[Alan B'Stard]

Some Hi10p processing can be handed to hardware, and this can make the difference between choppy and smooth playback.

At least this youtube video about Hi10p testfile playback on Acer Iconia W4 tablet with Intel Atom Baytrail CPU using Media Player Classic Homecinema suggests so:
http://youtu.be/Eryqjsv53gs

Well, this isn't really hardware decoding though it is technically impressive. MadVR is using shaders to get the GPU to assist the CPU in decoding, which is a smart way to go about it, but this isn't the same as hardware decoding.

There are and will be no hardware decoders for 10bit h264, only for 10bit h265, it's a dead end, so beats my why it's a de facto standard in anime instead of h265.
But there seems to be enough that can be handed over to hardware to get things smooth... if only software supports this.

Like, I have received no word from QNAP whether Kodi on QNAP mediaplayer NASes makes use of these hardware capabilities.
I want to get a TS-451 (Celeron J1800) or a TS-451+ (J1900) for storage and playback, but not unless I know they will play most of reasonable 1080p Hi10p content.

(EDIT: UPDATE: and I was wrong, boxes claiming hardware-accelerated 4K 10bit h264 hardware are already pre-selling)