CPU or GPU for 1080i?

Trying to put together a system for watching up to 1080i videos but I realized I'm not exactly up on the cutting edge for this. I was thinking it sould be awesome to use something like the VIA EPIA to run this since its small and compact, more appliance like. Pretty sure that 1.5 GHz won't be able to keep up on the decoding though.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainbo...ard_id=470

Anyone ever heard of a mini-PCI GPU, and for that matter one capabable of decoding a 1080i stream?

With that I've got to ask if anyone out there has found a good solution to decoding this and routing it to a component(YPbPr) output?

Thanks,
Devan

Umm, the decoding is done on the CPU no hardware acceleration from the GPU. That should be taken into account when selecting a CPU. There's multi-core decoding though so if you've got more than one core it helps a great deal. My sig has my setup, watching an HD-DVD rip now with H.264 encoding and HIGH bitrate I'm seeing less than 40% per core - both cores engaged

Please read this:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=31466

That "Fiirestation" HTPC is based on a VIA VIA EPIA motheboard with integrated uniChrome graphics.

Not going to be fast enough for 1080i video encoded in H.264

PS! BLKMGK is correct, the GPU is not really used in XBMC for video decoding (yet)
http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Hardware_Acc...o_Decoding

Heh, yeah I missed that VIA part, that's a sure fire warning of trouble for playback. Neat boxes but not for XBMC right now - too weak on multiple fronts.

If you want something SMALL right now I'd look at some of the 775 based Shuttle XPCs. $300 some odd dollars, a C2D, some memory, and maybe a vid card if the onboard one sux. NOT the cheapest way to go but it's a good looking box and cheaper than the HTPC build I did and more compact. A 2Ghz Mac Mini and the OSX port is also something to consider but research that first in the OSX forum. Lastly read this link to find out what WORKS for PC hardware http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=28648

im tinking of buying a macbook logic board. on ebay you can get a core duo @ 2ghz for 300us. that should have the grunt for 720p and since its laptop parts it should require little power