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Netix
Senior Member
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Any idea how I could add a bind in keymap.xml that would do a reboot command of the Chromebox when it freeze/hang on a video ? (Only a Hard reboot can fix it) After that I could bind that keyboard key to my flirc and reboot the chromebox with my remote !
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2014-07-14, 01:02
(This post was last modified: 2014-07-14, 01:04 by melter.)
important for anyone looking to buy a chromebox and plans to watch Hi10p content on it:
I bought the base chromebox (Celeron 2955U) a few weeks ago and have ran into issues with Hi10p content. I watch alot of 1080p Hi10p encoded anime, and the problem arises with scenes where there is a "film grain" effect (during flashbacks for example in "Another - Episode 10") this only happens on SOME anime, mostly with larger file size episodes (more reference frames maybe?). Anyway, the video just stops to buffer for 30 seconds, continues play back for 10-20 seconds, then stops to buffer again. As soon as the film grain flashback ends, playback continues smoothly.
CPU usage is about 50% during regular scenes and 80%-98% during scenes with film grain. Memory usage remains below 20% (I added a second 2GB stick of RAM for total of 4GB), and I am also playing from a USB 3.0 connected HDD (which I also tested on my Desktop PC and had no issues); so I am sure this problem is caused by the CPU.
Again, I do have other 1080p-Hi10P anime that plays without issue, but keep in mind this box is not able everything you throw at it. The CPU seems like it is just barely managing to keep up IMO.
I will likely return the chromebox and get an i5 Brix or something with a beefier CPU.
EDIT: Btw the box is running the latest XBMC on OpenELEC 4.0.7.
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Which one did you play Underwater or Coalgirls? I mostly only play 720p since the majority are upscaled and a waste of space.
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2014-07-14, 03:34
(This post was last modified: 2014-07-14, 04:04 by tetsuya.)
I've watched half of the Coalgirls and haven't had any freezes or buffering from my NAS. I'll try Underwaters and see how it plays. It does slow down to 20 fps on the grain scenes and I've had around 120 drops. I know the 1080p of Suzumiya Haruhi buffers at the beginning of the text heavy OP. For some of these 1080p Hi10p anime an i3 or better U processor would be needed. The Brix looks nice and you wouldn't have to go out of your way to get things working.
Edit: I finished Underwaters and had 16 drops and 23.976 fps the entire way. I'm using Arch linux with openbox, XBMC and 2GB of memory.
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I watched episode 10 from both releases off of my NAS using NFS. I didn't try it off of a usb3 drive, so I didn't have that extra overhead. CPU's were mostly between 45-55% usage and up to 95-100% on the scenes with a lot of grain. We should be have the same updated versions of software and openelec and arch are both pretty much straight from source without to much modefications done. I would still suggest going with the i3 or i5 brix if your going to be playing a lot of 1080p Hi10p content.
I can try playing it on my i5 4200U ultrabook with openelec tomorrow, but I don't see why it wouldn't play it. I can let you know the CPU usage and and any drops I get with Coalgirls since it more demanding on the CPU.
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The main issue with Hi10p content is that the Source is only 8bit not 10bit so that is a waste right there. I honestly have no idea why people started encoding 8bit into 10bit when the source is only 8bit. As of right now 10bit can only be software accelerated and that is a no go for lower end boxes like the celeron 2955U and Arm boxes out there. So I tend to stay away from the 10bit stuff personally.