[piggeh]

XBMC does not feature GPU hardware acceleration support, all decoding is done on the CPU, so that it not a fast enough CPU for 1080p, (upscaling yes, but not smooth playback on H.264 encoded videos at native 1080p resolutions).

Unless XBMC's H.264 decoding is way slower than other Windowsbased codecs it should be able to decode 1080p without GPU acceleration.

My other Core2duo E6300 (1,86GHz) uses about 60% cpu when decoding 1080p MKV in XBMC anyway. So super-high-bitrate H.264's might not work fully, but most 1080p releases should definately work. I do believe that the 4850e is a bit faster than the E6300.

[CASHMON3Y]

Has this thread come to a conclusion yet? So far it seems cheaper to just buy an Apple TV.

[Gamester17]

Unless XBMC's H.264 decoding is way slower than other Windowsbased codecs it should be able to decode 1080p without GPU acceleration.

My other Core2duo E6300 (1,86GHz) uses about 60% cpu when decoding 1080p MKV in XBMC anyway. So super-high-bitrate H.264's might not work fully, but most 1080p releases should definately work. I do believe that the 4850e is a bit faster than the E6300.

XBMC (FFmpey) H.264 decoding is slower than other Windows decoders like CoreAVC and DivX AVC.

I think you find that most people in this forum have come to the conclusion that you need at least a Intel Core2 Duo E8400 (dual-core 3GHz) to the code the majority of 1080p H.264 videos. It is not just high-bitrate that matters.

Now this is an off-topic discussion as this thread is specifically about 720p playback.

[Clumsy]

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
BE-2400 (2,3Ghz) Cpu

720p ist no problem with the movies I have tried so far - cpu usage somewhere around 30-60% under windows. The distribution of cpu usage on both cores was even better under linux (which I recommend, the windows version wasn't too stable for me and had some glitches with the ati drivers - although the linux version has some tearing issues for now).

[sion28]

I think you find that most people in this forum have come to the conclusion that you need at least a Intel Core2 Duo E8400 (dual-core 3GHz) to the code the majority of 1080p H.264 videos. It is not just high-bitrate that matters.

Does this mean the gpu one gets really doesn't matter much?

[piggeh]

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
AMD Athlon X2 4850

Even though I have some problems with getting my projector to get the correct resolution I haven't had problems with any 720p x.264-movie so far. I also tried a 12Mbit 1080p movie which played without any problems.

[xbs08]

Will the new Atom 330 be suffice to play 720p x.264 content?

[davilla]

Will the new Atom 330 be suffice to play 720p x.264 content?

I have one and yes it will, one real issue is VGA only

[djerock]

Specs:

Motherboard ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2
RAM/Memory 2046MB RAM CORSAIR XMS2 2 GB (4 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Processor/CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, ~2.1GHz
Video Card(s) NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTO 512mb x2 SLI ........resolution 1920 by 1080
Sound Card SoundMAX HD Audio
Power Supply OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply
Case Antec Performance One P180 Silver cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Hard Drive(s) 3x WD 500GB SATA -HARD DRIVES,
Optical Drive(s) 2 Sony DRU-830A DVD-/+18x
Cooling Setup stock AMD

TV: VIZIO 46" 1080p LCD


(make sure you have the newest drivers installed for your video cards)
CPU usage is only at 10-20% now with the beta2 running with playback on H.264 encoded videos at native 1080p resolutions @60hrz on a XP pc

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
here is a list of cpu's and some specs i feel are good/well for XBMC to do 720p, 1080p and more.


Intel

* Intel Pentium E2200 (Allendale core)

o Specs: 2.20GHz, FSB 800MT/s, multiplier x11, 1MB L2 Cache, No support for VT
o Price: $84
o Notes: Despite the name, this dual-core processor is based on the same Core microarchitecture as the Core 2 Duo processors and has nothing to do with Pentium D processors. 2.20GHz is just enough to play back HD contents smoothly.

* Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 (Allendale core)

o Specs: 2.40GHz, FSB 800MT/s, multiplier x12, 2MB L2 Cache, No support for VT
o Price: $133
o Notes: Larger L2 cache helps better performance in several applications (in particular games and encoding).

* Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (Wolfdale core)

o Specs: 3.00GHz, FSB 1333MT/s, multiplier x9, 6MB L2 Cache, 45 nm
o Price: $183
o Notes: Currently the best bang for the buck among the 6MB L2 cache dual-core processors.

* Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (Kentsfield core)

o Specs: quad-core, 2.40GHz, FSB 1333MT/s, multiplier x8, 4MB L2 Cache
o Price: $266
o Notes: If you do lots of CPU intensive tasks (for example encoding), this is for you.

AMD

* AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ ADO4400DDBOX (Brisbane core)

o Specs: Socket AM2, 2.30GHz, multiplier x11.5, 2 x 512KB L2 Cache, 65W
o Price: $75
o Notes: 2.30GHz is just enough for every kind of video playback if your video card supports PureVideo HD Gen2 or UVD. An alternative is Athlon X2 BE-2400 ADH2400DOBOX 2.3GHz 45W (~$100), which runs cooler.

* Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition ADO5000DSWOF (Brisbane core)

o Specs: Socket AM2, 2.60GHz, multiplier x13 (unlocked), 2 x 512KB L2 Cache, 65W
o Price: $100
o Notes: If you need a faster processor for brute force video playback, this is it.

* Phenom 9500 HD9500WCGDBOX (Agena core)

o Specs: Socket AM2+, 2.20GHz, multiplier x11, 4 x 512KB L2 Cache, 2MB L3 Cache, 95W
o Price: $190
o Notes: As powerful as Core 2 Quad Q6600 for realtime decoding (but only for decoding).

[HexusOdy]

I got my Asus EEE Box setup. It runs XBMC perfectly, boots quickly, and is 100% silent.

Its also amazingly tiny.

Perfect for running XBMC in my opinion.

[eriksmith200]

I got my Asus EEE Box setup. It runs XBMC perfectly, boots quickly, and is 100% silent.

Its also amazingly tiny.

Perfect for running XBMC in my opinion.

Interesting to hear that it handles 720p without problems, it would be a great option for me if it had optical audio out

[tomcat01]

love it guys thanks great program just set up yesterday
at first some problems with the ati 4870 HD cat 8.9 but fine tuned it .. now working amazing

asus p5q deluxe
q6600 quad core
ati 4870 HD video card
4gigs 1066 reaper ram
psu coolermaster 1000w
5 hard drives 500-250-and e -320 sata


love it so far hooked up to my lg 52 lcd tv and all is perfect ..

thanks using prop driver ati with compiz enabled ..( i only put that because so many people have video problems )

now back to adding features ..

[xbs08]

I got my Asus EEE Box setup. It runs XBMC perfectly, boots quickly, and is 100% silent.
Its also amazingly tiny.
Perfect for running XBMC in my opinion.

Does it play 720p x.264 content w/o droped frames?
Does it have HDMI or DVI output?
What OS are you running?

Thanks

[HexusOdy]

Interesting to hear that it handles 720p without problems, it would be a great option for me if it had optical audio out

It does has optical Audio out dude. I have it connected to my Samsung Surround Sound system via Optical.

[HexusOdy]

Does it play 720p x.264 content w/o droped frames?
Does it have HDMI or DVI output?
What OS are you running?

Thanks

I havent tried x264 yet, I'm away at the moment but will try on Thursday when back.

Has DVI which is ideal as I'm using optical out for audio.

Running XP Home which boots in less than 30 seconds on the EEE box.