[DurhamDev]

I posted this incorrectly in a different thread, and wanted to ask in the proper spot...

I use EMM for most fanart, and it saves them as JPG, and I've also received info that using the TBN files is better... The Wiki says to use JPG, and I think someone posted that they converted theirs to BMP as they are not compressed.

My question is this. What works, and what is the best for speed? My P4-3.7GHz pauses for a few seconds when loading backdrops... The JPG files are around 400KB, and I know BMPs are around 3MB, so I don't know what would work better... ...or at all.

[SleepyP]

I believe the BMP trick is only applicable to the original Xbox, which has 64MB of RAM total (yes, really!), and thus needs every available scrap of resources. BMPs can be handled in hardware by the GPU on the Xbox and so they induce less of a performance hit than JPGs. On a computer it should not matter. You will wanna check some different skins, because they handle the transitions and stuff differently sometimes, resulting in slower fade times which are entirely by design and not because your system can't hack it.

Also, pretty much anyone in these forums will advise you to always use the most recent build of XBMC, since its under heavy development and newer is almost always improved. Do you know what OS and version of XBMC you are running? I'm a Windows guy, and have had best results with the DX version of XBMC.

[DurhamDev]

Also, pretty much anyone in these forums will advise you to always use the most recent build of XBMC, since its under heavy development and newer is almost always improved. Do you know what OS and version of XBMC you are running? I'm a Windows guy, and have had best results with the DX version of XBMC.

I'm using Windows XP SP3, with the latest Beta build of XBMC and Aeon Stark 0.91 with no mods... As my P4 also only has 1GB of RAM on-board, I thought the BMP trick might help out.

[spiff]

bmp is NOT about saving memory, it's about saving cpu cycles.

[AnalogKid]

You have to balance the time to load from disk and transfer across a network (small vs larger file) against the decompression time (jpg in 99% of cases will take longer than raw or RLE bmp)

If things are soooo critical that you're contemplating converting to BMP, then you're more or less spitting in the wind.

Stick with JPG or PNG.

[DurhamDev]

bmp is NOT about saving memory, it's about saving cpu cycles.

Good call. The system(s) I'm using aren't true powerhouses as it is, so it is pretty noticeable.

You have to balance the time to load from disk and transfer across a network (small vs larger file) against the decompression time (jpg in 99% of cases will take longer than raw or RLE bmp)

That makes sense. I DO plan to make this system the 'hub' for my home media centre, with another system upstairs, sharing this system's music, movie and tv show files.

[SleepyP]

Try a different skin. Aeon is notoriously hard on resources and even my quad core has trouble running it smoothly sometimes...