Cheap system and specs that will run XBMC Linux really well

Well, realistically if you want to know how well your system can decode x264, just run it on any OS and it will give you a good idea.
But in saying that I wouldn't say it's an actual debate, someone just wondering if, in XBMC my system specs will be good for x264 Hi Def and full Hi Def video. Which would play a very similar frame rate, if not the same, from VLC in linux anyways, and probably VLC in Vista/XP...

yeah media player classic in vista can fully use AVIVO and PurevideoHD so you want to make sure you use something that doesn't use codecs which can use this acceleration in any OS since linux doesn't have it.

I just feel bad when the end-user mac mini purchaser leads them to something thats (slower?) than an original xbox1 and cost alot more.

Right now i think it would be safe to say for h264/vc-1/blu-ray/mpeg2 1080P:

2.4ghz Core 2 duo
2 DDR2-667 dual interleaved sticks of ram
Decent graphics card like 8600GTS/7900/ or best 8800 nvidia
standard "7200.10 class" fast hard drive

Yeah that should cover most formats for right now without stutter and handle hardware overlay with least pain.

It appears that coreavc is significantly faster than its OSS counterpart. I'm just now getting around to testing it (requires patching and compiling mplayer), but check out the findings in this review -- http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/vide...o_dec.html

It seems to compare favorably to the hardware acceleration from ATI and NVIDIA. Does anyone have any real world experience with it to comment on whether the review gives an accurate picture of its performance?

that article is ancient. AVIVO (radeon 2600) and (8600gt(s)) PurevideoHD would annihilate coreavc nowadays using media player classic with the right combination of codecs.

let us know how coreavc turns out though, it is not free.

Also consider the bitrates of 1080p should be more along the lines of 20-40megabit. Things get alot hairier.

untg99 Wrote:Just letting people know of a system I just banged up yesterday which runs 720P very nicely (haven't tried 1080).
I was surprised at how smooth and well it ran, considering the price.

CPU 1.6Ghz Core2Duo - $57
Mobo Cheap - $69
1GB 667 DDR2 - $70
Asus 8600 Geforce (Silent/HDMI/HDCP Compliant<(For an Xbox 360 HD DVD Drive) - $126
$287

I had the other items (case, power supply, Old HDD) so they weren't factored in.
I could get away with 512MB of RAM I think as well.

Very interesting results.

I have recently purchased a couple of Asus Pundit machines of differing specifications that I intend to trial XBMC-Linux on. I will let you know how I get on.

I have performed some tests with a mid-low end PC:

CPU 1.86 Core2Duo
Integrated Intel 965Q graphic card
Kubuntu 704, latest Intel drivers, 1.4 Mesa 6.5.2
XBMC set to run at 720p

Stream #1:

Container type: AVI OpenDML
Resolution: 960 x 540
FourCC: xvid/XVID
Resolution: 960 x 540 (*)
Framerate: 23.976 fps
Bitrate: 1484.041875 kbps

CPU: 10% to 15 %

Stream #2
Container type: matroska
Resolution: 1280 x 544
Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Framerate: 25 fps
User data: bitrate=4543

CPU: 30% to 35 %

Stream #3
First chunk of MPEG-2 the Transport Stream Test Patterns at:

http://www.w6rz.net/

i.e.
1080p@24.0, 40 Mbps CBR (with no zero stuffing) in a 48 Mbps Transport Stream

CPU: 50% to 55%

Looks like quite promising!

Cheers
Luigi

gaogao Wrote:CPU: 50% to 55%

This means that one of your cores is maxed out...expect frame drops.

i found media-portal on vista skipped with haali (oddly only haali wrapped) blu-ray materail at 1.8ghz (E4300), bumping that up using the pin mod to 2.4ghz got rid of this problem. I believe the new FFDshow is starting to show up COREAVC for software decoding. You'd be pretty good to go with a core 2 duo overclocked 33%, dual interleaved ram, and a decent brute force video driver since it may be a long time until GPU enhancement like AVIVO/PUREvideo2 (HD) is presented to linux community.

no problems at all using alot of horsepower to soft decode and a decent amount of GPU raw bandwidth to play 1080p.

for linux that probably means those 256mbit ram interface 7xxx series cards will outrun the lowly 128bit 8500gt or 8600gt. In vista the 8500gt an 8600gt can play 1080p vids with like 10-20% cpu due to excellent driver support.

cost is high right now to use xbmc linux, alot higher than an xbox1 you know the ole xbox1 can play xvid 960x540 upsampled to 1920x1080i quite nicely. last time i checked the pawn shops they were wanting $50 lol. the price to jump to full 1080p is pretty hefty right now