[lordmozilla]

will a broadcom crystal HD mini PCI-E work in a windows environment win XBMC ?

WinXP

Win7

XBMC would recognize natively the card...or some weird mod will be needed ?

no idea. I only use Linux. for a dedicated media center I'd definitely would recommend it. especially with those Ubuntu builds, it really is easy!

[kingofbeans]

Hi Guys,

Perhaps I'm being stupid but I couldn't find much around the net about using old computers as media centres with some of these new graphics cards that can decode 1080p. I have an old P4 3Ghz system with PC3200 ram, and PCI-E slot, The MOBO was very good at the time and the case is a nice coolermaster wavemaster so to resurrect it would be awesome, also I see some new gfx cards can passthrough DTS-hd and true-hd which is exactly what I need! I looked at some NMTs like the popcorn hour but none seem to successfully pass through dts-hd AND xbmc would be a lot nicer! What do people think about how successful my plan to resurrect this with a new gfx card might be? will xbmc be perfectly smooth and nice? Also which graphics card would give me flawless 1080p and HD audio passthrough for my amp? For information my motherboard is an Asus AG8 (3rd eye I think).

Thanks in advance for any help you can give, I am very out of practice!

[kingofbeans]

Hi, Sorry to add to my own selfish help me post! But I see xbmc doesnt do bitsreaming TrueHD and DTS, and only a couple of windows programs do, BUT xbmc will still send LPCM out at 5.1 so it should be pretty much equivalent! Also maybe xbmc will eventually be able to do bitstreaming! So My question is... and sorry again... Will my current system with a recommended card be able to decode/uncompress the trueHD or DTShd tracks?

Please help! Thanks!

[poofyhairguy]

If you have PCI express, a Nvidia 220GT + the about to be released XBMC Live would make a GREAT combo for a P4 HTPC.

[kingofbeans]

Thanks Poofyhairguy! Thought I might have been just talking to myself for a while there! So, after having done a lot of quick research I think my choices are the HD5450 or something like the 220GT. Out of interest what makes the 220 the best choice above the 210 or something more expensive?

I realise that xbmc wont go with the ATI so I guess Im deciding whether I rather xbmc or bitstreaming... and xbmc will probably win! But will the decompressing of audio rather than bitstreaming be hard on the computer? and is xbmc able to convert all formats to LPCM? Finally, will the xbmc experience be good and smooth on a setup like that or is this going to result in a sluggish system compared with investing in good new stuff?

[kingofbeans]

On another thread someone asked the following without reply:

I just noticed these two interesting features for the upcoming XBMC release:

1. Added support for WASAPI (Windows Audio Session API) for raw bitstream output
2. Added support for unencrypted Blu-ray Disc playback (via libbluray and libbdnav) without menus


Regarding the first, does this mean that if you have either a

* Ati HD5xxx videocard, or
* Intel Core i3 processor, or
* Asus/Auzentech HD audiocard


you will be able to select the WASAPI audio output device in the XBMC settings and have it bitstream the HD audio to the receiver? I know that this requires Windows and cannot be done on Linux/OSX.

Secondly, does the support for unencrypted BluRay disc support mean I won't have to extract the .m2ts file(s) from .iso images, and that the library scraper recognizes the BDMV directory structure? Or does this only apply to physical BluRay discs?

I too would be interested in an answer to this.

And, he mentions the ATI HD5xxx card... I understood that nvidia cards are what you should go for with xbmc, or is that just with xbmc in linux?

Also I just took multichannel LPCM as given if it didnt bitstream DTS-HD. Now it seems its more complicated... Will it continue to be? Or will the new xbmc be any help?

This is very confusing! Cheers!

[jtisgeek]

I have a old 631 P4 3 gig 8400gs does well .
When you guys say 1080p what kind of file I have trouble with large mkv files other than that it's great little machine.

Am also on windows cause I like to be able to do other things is that my problem.

[lordmozilla]

I have a old 631 P4 3 gig 8400gs does well .
When you guys say 1080p what kind of file I have trouble with large mkv files other than that it's great little machine.

Am also on windows cause I like to be able to do other things is that my problem.

How large?

Your P4 with 3GB of ram should handle anything really. My Atom 230 with 2GB of ram can handle 14GB 1080p mkv files. (although I am on linux, you can do other things on linux too you know ;-))

[jtisgeek]

10 to 14 gb yeah I have 2 gb of ram and I only get about 15 fps on those files so it lags and you can tell. Been doing some reading seems to be a windows thing gpu isn't doing as much in windows to help.

My wife likes to play games on the big screen that why I use windows. I use Linux for other stuff at work and would switch in a heart beat.

[essex_chris]

I've got a couple of Xbox consoles running XBMC, but it would be good to get HD support on my 50" 1080p plasma - and whilst i am considering getting a WD media player i have a couple of older PCs sitting around doing nothing.

They are both P4 machines, and have AGP graphics cards. Is there anything suitable to put in this to enable me to playback 1080p content? MKV files, Trailers, HD camcorder footage etc. ?

I was hoping that a suitable graphics card upgrade would give a P4 2.8GHz machine enough grunt to do it - given that an Intel Atom machine with a suitable graphics card can.

Any recommendations?

Although they are both ugly old P4 2.8GHz boxes they will be in a vented cupboard along with other AV gear, and for watching HD content there will be a full home cinema surround sound setup running.

I could go for a new Acer Aspire Revo ION based machine, but that's £150 and up and if i can use equipment i already have that would be great.

Thanks in advance.

[lordmozilla]

I could go for a new Acer Aspire Revo ION based machine, but that's £150 and up and if i can use equipment i already have that would be great.

Thanks in advance.

In power savings you'll probably pay back your revo box in 2 years if you leave it on 24/7.

[essex_chris]

If it was on 24/7 you're probably right, but it'll only be used a few times a week initially, and even after that it'll mainly be an evening thing.

£150 is a lot of electricity at 12p per kwh

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/sapphire-r...5-pdt.html

Think that a 3650 would be enough to play 1080p content?

[lordmozilla]

Think that a 3650 would be enough to play 1080p content?

I only use linux so I would go with a Nvidia GT210 so you can use VDPAU. On windows, I have no idea.

[poofyhairguy]

Think that a 3650 would be enough to play 1080p content?

I only use Nvidia personally, but I would recommend at least a 4xxx series card if you go the ATI route.

[danpritts]

wow, this is great. I was expecting i'd have to buy something brand new but it sounds like the shuttle 2ghz athlon i have sitting here is just a video card away from a 1080p-playing box of happy.

Someone mentioned that it's a hassle to get HDMI audio working - what are the likely limitations of the onboard SPDIF on the shuttle? 7.1 isn't important, I've got 5.1 (6 month old Denon receiver). I'll have another PCI slot available, what would a PCI or USB sound device that "just works" cost me? (and more importantly which one shoudl I buy

Just to confirm, any Nvidia GeForce 210 card should be capable of doing 1080p with the XBMC liveCD?

Would this also do accelerated flash video if I installed windows (XP, win7 seems like a bit much for this old box)?