Hello All!
I have recently moved my netbook over to Ubuntu 10.04 (I know its old but it works - dont ask) and finally have everything up and running. Everything sings beautifully. Especially after I get my beloved XBMC back up and running(vlc cant tolerate 720p on my netbook nor can any other player I tried). We have been around since the original xbox (still actually have and use it in my office
) and love the hell out of everything you guys do and try to donate when we can
. Anywho - here is my problem: I can play my 720p just beautifully even the higher bit rates but the moment we move over to a 1080p file even low bit rates it is terribly slow choppy etc etc etc though it does play no major chugging like freezing. This is NOT XBMC's fault. Its a netbook (gigabyte T1028).
Specs:
Eden 11.0 under Ubuntu 'Lucid' 10.04
5200RPM Spinner
Dual thread atom 1.33ghz
1gb Ram
integrated intel GMA 9xx
No errors or output files needed to be honest - Its a combination of codec/hardware limits.
Please dont throw things at me. I know its woefully underpowered for true 1080p. BUT BUT BUT I am able to play 1080p under windows using this method (windows media player classic and CoreAVC -- I would always pop out of XBMC under windows 7 to watch these, kinda annoying but hey):
http://my.opera.com/rejzor/blog/1080p-hd...ny-netbook
I have scoured the internet for the equivalent steps/tweaks to make this happen under XBMC but no joy - the only things I can find are terribly antiquated and for much older versions and mostly VERY vague(circa 2009). Some mention inloop deblocking hope that helps (please see link above for the steps they used as you will likely understand it better and its XBMC equivalent). The main thing is trans/re-encoding my whole library would take both my and your lifetime and then I would sacrifice my lovely 1080p from home or be forced to double up my storage or at best dual boot into window JUST to watch a vid -- see the lame factor there?
Linux is my new holiness and XBMC part of my religion - How in the world can I make this happen under Eden(11.0) or even Frodo? Almighty gurus please judge me worthy and bless unto me the required steps to bring the light of 1080p playback everywhere with me, Amen.
I do this from my Acer netbook with MPC and the Divx codec with similar settings that you show above. I would love to be able to do this within XBMC since its the only thing keeping me from switching my media HTPC to XBMC Ubuntu.
I find it hard to believe a dual-core Atom could play a 1080p file on any operatings system, especially with an Intel GPU like that. I had an Atom once upon a time as well and it could barely play 720p properly.
(2013-01-10, 10:58)negge Wrote: [ -> ]I find it hard to believe a dual-core Atom could play a 1080p file on any operatings system, especially with an Intel GPU like that. I had an Atom once upon a time as well and it could barely play 720p properly.
negge,
I'm sorry to hear you had so much trouble with that. Did you take a look at the link provided? Its the method I use under windows and I promise you it works. If you think me untruthful I urge you to give it a shot (though I would suggest using the divx method that the person links at the top of the post as an update - wouldn't want you to have to spend moneys just to test). I am actually VERY surprised you haven't heard of it or more people haven't heard of it/used(I give the method all the time to friends and family with antiquated hardware and have been using it successfully - on every machine I have installed it under - since 2009 o.O) . I understand it is a very backwards workaround but it DOES work. Like I said I play 720p flawless (even high bit rates) under Eden and 10.04 and 1080p does not crash or choke hard it just has slower than norm frame rates. Well I should correct myself frames are fine if its a small logo on the screen (black background unmoving logo)but whole screen movement/transition/movie period is trashy. Same results under windows but as mentioned the method from my first post rocks and rolls. I know this is possible - I don't want to have to switch back to windows just because someone out coded the Linux community
If you think me to be a complete liar and are unwilling to give it a shot yourself even from a VM (limit the VM specs to be similar to mine or your old atom) shoot me another post and I will throw the old PC image on a hard drive and swap it over just to make a video as proof. Throw it on youtube or something *shrug*.
EDIT:
Strawsb,
LOOK! I'm not the only one! LOL I'm not crazy I swear it.
@
razzix
Did you try turning deinterlace to auto or off in XBMC? See my last link on signature for xbmc settings on deinterlace OSD. Try and repeat make sure you have libva1 installed and vaapi enabled on XBMC video settings too.
Im not familliar with intel gpu but deinterlace should always at best be auto or off, since mkv isnt interlaced content usually only DVD's are IIRC.
uNi
Have you looked at replacing the wifi card with a broadcom crystal hd card?
(2013-01-11, 00:31)uNiversal Wrote: [ -> ]@razzix
Did you try turning deinterlace to auto or off in XBMC? See my last link on signature for xbmc settings on deinterlace OSD. Try and repeat make sure you have libva1 installed and vaapi enabled on XBMC video settings too.
Im not familliar with intel gpu but deinterlace should always at best be auto or off, since mkv isnt interlaced content usually only DVD's are IIRC.
uNi
uNi,
Thank you for your help! I do have deinterlace turned off by default saw it in another guide somewhere but followed yours to make double sure making certain not to skip over anything. That didn't help so I snagged libva1 like you mentioned and it did not make any difference. You mentioned enabling vaapi in the XBMC video settings - Forgive me I am a total newb to some of this stuff (especially under Linux) - is this the "Allow Hardware Acceleration (VDPAU)" Under Settings -> Video -> Playback? If so - it is with no change. If not how do I go about enabling vaapi in XBMC video settings (I don't seem to see it)?
Thank you again for your help!
teeedubb,
I have considered it as a last resort. I have a spare mini pcie slot in my netbook designed for a GSM cell card which can carry both a cell connection and my wifi so it wouldn't kill my connectivity as long as I bought both. However, looking into it I would be spending about $200+ for both together so it is less than ideal because a used netbook with a AMD CPU/GPU combo would set me back about the same
- plus the fact it works under windows with WMC and codec tweaks causes me to lean away from it (money that doesn't have to be spent kinda - im cheap lol). Thank you for the meaningful suggestion - its good to keep it as an option.
AH you have Eden and complaining that on your hardware XBMC cant play 1080 since it pretty much has little to no support for Intel GPU's?
Right Three things you want to do to improve this:
One is use the XVBA ppa and
Two is install libva1 and
Three is in XBMC settings disable xvba, vdpau and only enable vaapi
Code:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wsnipex/xbmc-xvba
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install xbmc libva1
Now obviously keep in mind you want to start with a new guisettings.xml and rename any asound.conf or .asoundrc you may have while keeping an eye on XBMC settings mostly like on my signature's screenshots to begin with.
uNi
$200 for a crystal hd + wifi card?!?!? Wtf? Couldn't you reuse the existing wifi card? Also if you do go this route make sure your spare pcie slot isn't only a usb interface like it was on my Samsung nc20 net book - I ended up replacing the wifi card and soldering a usb wifi adapter the internal pins on the mobo and glued it to the inside of the case. Works well to this day :-)
First off make sure you gpu supports vaapi - there's some Intel gpus that have very poor Linux support.
If that doesn't work there is a thread on page one of these forums (sorry no link, posting from phone) that describes how to compile xbmc with multi threaded video decoding which should make a big difference with s/w decoding.
Sorry for the delayed response guys - been a little on the busy side
. Thanks for the suggestions! I will give them a go as soon as I am able. teeedubb, you are a genius. Can't believe I didn't think of the spare USB port option (even just embedding a hub in my chassis - plenty of room). I can use a low profile wifi dongle - there is a micro hub with a slot available that the touchscreen and webcam use. But unfortunately the wifi card I have will not function in the 3g slot. There is a pin that needs to be covered to turn the slot on all the time. Haven't had a chance to figure out which it is (i am also told there is a limited compatibility issue - some thing about data pins being used for the SIM slot that the wifi card needs). This is def now a viable option if the others do not work out. Those little dongles are like 10 - 20$ and it wouldn't take but a few minutes of soldering. Hell if I go that route I will just combine my pentest netbook with this one and splurge $30 for a nice Alfa adapter. Thank you so much again for all your help teee and uNi! I will post back as soon as possible with results.