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Just a quick question for the experts out there...performance wise for Nvidia graphics: Now that XBMC for Windows has dxva2 support, is there any advantage to using the Linux version of XBMC?

Really what I'm interested in is video playback...is one any better than the other?

Thanks for any input.

Gary.
there shouldn't be much differences. i've heard rumours the default color profiles on windows is a bit more glary (but this is configurable anyways). iow; use whatever os you prefer.
If you intend to use a dedicated computer (HTPC) for media playback, especially movies, then I would recommend you give Linux a try. The Live edition of XBMC is great!

The Live edition contains only XBMC thus leaving more CPU and RAM for your video playback Smile
XBMC OSX

Advantages:


1. Sophisticated Logitech Harmony remote support.
2. Works on Apple TV once hacked.
3. "Just Works" digital optical out.
4. Maybe easiest to use version.

Disadvantages

1. No hardware playback acceleration outside of Broadcom cards and a few Nvidia cards
2. Software decoded Flash in OSX is worse than Windows software decoded Flash.
3. HDMI audio out only with newest Mac Minis.
4. No magical matching of video source FPS as display rate.
5. DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD files destroy this version- nothing better than regular DTS or AC3 can be played back.

XBMC LINUX


Advantages

1. Has specialty distro with intention of making XBMC appliance.
2. Has hardware playback acceleration for recent Nvidia GPUs, Intel GPUs, and Broadcom cards.
3. Working magical matching of video source FPS as display rate
4. Working HDMI- including 7 channel uncompressed audio on some boards once configured and Dolby True-HD decoding
5. Works on hacked Apple TV (somewhat).
6. Advanced scripting and Lirc customization.
7. Is able to have hardware playback acceleration for raw FLV with streaming sities that allow you to have access to the feed (CBS, Youtube)

Disadvantages

1. Linux is hardest OS to work with traditionally- LIRC in particular is a pain.
2. No decent playback acceleration on ATI hardware.
3. No hardware accelerated Flash for streaming sites (in fact Flash is worse than OSX version). This is important for sites where you can't get at the raw feed.
4. Even with working HDMI and 7 channel support, this version cannot decode DTS HD files to PCM - you only get the DTS core unless you convert it to FLAC using eac3to

XBMC WINDOWS

Advantages

1. Has hardware accelerated Flash in 10.1.
2. Has hardware playback acceleration for almost any GPU that can do so.
3. Working magical matching of video source FPS as display rate.
4. Working HDMI- including 7 channel uncompressed audio, DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD on some setups once configured - all decoded properly with FFDshow. On some hardware bitstreaming of HD audio (Dolby TrueHD) is available.


Disadvantages

1. Sometimes difficult to configure remotes and audio. In particular FFDShow tweaking and HD audio tweaking require some real skill.
2. No DXVA support in most recent official stable release.
3. Different Windows versions support differing hardware acceleration features (DXVA vs DXVA2) necessitating in some cases newest version
4. Compared to minimal Linux install, Windows requires more system resources.
Thanks guys for the info, poofyhairguy that was a really informative comparison.

Much appreciated! I think I'll setup dual boot with Windows and Linux and see which one performs better for me.

Thanks again.

Gary.