Hello.
So iv been looking around and everywhere I read people are talking about running a dual core 2 Ghz machine if you would want 720HD.
Is this really true?
The reason I ask is because my first experience with XBMC was with the xbox1. It played everything until the HD videos came, but even then you could use 720/1080 menues and it would upscale a bit. The xbox only had 733Mhz and it felt like it was nearly there on the 720, and now many years later we need a dualcore 2Ghz?
I understant that saying 720HD is a signal type, so in this there can be a large variation of media and bitrate and some are harder to play than others. For instance a blueray 720HD is a signal that demands more than a mere tv rip of a 720HD.
I would also hope that running XBMC standalone would make it use the hardware a lot more effektive than with for instance windows 7 pulling it down?
So basicly what im asking is what kind of hardware do you really need to watch normal 720HD ripped movies, tv shows and etc. No full 720HD, but a basic setup. Keeping in mind the 10 year 733Mhz legacy we all remember and love.
You need is decent GPU (not cpu) able to decode and support hardware acceleration for most common codecs.480p 720p or 1080p/i etc are resolution i.e. vertical x horizontal size of video picture. CPU is used for instance when the codec the video was encoded with doesnt support GPU decoding, like for instance anime in Hi10p.
Most hardware 5 years old and newer can easily support modern codecs and hw acceleration, mostly are well supported in Linux with nothing more than a OS under it.
TV shows are often interlaced irrespective of resolution not all GPUS support deinterlacing as well as others.
Any atom class cpu or better + nvidia GPU like GT9400 up to gt 610 or intel CPU with embedded GPU HD3000 or newer can handle pretty much all you want, bearing in mind that the newer the hardware the harder it is to be fully supported and bug free and especialy tue for Linux OS base. For ppl just starting out OE or XBMCbuntu is best, or if you prefer Windows or Android or OSX you can also install xbmc.
Read
First_time_user (wiki) for more info.
For modern x86 hardware, even a Celeron 847 can do 720p/1080p quite easily with around 20% CPU usage. There are a ton of threads here about various C847 hardware with good success. The next generation C1007U or C1037U is even better but about US$20 more expensive.
Great answers.
So im my case I was planning to go xbmc Live or xbmcbntu, depending on a few thing.
If I where living un the states I would surely just nuy some box and mod it to XBMC, but there are no good options here in Norway at a decent price.
So until a better solution I was hoping to use one of my old laptops, so would one or both of these work:
Notebook: Packard Bell EasyNote MZ35
Processor: Intel Celeron M 430 1,73Ghz
Graphics Adapter: ATI Radeon Xpress 200M 128 MB
Or the lower end GPU model:
Notebook: Fujitsu Siemens k 7600
Processor: AMD Mobile Athlon xp-m 2800+ 2123Mhz
Graphics Adapter. S3 ProSavage8
Also wil running xbmc in wondows 7 instead make it run a lot slower then standalone?
You could buy a Pivos xios
from here (they ship to Norway), the xios has a
linux xbmc firmware you can flash (micro SD card required). That box will take care of playing 720 and 1080 H.264 content as it has hardware decoders for common video formats.
Neither of those notebooks are particularly good options, they both have very old GPU's in them that wont have H.264 video decoding support, CPU's are pretty old too I wouldn't peg them as being great for CPU software decoding either.
Like starstream said and expanding.... With those laptops you have no choice but windows for that hardware + xbmc, if at all (key words here IF at all) suitable for any half decent high resolution playback via software decoding.
You may get away with VLC on windows on those, but you need opengl 2 or better for xbmc iirc.
Great tip Starstream.
I also found that the low cost Broadcom Crystal HD that would be great for other people with the same problem as me. Its a decoding card that wil fit in most newer laptops etc and do the decoding of most video formats so the CPU dont have to. All you need is a free Mini pci-e port, or connect the machine with cabled internet and extract your wireless card and use its slot. Great card for only 25$:
Crystal HD
Il take a look around guys, thanks for all your help!
uNiversal, I see your point and you are totaly correct.
I have one more choice and question with another machine I could use. The GPU as you say is important is basicly the same in this computer, but the CPU is better. Wil it work with the below computer because the CPU can do the job, or does the lack of GPU power make it impossible to play good mkv and mp4 files?
Fujitsu Siemens pa 1510
CPU: Turion 64 X2(dual core) TL-64 2200Mhz
4Gb RAM
GPU: ATI xpress 1100 128Mb (300Mhz/400mhz, open gl 2.0)
Specs
Ya that looks able of something for CPU (software decoding), but then the ATI drivers can be a problem, just dont install like the latest amd drivers and find they dont support your card.
IDK about that gpu and xbmc and windows or Linux at all it will be ok to run xbmc and ok fro CPU decoding (just dont complain if it gets hot or fans go awire
You would be well off with a raspeberry PI tbh.
(2014-02-20, 13:47)uNiversal Wrote: [ -> ]Ya that looks able of something for CPU (software decoding), but then the ATI drivers can be a problem, just dont install like the latest amd drivers and find they dont support your card.
IDK about that gpu and xbmc and windows or Linux at all it will be ok to run xbmc and ok fro CPU decoding (just dont complain if it gets hot or fans go awire
You would be well off with a raspeberry PI tbh.
Heh.
Yea i know by experience that the drivers are abit anoying on these cards. :-)
But i have good cooling so i should be ok. Are there any specific settings i ned to set xbmc to while software decoding? Il be running a aclean install, no windows.
No idea. Especially if your going Linux on there.