[blackbyers]

Hi, i have looked all over the forums & threads where people have the same issues but can't find a solution for me, tried other forums as well.

I am having problems with 1080p playback with H.264 mkv's (720p works ok) in XBMC, the playback stutters (drops frames i think) and slows down/speeds up at times, examples the dark knight wide pan shots & the shining long pan intro, not 'as' bad on normal shots but still not great either (not watchable)

I am wondering if my system is up to 1080p playback or is it a codec issue? i have no idea?! Or if it is capable what the solution could be? im not that technical so here are the specs i thought you might need:

Medion MD 8818 PC
Nvidia Geeforce 7650 GS Card
Core 2 Duo
6300 @ 1.86 GHZ
2.00 GB RAM
Windows XP Media Centre Edition
XBMC Camelot 9.11

Displaying @ 1808 x 1004 60HZ (only res that dispalys right on my 1080i tv)

HDMI from PC > Sony AMP > HDTV

I have tried updating my graphics drivers (killed my HDMI audio so reverted back, did not fix the stutter anyway), not running virus software, not matching refresh rate to screen in XBMC.

1080p mkv's are even worse in vlc on this PC. I know they all work as they play 100% perfect in my WDTV stand alone player, which even displays the 1080p mkv's better than the PC displays 720p's i can't get my head around that one

Any help would be great and appreciated thank you.

[Xenomes]

Nvidia Geforce 7650 GS Card it has no vdpau (GPU rendering)

Core 2 Duo 6300 @ 1.86 Ghz to slow for CPU rendering

Upgrade the graphic-card to one with vdpau

[blackbyers]

Nvidia Geforce 7650 GS Card it has no vdpau (GPU rendering)

Core 2 Duo 6300 @ 1.86 Ghz to slow for CPU rendering

Upgrade the graphic-card to one with vdpau

Thanks very much for the reply, so it's not up to the job then, would a ATI Radeon HD 4650 have vdpau (GPU rendering) and do you think i could do a straight swap over and have it still work with my Core 2 Duo 6300 @ 1.86 Ghz with no issues? (reason i ask is i have another pc with this card so i could test before i buy)

[Handa]

Thanks very much for the reply, so it's not up to the job then, would a ATI Radeon HD 4650 have vdpau (GPU rendering) and do you think i could do a straight swap over and have it still work with my Core 2 Duo 6300 @ 1.86 Ghz with no issues? (reason i ask is i have another pc with this card so i could test before i buy)

List of supported GPU's for VDPAU;

http://blog.mymediasystem.net/avchd/vdpau-gpu-list/

[fincheresque]

As a point of clarification, VDPAU is Linux only. On windows XP it's DXVA which is not (currently) supported in XBMC.

That being said, the DSPlayer branchmay offer you some hope.

Otherwise your options are to get a newer nvidia video card that supports VDPAU and move to Linux, or get a newer video card that supports DXVA2 and move to Windows 7.

[Xenomes]

AVDPAU is Linux only. On windows XP it's DXVA

Damn forgot it was in the Windows form!

[blackbyers]

As a point of clarification, VDPAU is Linux only. On windows XP it's DXVA which is not (currently) supported in XBMC.

That being said, the DSPlayer branchmay offer you some hope.

Otherwise your options are to get a newer nvidia video card that supports VDPAU and move to Linux, or get a newer video card that supports DXVA2 and move to Windows 7.

Thanks for the reply's (all of you) i am new to xbmc for video i have been using for music for couple of years now, i think i understand what you are saying, so these are my options if i read that right:

1 Install windows 7 > DXVA2 Compliant Graphics card (can you recommend a good one?) which version of xbmc though latest nightly build? and that will give me DXVA out the box so to speak in settings?

2 Linux/VDPAU (not an option for me at the moment)

3 Stay with what i have (xp) and use DSplayer branch build of xbmc, is that right or am i wrong on this one? and/or do i still need a new graphics card for dvxa with dsplayer or will my nvidia 7650 gs work?, does this require more input from me than the 9.11 build as im pretty dense when it comes to the more complicated stuff lol?.

Would and could move to win 7 and upgrade the card, just wonder if there are any other problems with my system before doing this that would stop it from working hardware/software wise & if i would find any new issues with xbmc in win 7?

All gets very confusing but thanks so much for the help, i was considering getting a revo for xbmc but don't know how well that works & would really prefer to not spend the money.

Thanks again for the help, very much appreciated lots of noob questions i know, if i have asked a question that is answered on here just ignore it im sure i will find the answer

[fincheresque]

I would stick with nvidia for a GPU if possible for two reasons:
1) They seem to be less finicky than ATI as far as GPU accelleration goes. A Geforce 210 should be fine, but I like a bit more oomf, so a 240 might be the way to go.
2) If you ever do go the Linux route (which honestly, is very easy nowadays) the nvidia cards support accelleration while the ATI do not.

All that being said, I run an AT5450 on my primary HTPC, and with the newest builds of the Dharma branch of XBMC (the ones you can download from the nightly-build section) my card works wonderfully. I had an AT4670 previously that I've heard other people have had no troubles with either.

Now, the DSPlayer branch (which should be merged after the Dharma release) is a work in progress, so it might not work 100% out-of-the-box in XP and may provide more frustration for you than a semi-simply 7 upgrade.

Hopefully that helps some.

[blackbyers]

I would stick with nvidia for a GPU if possible for two reasons:
1) They seem to be less finicky than ATI as far as GPU accelleration goes. A Geforce 210 should be fine, but I like a bit more oomf, so a 240 might be the way to go.
2) If you ever do go the Linux route (which honestly, is very easy nowadays) the nvidia cards support accelleration while the ATI do not.

All that being said, I run an AT5450 on my primary HTPC, and with the newest builds of the Dharma branch of XBMC (the ones you can download from the nightly-build section) my card works wonderfully. I had an AT4670 previously that I've heard other people have had no troubles with either.

Now, the DSPlayer branch (which should be merged after the Dharma release) is a work in progress, so it might not work 100% out-of-the-box in XP and may provide more frustration for you than a semi-simply 7 upgrade.

Hopefully that helps some.

Again thanks, was looking into dsplayer and seems like it will be hard for me (xml's and all that).

So im thinking: Windows 7 > Nvidia Card 210/240 > XBMC Dharma latest nightly > Bob's your unkle.

The Nvidia 210 seems a good price so hopefully that will do the trick.

One last question(s) my system specs should be fine for the upgrade to win 7 & the new card yes? also when i search for the cards they have things like gainward/palit/xfx/asus/pny etc etc in front of the card name what do these terms mean? also 512mb or 1gb?

Big, big thanks for the help, just could not face going back to my wdtv!

[fincheresque]

One last question(s) my system specs should be fine for the upgrade to win 7 & the new card yes? also when i search for the cards they have things like gainward/palit/xfx/asus/pny etc etc in front of the card name what do these terms mean? also 512mb or 1gb?

Palit/xfx/asus/pny are all manufacturers. That, I can't really give a recommendation. I had an Asus card once, and the fan went on it and it became insanely loud...so I've been a bit leery of them. 512Mb I think would be fine for video... I friend of mine had good lukc with his Palit Geforce.

The nice thing about the 210's are that you can get them fanless for a more quiet system.

As for the DSPlayer branch, you don't _need_ to edit the XML, it often works out-of-the-box...it did for me anyway. It's just the XML files are there for more advanced options. In fact the only reason I went back to the Dharma branch was to test for bugs, and because I added a MythTV PVR Backend and the DSPlayer branch did not play myth:\\ streams when I last checked. Download the latest build, install it in a separate directory, and then start XBMC with the -p switch. (so "C:\Program Files\XBMC_DSPlayer\xbmc -p" if you install it in C:\Program Files\XBMC_DSPlayer. The -p will let you test the DSPlayer branch without mucking about with your current XBMC installation.

I bought my mother a WDTV, they're great little boxes for the price, but there's no way in hell I could ever use one when you can get a brand new ION based HTPC that runs XBMC flawlessly for only $100 more.

[blackbyers]

Palit/xfx/asus/pny are all manufacturers. That, I can't really give a recommendation. I had an Asus card once, and the fan went on it and it became insanely loud...so I've been a bit leery of them. 512Mb I think would be fine for video... I friend of mine had good lukc with his Palit Geforce.

The nice thing about the 210's are that you can get them fanless for a more quiet system.

As for the DSPlayer branch, you don't _need_ to edit the XML, it often works out-of-the-box...it did for me anyway. It's just the XML files are there for more advanced options. In fact the only reason I went back to the Dharma branch was to test for bugs, and because I added a MythTV PVR Backend and the DSPlayer branch did not play myth:\\ streams when I last checked. Download the latest build, install it in a separate directory, and then start XBMC with the -p switch. (so "C:\Program Files\XBMC_DSPlayer\xbmc -p" if you install it in C:\Program Files\XBMC_DSPlayer. The -p will let you test the DSPlayer branch without mucking about with your current XBMC installation.

I bought my mother a WDTV, they're great little boxes for the price, but there's no way in hell I could ever use one when you can get a brand new ION based HTPC that runs XBMC flawlessly for only $100 more.

Oh, brilliant cheers, i think i'll have a mess about with the dsplayer first then, as for the wdtv, awesome little player for the price but the gui is like that of a £30 dvd player, i have 2000 flac albums and it takes 5-7 mins to get from A-Z with about 250 presses of the next button , in xbmc you hold it down and it takes seconds, no contest! but yeah great for mkv's and divx etc etc.

I think once you have seen what xbmc can look like with the video & music library set up properly with fanart, metadata, flags etc it's impossible to go back to anything else.