPU running with nVidia 9400 on-board graphics and it copes with 1080p, 1080i and 720p fine. I don't do 3D - but AIUI SBS 3D is just standard 1080p with two 960x1080p images squashed into the 1920x1080p frame - so takes no more or less processing than a 2D 1920x1080p video.

If you're running Linux then I'd go nVidia and make sure you use VDPAU hardware acceleration to off load the processing from your CPU to your GPU.
If you're running Windows then ATI is also an option as well as nVidia. Under Windows you'll need to make sure you use DXVA hardware acceleration to offload processing to your GPU.

If you don't need to play 1080i stuff that needs de-interlacing you can go for a pretty low-end card and get decent 1080p results. If you want 1080i de-interlacing at a decent quality you need to move up the range a bit (but you're still not in silly money)

[fremar]

Can XBMC display .srt subtitels on a SBS 3D MKV? Tried to play one to see if it could run on my Nexus 7 yesterday but then the subtitels where over both screens, guess that wont be right on the tv.

[Chigoami]

@noggin: thanks for the reply. I'm running windows and don't need deinterlacing. I'll be going with the nvidia 210 card i think. I guess the salesman i spoke to didnt really know about dxva etc.

@fremar: u need .sub and .idx files for subtitles in 3d, otherwise you wont be able to read the subs in 3d mode (as you expected)

[crush]

The pc contains:
- Intel pentium dual core E5200@2,5 GHz
- intel g33/g31 express chipset family (built in graphics Card)
- 350 watt psu
- 2gb ram

I have almost the exact configuration and before adding the gpu I had choppy 1080p on some of the test files you find on the internet. After adding a zotac gt210 I have great 3D 1080p performance. To much of my surprise the new Frodo even plays 1080p bluray iso files without problems. BTW I have the same ram and a lesser cpu than you...

[Necromancyr]

Unless there's been a recent update/patch to XBMC, it doesn't do subtitles in 3D movies unless you do something like described here: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=120118