[MoistCowbell]

Hi,

For the last few months I have been running Win7 with XBMC running as a 2nd monitor (long HDMI run to receiver and then TV).

GIGABYTE GA-G41MT-S2PT LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
8GB RAM
Intel Q8300
GIGABYTE GV-N220OC-1GI GeForce GT 220 1GB 128-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0

It's been working pretty well; apart from the rare issue of losing HDMI syncup which causes XBMC to start up on the wrong screen, and sometimes I lose a bunch of frames requiring me to restart the XBMC process. Also, XBMC is using between 10% and 25% of my CPU even when we're not doing anything.

I understand my video card is capable of VDPAU acceleration, but only if I use linux. My question is - is this accurate? If so I'll probably make the host Linux, and run a virtualbox for some of the windows-based apps I run. Most notably, Snapraid, a snapshot-raid app (free) that keeps my local disks protected. I assume there would be no issue with running this type of backup software from a Windows VM, can anyone confirm?

Could going from Windows to Linux with a VDPAU video card result in better performance with lower CPU and lower power consumption?

Thanks for any help

[Jogee]

Before you go changing your OS, have you played at all with the algorithmdirtyregions tag in advancedsettings.xml? It might help in reducing the load at the gui.

I use the following on my setup (see tagline):

Code:

<advancedsettings>
<gui>
<algorithmdirtyregions>1</algorithmdirtyregions>
<nofliptimeout>1000</nofliptimeout>
</gui>
</advancedsettings>

You might have to play with the values a little, but they are explained pretty well in the wiki.

Is that 10-25% load you noted just on the XBMC executable? Or is that a system load?

[MoistCowbell]

Before you go changing your OS, have you played at all with the algorithmdirtyregions tag in advancedsettings.xml? It might help in reducing the load at the gui.

I use the following on my setup (see tagline):

Code:

<advancedsettings>
<gui>
<algorithmdirtyregions>1</algorithmdirtyregions>
<nofliptimeout>1000</nofliptimeout>
</gui>
</advancedsettings>

You might have to play with the values a little, but they are explained pretty well in the wiki.

Is that 10-25% load you noted just on the XBMC executable? Or is that a system load?

I haven't done much tinkering in advancedsettings.xml, I will try that today.

The 10 - 25% is just the xbmc process. Granted, I am running Aeon skin and like to have all the eye candy turned on.

It's a little odd that there isn't hardware acceleration for this card available in Windows - in my experience, hardware is 'best' supported in Win due solely to the large user base.

I'm a green energy nut - I have a large PV system so I'm always trying to reduce my energy footprint and I see a move to Linux as something that might help overall. At this second, my home is consuming ~ 420W (Fridge/PC/DVR/IPcam stuff/router etc). I figure I can consolidate my Directv DVR (going all OTA w/XBMC) and surveillance DVR (zoneminder service) into one energy efficient machine. Offloading XBMC's thirst to the GPU would go a long way towards accomplishing that goal.

Thanks again!

[Jogee]

Just as a note, XBMC doesn't accelerate the GUI, just the video (certain codecs?) when playing.

Granted I don't have experience with XBMC on Linux, but I don't see how this fundamental aspect would change across OS. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, however.

Be careful if you're putting your XBMC box to sleep to save power. HDMI is pretty finicky with it's sync (largely a HDCP think I understand) if you turn the PC on before the AVR or display device is turned back on.

Good luck!

[MoistCowbell]

Thanks - I will probably find another skin with more of a static look when not in use.

Is it true that the only way to get hardware acceleration when playing videos is through Linux? I am equally comfortable with Win and Linux, and already own the Win license so there is no cost difference. I just want the best performance and lowest power utilization.

[fritsch]

Just as a note, XBMC doesn't accelerate the GUI, just the video (certain codecs?) when playing.

How can DirectX / OpenGL not be accelerated?

[Jogee]

Hi Fritsch.

As I noted, I'd be happy to be corrected. But I can only go by what I see, as I'm certainly not smart enough to be a developer.

Perhaps you could answer why the XBMC system info screen shows my CPU load at around 35% load when XBMC is sitting idle. But if I exit to the desktop, with no other changes to the system, the load drops to <3% (with or without Aero enabled). I would have imagined that I shouldn't see such a high load if the graphics card was accelerating things.

If I change the option to use full screen window rather than true full screen, the CPU load drops to <20% in exactly the same scenario.

I'm not complaining, but I am a bit curious.