[goujam]

Haha Im not really techie on this stuff. I want to know if I would lose any picture quliaty from the J1900 compared to a Pi. I've heard the GPU is crippled somewhat and upscaling is limited in the J1900 so SD content on a 1080 display looks bad. I was curious from another user perspective using newer firmware or anything :p

Sorry, I just noticed you wanted tests on a 1080 display - I've only got a 720p display.

I did check my MSI j1900 quickly over the weekend. It appears that other scaling methods are available when I bring up the video playback window: Lanczos3, Spline36 etc.

When enabled the CPU usage jumps to around 15-10% (from about 5-10%) but I was hard pressed to notice any difference in quality. I don't know if that's down to my display, the hardware (if those methods are actually being enabled?), or just my old age ;-).

For some reason I couldn't install the iPlayer addon initially, but it worked the next day. Playback appeared similar to my HP Microserver with a GT430 card.

Sorry if that's not much help, maybe goujam will be able to offer a bit more detail on the matter?

Sorry I didn't get much chance to play any files the weekend I was replacining my case and upgrading my ssd. I will try and download some 1080i samples to test out as all my files are 1080p or 720p. On a side not I had to do a fresh install and had some issues booting on USB had to boot using the USB 3.0 port in the end for some reason

[noggin]

If you are testing 1080i samples - make sure they are native interlaced 50i and not content that has been shot 25p and is just being carried 50i.

Sport and Entertainment shows are good 50i sources, high-end drama and documentary is usually shot 25p (as are movie broadcasts). And catch-up TV is usually 25p (so web downloads don't count)

[decpvr]

If you are testing 1080i samples - make sure they are native interlaced 50i and not content that has been shot 25p and is just being carried 50i.

Sport and Entertainment shows are good 50i sources, high-end drama and documentary is usually shot 25p (as are movie broadcasts). And catch-up TV is usually 25p (so web downloads don't count)

I was just trying SD content more for the scaling, rather than deinterlacing.

I did also try some live SD TV (fed from a tvheadend server).

On a different note I've realised I would like to use the dual audio patch for Openelec. That way I can just have the TV on with 2-channel audio, then switch my AVR on for 5.1 when I want it.

My only question is, does anyone know if it's possible to have dual video outputs as well?

I would like to use the DVI output to HDMI (via an adapter) running directly to the TV, when using 2-channel audio. I'd run a separate analogue audio feed for the sound.

Then use the HDMI output into my AVR (then out to the TV) for 5.1 audio.

Is this possible?

[noggin]

I was just trying SD content more for the scaling, rather than deinterlacing.

Ah - but good quality de-interlacing can significantly increase your SD source resolution - so improve the scaled result ;-)

I did also try some live SD TV (fed from a tvheadend server).

The BBC News or Sky News channel tickers and studio shots are quite good for source material, as would stuff like the Commonwealth Games at the moment.

[decpvr]

With all the talk of HQ de-interlacing & scaling I wonder if the following would work in my MSI J1900 motherboard:

One of these 1x to 16x riser cables - http://www.amazon.co.uk/EiioX-PCI-E-Expr...+1x+to+16x

With this passive GT630 plugged into it - http://www.amazon.co.uk/GeForce-Graphics...997&sr=1-1

Would it function? If so, would it still have adequate bandwidth to de-interlace & display the video correctly, whilst also bitstreaming HD audio?

It's more of a proposal and theoretical question, but it would be nice to know if the option was there! Plus it would still be silent ;-)

[decpvr]

I've bought this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201045744361

I'll give it a test with my GT430, which I intend to pull from my HP Microserver.

I'll try to post an update when I've had a chance to test it.

[decpvr]

I've bought this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201045744361

I'll give it a test with my GT430, which I intend to pull from my HP Microserver.

I'll try to post an update when I've had a chance to test it.

Just trying out my GT430, while it's still in my Microserver. Looks like it can only do 'VDPAU - Bob' for de-interlacing, with Lanczos3 for scaling.

Does anyone know what cards would support better de-interlacing options? Would a GT630 improve on this?

Or should my GT430 be able to support more options and I just need to sort out the drivers?

[noggin]

The GT430 should do a lot better than Bob. I think it should offer Temporal/Spatial? I'd check out your drivers - and make sure you've got VDPAU enabled. Or try running OpenElec temporarily.

[decpvr]

The GT430 should do a lot better than Bob. I think it should offer Temporal/Spatial? I'd check out your drivers - and make sure you've got VDPAU enabled. Or try running OpenElec temporarily.

Sorry I did mean to post an update: I did a little reading up and yes it can do Temporal/Spatial.

I'll be interested to see if the GT430 will work with the PCI-E header cable I've ordered

[decpvr]

I'll be interested to see if the GT430 will work with the PCI-E header cable I've ordered

Ok, I've managed to have a quick test with my GT430 and it's a no go.

The system will hang on boot, showing only the syslinux text (as it does on some systems when booting OpenElec). But it gets no further than this.

I can get into the bios menu and it displays correctly but there doesn't appear to be any options to do with the PCI-E bus which could help.

It looks like OpenElec recognises the card for audio output, as the options for using nvidia HDMI appear in the sound output options.

I didn't try using the sound output. I may try to give it a test later.

[decpvr]

Tried giving it a quick test to try sound output through my GT430.

This doesn't appear to work either.

I may try installing OpenElec onto a usb stick, whilst my GT430 is in-place & connected to my AVR/TV. I don't know if this will make any difference but I feel it's at least worth a try.

[luksol]

Hey, I just learned from VidOn.me forum that the price of their new VidOn Box (based on Android) is only $49! That's really a cheap price, even much lower that your budget!

The box has a quad-core CPU, eight-core GPU,1GB RAM and 8GB Flash, and built-in their own VidOn XBMC, I think that's what you want!

Sounds really tempting, what type of CPU and GPU it will be, do you know?

[decpvr]

I've posted a update regarding deinterlacing/scaling on my J1900i board here:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...pid1769081

It may be of interest to some of you!!