[mediatanker]

Hi Everyone,

I'm building a very small HTPC with a micro-ATX mainboard.
My Mainboard has a Nvidia 8200 video card embed.
Model : SOYO SY-N8+ V2.0 and I use HDMI cable to a 47" full HD flat screen Samsung.
Proc : Athlon x2 64 3600+
1 Gb DDR2 memory
2.5" sata hard disk

I installed the XBMC 9.04 'Babylon' version on my hard disk and boot from it.Great, it works like a charm or nearest...

...Problem with VDPAU an Nvidia 8200 card, VDPAU display very weird colorfull stripes all over the screen or play continuously a loop of 1 second movie ( approximately ) forwarding the video a bit at every try each time I play an H264 movie.

I been looking on this forum and on others for solutions, here are some interesting threads :

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=3...post327046

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=3...post324153

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=3...post317259

1/4 of that concern the beta version and they are all impossible to do for a noob on Linux as me.

I tried the command prompt, the python script, the backsplash and cpu frequency but I get get anything done, my unknowledge about Linux and the different kind of solutions are very confusing and lost of time.

Is anyone can make it clear and answer to some very noob questions :

1 . What's the problem with the 8200 ? the chipset is bugged or the driver or something else ? Will this issue be fixed in a next release of XBMC or it seems that it is better no use anymore this chip if I want the VDPAU activated ?
2 . I saw a python script, how to install it ? is there a step by step guide somewhere for me to try this solution of installing python script ?
3 . I tried that also : sudo cpufreq-set -g performance
the only way I see to type this command is to press "esc" before 3 seconds delay when XBMC is starting and boot on safe mod but after entering the login and password, I do type this command but I get an answer : sudo: cpufreq-set: command no found
4 . Is there a shortcut to acces to a command prompt once XBMC live is running ?

I hope the answers will help some people as it seems that some people got the solution and other still get the problem for the 8200 and VDPAU issue but they are spread in different threads and merge on the middle of other subjects sometimes and also a bit hard to understand for a noob in Linux , at least this XBMC thing, finally get me into Linux world that seems quite interesting.

[troipoison]

I have the same board. m3n78-vm? or p5n model?
same issues with VDPAU
I'm about to go with Ubuntu 9.04 and install XBMC.
I'm so far guessing the newest nvidia driver 180.51 might be needed.

You're aware of the need for alsa updates for s/pdif (front only)?

Jumping the s/pdif hurdle to make this board work, I never expected to run into another issue.

Final solution if newest driver doesn't work is to go quad-core (running 7750 X2) and run the system cpu dependant.

Let me know if you come up with anything.

[mediatanker]

I just edited my post and added the specs of my computer, my mainboard is a SOYO SY-N8+ V2.0 but I do think it is nothing about the mainboard but it is about the 8200 GPU.

Sorry, I do not know about alsa updates for s/pdif.

I can't change anything on that configuration as it is a matter of price, jumping to a quad core, I think it is not necessary even for Full HD decoding.

What I need is to take advantage of this new VDPAU function that will help to get a less fast and then cheaper processor with maybe less heat and so having a smaller fan an as silent as possible to build an HTPC.

XBMC is launched with the processor running at 1000Mhz, I am tryin to make it run at 1800Mhz as it seems to be one of the things to solve the problem.

I'll post here any new things coming up about this issur VDPAU/8200 with the live XBMC running.

[troipoison]

Alright then, disregard the s/pdif info. Only applies to the m3n and p5n boards.
Seems 8200 specific to me as well, however my final resolution of quad-core is a LAST resort. I'm going to be working on getting VDPAU on this integrated 8200 as well so keep me up to date on any advancements and/or trial errors you make, and I'll do the same.

you try that latest video driver yet?

[AllanMar]

The 8200 issue is fairly well known. Best following the VDPAU thread for info on that as thats where motd2k is following VDPAU issues.

I had these problems, rather than going quad core, you'd be much better off just getting a 9400GT 512mb PCI-E card. The issue is typically just lousy 1080p playback however. If your using IGP/AMD then you cannot set the CPU to 1Ghz, this could be the problem with your major issues. Do sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils then you can use cpufreq-info & cpufreq-set to view/control the cpu throttling.

My experience with the 8200 issues are before I started using XBMC live however. Most of them could be avoided by starting in windowed mode then switching to full screen. Some people have said the 8200 performs poorly on xbmc period (low frame rates for the menus)

EDIT: Also to one of your original questions. Press Ctrl+Alt+F1 or F2 or F3 to get to a prompt. Ctrl+alt+F7 should take you back to XBMC

[mediatanker]

HI,

thanks for your replies, I did some progress since yesterday.

Been able to access to the command prompt with the shortcuts and tries some stuffs, I am still not able to know how to download the new nvidia driver, look on some websites and found many infos but it is still confusing me, I need more work on the command prompt thing to get to solve this issue.

I tried a python script that automatically starts with CPU at 1.8Ghz, resize window with the "\" key ( backslach ), I am not from english speaking country so it took me a while to get to know what is the backslash key, lol.

The result to this python is that my CPU starts at 2GHZ ( normally before this script, it started at 1GHz ) and then I try to play a movie with h264 codec and it does not work, the result is exactly the same as before and then I go back to check the cpu speed and the cpu speed is back to 1Ghz...weird! So maybe there is something related to this, I been "playing" with the bios frequencies/voltage for the cpu but...nope..no positive result.

I m gonna try the commands youwrote Allanmar and looking for the thread from motd2k about the VDPAU.

I'm looking forward to see my tiny HTPC working, I got a really small pc case and waiting for a small cpu fan to be delivered.

I'll keep this post updated

[motd2k]

Make sure you allocated 512MB to your GPU in the BIOS.

[mediatanker]

Hi, I just did it and yes it works!! Still not perfect, some glitches sometimes but it is nearly it! It is so simple. :-)

So I am using the python script + 512Mb Frame buffer size on my mainboard.

Is the python script ( automatic cpu freq + "\" key at the boot ) and auto on resolution settings usefull ?

I think most noob would probably find the solution of the NVRAM interesting.

Thanks motd2k and the others. I am now reading all the messages on the forum about the VDPAU and about how to configure my XBMC live better like upgrading the NVidia drivers, maybe it might help to make it even better.