[smudge]

divx hd homepage

for those of you with hd tv's and no hd content to play on them (impressive your friends with) check out divx's new 720p offering.

partial slow down in fast motion sequences however overall the playback is smooth and stunning to look at (superior to the equivalent 720p slide show you get with wm9) through xbmc.

the new divx 6 version will be able to encode 720p at 4mbps, instead of the standard 19mbps for mpeg-2 hd streams.

more information

as this form of compression becomes more widely adopted, maybe there's some hope for future hd playback through xbmc using a standard xbox?

[Gamester17]

as this form of compression becomes more widely adopted, maybe there's some hope for future hd playback through xbmc using a standard xbox?

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/info_faq.htm#hdtv a normal xbox doesn't have the cpu processing power to decode/render native hd video.


quote from bottom of http://www.divx.com/hd/

divx high definition playback requirements
since high definition video playback is processor intensive, you must meet the
following minimum system requirements to enjoy divx hd with the best experience.
2.4 ghz pc, 384 mb ram, 64 mb video ram

[Seb.26]

on2 vp6 ( and soon ) vp7 offer better quality with less cpu usage for rendering ... imho of course ... aint:

compresses high-definition (hd) material with no restrictions on the encoder. vp6 can play back 1920x1080 hd material on a 2.5 ghz pc and 1280x720 material on a 1.5 ghz pc.

and this is with windows and his cpu time holes ... so on xbox, with the real cpu power ... i think on a 1.4ghz friend tech ...

and on xbox 2 ... :o

[vaeanu]

http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/info_faq.htm#hdtv a normal xbox doesn't have the cpu processing power to decode/render native hd video.

yes, but we are not talking native hdtv here. those samples are hdtv files encoded in 720p with divx. they are just divx with a higher resolution. they play pretty fine and thats kinda amazing actually!
by the way, you can achieve exactly the same results as the samples from the divx website by encoding a hdtv *.ts with autogk for instance...

as this form of compression becomes more widely adopted, maybe there's some hope for future hd playback through xbmc using a standard xbox?

i share this opinion as i did many tests with hdtv samples. even on heavy actions scene a 1080p reencoded to 720p plays extremely well on the xbox. and it looks better than dvd.
of course a cpu mod (dreamx) would make things even smoother but you partially lose the dvd capabilities of the xbox

[smudge]

couple more trailers here

absolutely vaeanu - the despite the system spec required for running, all these trailers run surprisingly well through xbmc. i'll be playing with autogk today – thanks for the heads up on this.

if you have a hd screen gamester please check these out as i don't think you'll be disappointed with the result.

my thinking may well be madness however might it be possible to use videolan to stream hd content (.wm9 and .ts) off a fast pc through xbmc?

streaming using videolan (standard video)

[vaeanu]

when time comes, one solution will be to compress hdtv, bluray (or whatever they call it) to divx in 720p and then burn it to a dvd-9 that'll be a super dvd for xbox!

[pike]

i'm really impressed how well xbmc handled ie the madagascar clip i tested both pixelshader and comborenderer and to my amazament combo was actually smoother!

here's one that have *hopes* we can play this smooth in the not too distant future

[Anomaly]

for those of you with hd tv's and no hd content to play on them (impressive your friends with) check out divx's new 720p offering.

nice post, but why do you have no hdtv content? it's a lot of money to blow on a large tv. i live in tokyo so i get a bit of content on the satellite channels, but i end up watching a lot of normal tv too. at least that way you appreciate the massive quality improvement when you switch between the two.

[vaeanu]

nice post, but why do you have no hdtv content? it's a lot of money to blow on a large tv.

if you wanna buy a flat screen now (lcd or plasma), it will be hdtv ready anyway. it doesnt mean i (an others on this thread) bought this kind of tv in order to watch hdtv content... there is so far only too few channels in hdtv in the states or in asia. the fact is that you can watch hdtv content on it... it doesnt mean you will. most people dont buy this kind of tv with that purpose!

[smudge]

quite right vaeanu - if you want to buy a large screen now then there are only really hdtv's available, unless you want to save that $150 and buy a edtv.

obviously hdtv's support lower resolutions and xbmc has this excellent option to 'upscale to gui resolution' which greatly improves the image quality of standard video (both dvd and rips) when used at 720p or 1080i.

the quality of hdtv is such that once you've seen it, looking at standard resolution (video) is like looking at a blurred image with washed out color depth!

another plus is that many films now going through a modern grading/ tele-cine pass (the coloring of the film) are being mastered to hd as well. the dvd is produced at this point (from a digital laser scan of the film - standard working resolution example being 2048x1556) so another step to producing a hd version is now a viable and affordable option. soon we will be re-buying indiana jones hd box set, star wars hd box set etc.

we wait for the hardware manufactures to decide upon a format and and for the distributors to start releasing their products using this format.

dvd is aging – role on hd :d

[DoughBoy]

yes those look great.

i cannot play in 720p on my tv, but tried in 1080i. they look incredible and similar to quality of hd content that i receive from satellite or cable. i also tried in 480p and they still look amazing.

i play them back on my pc also with latest xvid 1.03.

[sarnman]

doesn't the gpu do a ton of the legwork in rendering images? i imagine that has something to do with xbmc's ability to play vids that are supposed to only work on much faster systems. that, and the fact that xbmc is less resource intensive base than win xp is. :thumbsup:

[vaeanu]

to conclude, i do believe the xbox and xbmc still can be used as a mini media center for years to come. well even after hdtv has been widely introduced...

[Gamester17]

doesn't the gpu do a ton of the legwork in rendering images?

no, no one coded that for xbmc/xbox (see http://www.xboxmediaplayer.de/cgi-bin....;t=2126  ...maybe one day ...it's a huge task because of the skills required)

[pre1014]

i use ffdshow for decoding on my 1ghz celeron laptop and it plays em ok (cpu is maxed) i think id downgrades the quality so it can actually play em though.