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Loonens · (This post was last modified: 2013-03-20, 09:00 by Loonens.)

Hi all.

My name is Loonens and I'm from the Netherlands. I'm new here and I have a small problem with my HTPC.

I just bought a nice HTPC system for in my livingroom;

Shuttle Barebone XH61V with S1155
Celeron G1610
4GB
SSD 60GB Kingston

I connected the HTPC with Optical to mine Z5500 Logitech (don't get me started Sleepy

) and with HDMI to my 42PX80 plasma.

XBMC is the only thing I'm playing on my HTPC, but with mine G1610 it was not very nice to play with or watch at. Menu was very slow and the video playback was horrible. With Hardware of Software playback, it was both miserable. Lot of stuttering and unwatchable.

I updated all my drivers and played with the sound settings (analog, Wasabi, Directsound) and with the Video Playback settings (adjust Hz to File etc.), but nothing worked. I had the CPU for like 4 days, so I send it back and ordered an i3 3225. I saw that the G1610 missed a lot of HD-options and because there were no Intel drivers after the G1610 release, I bought the i3. I don't want to wait on Intel with there drivers.
Also because I just love the Shuttle Case with the heatpipes (and 2 very silent fans), and he has a socket 1155.

The i3 has a HD4000 and is much more powerfull. I can always send it back, but I didn't want to wait. I installed it tonight and playback is only possible on software. Again, the Intel HD 4000 hardware accel is working very poorly with XBMC. In the beginning both playbacks (hardware and software) were poor. But after some tries and adjusting some sound options (first tot analog and the back to Optical/Coax) it's playing OK.

The thing is; the menus are very slow. They react very late and sometimes I have to wait for 20 seconds. Anyone knows what's up with that?

Tomorrow evening I'm gonna play a lot of series and movies and look if they still play OK. My videosettings atm are;

Render: Software
Allow HW acceleration: NO
Adjust Display to match video: ALWAYS
Pause during change: Off
Sync playback to display: ON
A/V Sync Method: Video Clock (resample audio)
Allowed error tot minimize black bars: None

Use a fullscreen ratger than true fullscreen: ON

Audio Output: Optical/Coax
Speaker: 5.1
Boost Volume level on downmix: ON
DD capable: ON
DTS capable: ON
AAC capable OFF (don't know exactly)

Can you guys see what's my problem? I really love XBMC, but with these problems it's just not fun to play with XBMC and watch my content via this player.

Thanks so much in advance for your replies!!

Loonens · 2013-03-20, 14:44

I don't wanna be impatient you guys, I'm sorry for my quick reply. But my 14-days of free-return-without-costs of the components is expiring this friday. I want to know for sure that it's something wrong in my XBMC software or windows config and not in my hardware which I just bought.

I'm confident XBMC should have no problem with the i3 3225 / HD 4000, but I just wanna check this to be sure with you guys Smile

. Thanks a lot for your help!

**jjd-uk** · 2013-03-20, 15:53

Do you have any Add Ons installed?

i3 3225 / HD 4000 shouldn't struggle with XBMC, although hardware acceleration is a no no with Intel graphics the i3 is more than powerful enough to cope with software code only.

Loonens · (This post was last modified: 2013-03-20, 16:13 by Loonens.)

Thanks for your reply.

I only installed all the skins + the youtube add on.

With the software mode it's going fine as playback. But why is hardware acceleration a no-go? Is that just XBMC vs. Intel HD Graphics?

**jjd-uk** · (This post was last modified: 2013-03-20, 17:09 by jjd-uk.)

Have you tested for the slow GUI with the default Confluence skin?

Yes, the Windows version of XBMC does not play well with hardware acceleration for the Intel HD Graphics, both Nvidia & AMD are ok.

Loonens · 2013-03-20, 17:30

I am going to test everything tonight. I want to delete the complete XBMC and start from scratch.

Is there a different in videoquality between software and hardware accelerated?

**jjd-uk** · 2013-03-20, 17:45

Should be no difference in quality, all the hardware acceleration does is lessen the load on the CPU, however this is only of concern with CPU's like the Intel Atoms where there is not much processing power and may result is less overall load so possibly less power consumption and maybe less heat requiring cooling. An i3 will easily cope with anything using software decoding.

macardi · 2013-03-20, 17:50

Be aware that the Intel HD does not work with Best Deinterlacing. So if you want to watch e.g. live-tv you have to live with quite a bad picture quality

See: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...nterlacing