[crashnburn]

XBMC + Hardware: Drive 30" 2560 x 1600 LCD via Dual link DVI-D or DisplayPort?

1 - SOFTWARE/OS :

a - Can XBMC be run at this native resolution? If so which variations of XBMC / OS could do this/ support this?

2 - HARDWARE:

a - VIDEO:
- I'd like find the smallest box/ machine / Barebones or HTPC Media Streaming that has
the Video Hardware to support for XBMC to Drive the 30" 2560 x 1600 LCD at Native Resolution
- Integrated or Dedicated GPU to support this resolution (Intel, AMD or NVidia - No prefs here)

b - PORTS:
- Dual link DVI-D
OR / AND
- DisplayPort

BONUS:
- eSATA/ USB 3.0
- LAN/ Gigabit LAN
- WiFi (Optional)

I first thought of this a while back and posted it in some LONG thread but never wrote in detail asking about it.

Can any of the options in the above groups run XBMC / OpenELEC at 2560x1600 native resolution via DVI-D (for a 30" LCD) that I have ?

If so, I'd prefer to try one of the Slim Zotac / Apple TV like box that does that.

Thoughts / Suggestions?

[PatrickVogeli]

You can install any OS that supports that resolution (windows and ubuntu should both do that, not sure about openelec or xbmcbuntu), but note that all skins are designed to works best at resolutions of up to 1920x1080. XBMC will be upscaled to 2560x1600, but it won't be native.. and I doubt it will ever be.

Right know it makes no sense to support that resolution, since XBMC is thought to be connected to a TV, which are 1920x1080 right or lower. The next step will be 4K support... but that's a long wait I believe.

[crashnburn]

You can install any OS that supports that resolution (windows and ubuntu should both do that, not sure about openelec or xbmcbuntu), but note that all skins are designed to works best at resolutions of up to 1920x1080. XBMC will be upscaled to 2560x1600, but it won't be native.. and I doubt it will ever be.

Right know it makes no sense to support that resolution, since XBMC is thought to be connected to a TV, which are 1920x1080 right or lower. The next step will be 4K support... but that's a long wait I believe.

I do not want XBMC to render 2560x1600 but upscaled would be fine. You might wonder why I'd need this?

The reason is here -
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1527751

The XHD3000 comes with a Scaler Chip that can handle less than native resolution. BUT, if and when we use less than Native INPUTs (via HDMI or other inputs) the SCALER chip becomes ACTIVE, gets SUPER HOT and within a month or two makes the LCD to stop working.

I and many people learnt this the hard way. My current/ recent box was the APLPE TV 1 - ATV1 via HDMI which gave outputs to the XHD at 720p etc. and eventually the Monitor stopped working.

So, if at all SCALING needs to be done, I'd rather offload the scaling work to the box that will run XBMC and not have to STRAIN the SCALER chip on the Monitor.

To prevent that, I need find HARDWARE that can do what I need and has the right kind of "output" ports that are supported under the OS variants of XBMC.
i.e. Linux, Windows and maybe other ones?

I did go through Eskro's thead - But, not very many people would be thinking about this UNIQUE REQUIREMENT.
Your Very First HTPC? But Where do You Start?
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94199

Can people with lot of expertise with BOXES make some suggestions and guide me?