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4ndr3w · (This post was last modified: 2009-02-22, 01:08 by 4ndr3w.)

I have a few 1080p .mkv files.
I first installed Intrepid and fast found out the .mkv problem. So i used the patch (http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/5680) to fix the problem.

My fullscreen 1080p .mkv played without a hitch with patch, only dropped some initial 5-10 frames.
I was having problem fast forwarding/skipping on my xvid files.

So i installed Hardy.
Now i am having problem playing my 1080p fullscreen movies. I am then getting frames dropped.
The weird thing is that when i check cpu usage, none of my cores are hitting 100%, but i am still getting frames dropped.

So i used an old backed up version that i had. XBMC 17684 with the above patch. No am i getting no dropped frames, but xvid ff/skip has problems.

So what does the above patch do? My .mkv's plays very good with that patch installed.
I got a AMD Athlon 5600+ X2 and Nvidia 7600GT.

althekiller · 2009-02-22, 09:30

That patch uses a not even half completed multi-threaded ffmpeg instead of the stable one. We don't encourage it's use and will not support it here.

4ndr3w · 2009-02-22, 11:42

ok, i get your point about not supporting not finished work.

If we discuss the ffmpeg that comes with XBMC, the official one.
How come that xbmc reporting that the cpu usage is not 100%, but i am still getting dropped frames? Could it be some other problem with my computer or is it XBMC that repports wrong cpu usage?
Are there any performance tweaks to XBMC that i could do? Or do i just have to buy a faster CPU?

**BLKMGK** · 2009-02-22, 17:04

Look at the VDPAU threads, a better video card may solve your problem although that code is not yet mainstream nor completed.

**alanwww1** · 2009-02-22, 19:01

4ndr3w Wrote:ok, i get your point about not supporting not finished work.

If we discuss the ffmpeg that comes with XBMC, the official one.
How come that xbmc reporting that the cpu usage is not 100%, but i am still getting dropped frames? Could it be some other problem with my computer or is it XBMC that repports wrong cpu usage?
Are there any performance tweaks to XBMC that i could do? Or do i just have to buy a faster CPU?

The problem is that the video decoding works two threaded, but the two thread work sequential (wait for each other to finish). The OS shares the work with the two cores. This is why with a 45-50% each cpu core utilization you have framedrops.
On Hardy it does work real mutithreaded. It is strange that you don't have it working on Hardy.

HiDefDog · 2009-02-23, 00:51

Hello,

I am seeing the same behavior with Hardy 8.04.2 I have an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ with a GeForce 8600 GT. Everything plays beautifully except 1080p mkv files.

This processor and video card both work great playing 1080p mkv files in XBMC for Windows XP. Under Hardy, not so much...

Just for laughs, I tried XBMC live, and see the same problem.

**BLKMGK** · 2009-02-23, 06:24

HiDefDog Wrote:Hello,

I am seeing the same behavior with Hardy 8.04.2 I have an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ with a GeForce 8600 GT. Everything plays beautifully except 1080p mkv files.

This processor and video card both work great playing 1080p mkv files in XBMC for Windows XP. Under Hardy, not so much...

Just for laughs, I tried XBMC live, and see the same problem.

That would be the result of not enough processor power. Not using VDPAU you're going to need something North of a 2.6ghz C2D to play high bitrate 1080P files and no AMD doesn't compare clock for clock. With that combination you're going to want to lookinto using the VDPAU branch, keep an eye on it as it matures.

4ndr3w · 2009-02-23, 10:24

I've read trough a lot of threads. And as you say, i have to little CPU power to get fullscreen 1080p movies to play without dropped frames. Amd 5600+ X2.
Don't have the cash to upgrade my motherboard and CPU right now Undecided

The weird thing is that none of my cpu's are running at 100% when playing.
The cpu's peak at 80-85%.
So can this be improved somehow? Without going hardware VDPAU.

**alanwww1** · 2009-02-23, 11:18

HiDefDog Wrote:Hello,

I am seeing the same behavior with Hardy 8.04.2 I have an AMD Athlon 64 x2 4400+ with a GeForce 8600 GT. Everything plays beautifully except 1080p mkv files.

This processor and video card both work great playing 1080p mkv files in XBMC for Windows XP. Under Hardy, not so much...

Just for laughs, I tried XBMC live, and see the same problem.

It is strange as we only saw this problem in Intrepid yet. If xbmc works ok under XP with the SAME video than it should work under Hardy the same way. Anyway yot CPU is for sure not enough for high bitrate (over 10-20 mbps) 1080p content.

HiDefDog · 2009-02-23, 22:46

Thanks for the feedback on my hardware specs. Under Win XP with the latest NVidia drivers, all sorts of media players work great with 1080p content. XBMC, VLC, Windows Media Player with FFDShow, Media Portal with FFDShow, etc... all can show 1080p without a hitch.

Maybe I'll try the VDPAU branch and see what happens Smile

Or, go back to XP and just call it good Sad

Katagia · 2009-02-23, 22:48

VDPAU is really worth a try. 1080ß videos are running much smoother with my setup

HiDefDog · 2009-02-23, 22:55

Yeah, I am reading through the thread now and it sounds promising. I'll have to see how well it can handle other file types.

**BLKMGK** · 2009-02-24, 06:10

HiDefDog Wrote:Thanks for the feedback on my hardware specs. Under Win XP with the latest NVidia drivers, all sorts of media players work great with 1080p content. XBMC, VLC, Windows Media Player with FFDShow, Media Portal with FFDShow, etc... all can show 1080p without a hitch.

Maybe I'll try the VDPAU branch and see what happens Or, go back to XP and just call it good

That would be players likely using accelerated drivers on Windows. Accelerated drivers have only JUST come to Linux in the last few months and are JUST now being supported in XBMC. They will accelerate MPEG1/2 and H.264 video - some cards will do VC-1 as well. All of my high def content is H.264 and I see LOW CPU usage wit this patch...

4ndr3w · 2009-02-24, 10:50

Does VDPAU support subtitles yet?

HiDefDog · 2009-02-24, 18:15

So far, this VDPAU branch has been working really well for me. I see almost no dropped frames and extremely low CPU usage on both cores.

All high def MKV's and low def xvid/divx files play back just fine. Subtitles are working, too. I would recommend this branch to anyone with a video card that supports it.

If I run in to any problems with this, I'll post my comments over in that thread.