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Fyreheart · 2009-01-02, 12:33

I've had a dell Hybrid for the last couple of months. I got it specifically to hook up to my 1080p plasma.

I've played about with other media players all giving different results. But I ended up with 2 or 3 different players for each type of media I wanted to play. Being a xbmc user with my Xbox many years ago I thought I would install it and give it a whirl.

Sad to say mine doesn't work anywhere near as perfectly as jonnypajamas's setup appears to. I can play 720p fine...and 1080p plays...but with some major annoying tearing. It's so annoying I'm actually thinking about scrapping it as a media player and building something from scratch.

Specs as follows...T8100 2100mhz, 4gb ram.

So sad to say I wouldn't recommend a hybrid for 1080p at all.

Dannydeman · 2009-01-02, 14:45

@Fire..
Well, you might want to try the build from Jester which is especially for Intel people who have tearing. I also notice annoying tearing on 1080P with a intel onboard graphcis card, other mediacenters played the 1080P content just fine. Many people says the patched version is working, I still need to try it though.

**Jeroen** · 2009-01-02, 14:53

I experienced tearing before too, but not only with 1080p, even with SD material. That was with 8.10 final. I compile my own builds regularly and the problem just went away basically, not sure from what build on. So yeah you might want to try a newer custom build.
I mostly play 720p or lower but the 1080p material I have played really didn't give me any trouble. I also have the T8100.
I'm running XP on it though.

**jonnypajamas** · 2009-01-12, 15:34

I haven't experienced any tearing yet, have you raised your video cache as high as it will go? do you have a 5400 or 7200 rpm hd? what type of hdmi are you going into what sized plasma? are you in native resolution for the screen? etc.

BassKozz · 2009-01-15, 23:15

I am planning on purchasing a few of these Studio Hybrids so I can setup a MythTV config for a friend of mine, and I've been researching the heck out of this thing because I've heard that it can/&/cannot play HD 1080p video...

After reading this whole thread, it seems to me the solution is to purchase the Hybrid with the "BluRay" player (even thou Bluray playback isn't supported in Linux) so that you get the added "Hardware/Media Accelerator".
Am I correct with that assumption?

I wish Dell would make a version of the Studio Hybrid with a Nvidia graphics card that could take advantage of the new VDPAU drivers, the benchmarks look SWEET.

smartins · 2009-01-20, 13:13

One thing that is holding me from buying a Hybrid is that it doesn't come with a built-in infrared sensor. The idea of having a USB infrared device sticking out of the unit is a huge letdown to me. Otherwise this would be the best hardware to run XBMC on.

Dannydeman · 2009-01-20, 13:40

If you want to play 1080P, never go for the X3100.
It will drive you nuts, since much 1080P movies will be choppy (sometimes).
You won't find your mediacenter with a X3100, and you will change endless till you relise it's a crap videochip.

It works the best in Vista Mediacenter, works in XBMC as well but you'll have tearing. Mediaportal will also work, but only with CoreAVC. It's just on the edge, and you will be annoyed with it.

Thats why I get my Dell Studio 15 today with the Ati Mobility HD 3450 Wink

Hopefully I'll get a nice XBMC experience without any tearing.

shinnlly · 2009-01-20, 20:37

Hey Dannydeman, can you share a link to the Dell you ordered?

Please give us a review once you have tested it out.

jcraven · 2009-02-09, 23:40

XBMC is great but unfortunately the Hybrid is not. It's blu-ray playback is limited, even when just playing disks it stutters. When you try to stream blu-ray it's unwatchable. I paid over $900 for mine with 4gb and the best processor with the built in blu-ray drive.

johnny2 · 2009-02-13, 10:51

jcraven Wrote:XBMC is great but unfortunately the Hybrid is not. It's blu-ray playback is limited, even when just playing disks it stutters. When you try to stream blu-ray it's unwatchable. I paid over $900 for mine with 4gb and the best processor with the built in blu-ray drive.

You need to use the Broadcom mini PCI card included with the blu ray option. If you are getting stuttering, you are not utilizing it.

**Dougie Fresh** · 2009-02-20, 16:16

For about the same price with better (much) specs you can get the Dell Studio Slim. It can be turned on its side to look have the same profile as another piece of equipment in your AV rack.

The best place to find these is on the Dell Outlet site. You can get a refurb with 4GB RAM, 640GB 7200rpm HDD, Pentium Core2Duo 2.53GHz, Blu-ray and ATI Radeon HD 3450 for $559. If you'd looked in January they also had a 20% off coupon so maybe they'll have one again sometime. I think this is the direction I am going to go. I have a lot of great luck with Dell Outlet.

NAYY.

frumpy_uk · 2009-02-21, 19:37

I've got one of these Studio Slims. Be warned that the fans and the PSU can be very noisy. I've had to replace the case fan, CPU fan, and the PSU. Also bear in mind that the small form factor means that the expansion slots are all low profile. Finally, my experience was that although you can place the box on it's side, you still need plenty of space above it otherwise it will run hot.

Just my 2 pence worth...

danpritts · 2010-06-15, 21:40

Bumping this thread - this box is down to $299.

Still has the X3100 graphics, no mention of a blu-ray option.

any comment on recent experience with this box and XBMC? Can the broadcom card be added?