[r0k5t4r]

Hi,

I'm really lost. In September 2009 I spent a whole lot of money to build a htpc. I wanted to build a system that suits all my needs:

Digital Cable TV / Radio (recording, scheduling, viewing)
Music Playback (Audio CD, MP3 etc.)
Video Playback (BluRay... yeah not possible yet under Linux, DVD, several formats)

I tested several media centers and finally came to xbmc. Even there is no real PVR support, I really like it and it looks just awesome, but... yes there are some buts.

I have a ASUS M4A785D-M Pro Mobo with integrated ATI GPU. I purchased it because it was said to be perfect for htpc. Under Windows this might be true but under Linux the support seems to be pretty bad.

The big problem is that I can only use Software or Basic shaders for video playback. The playback is not really smooth, I get tearing and the screen (Samsung 32' LCD) flickers. Also the quality of tvheadend is really disappointing. I'm not sure if this is also down to the GPU? This is really annoying. Now I read that newer Nvidia cards support VDPAU and have better Linux support. Is this true? I checked ebay for an 8800 GT, they seem to be pretty affortable these days. Another Problem is that my soundcard only works sometimes. I boot the htpc, it doesn't work. I reboot and it works. I guess there is something wrong with the modules or links? I don't know it's really weird.

The thing is I don't like to play around anymore. In the beginning this was really fun, but now I just want a system that does what I want it to do. If I have to invest more money I just sell the htpc and go for an Xtreamer.

Really nothing against XBMC. Keep on the great work. It really is the best media center out there. Can't wait to see the PVR finally making it's way in the next release. *dreaming*.

[rupert]

ATI has been traditionally less supportive of the Linux community then NVidia . That being said I think the ATI linux drivers have been improved recently(?), but the XBMC guys only support NVidia on Linux for GPU accell.

I guess some broadcom chip is also on it's way towards this however. There's a thread all about it in the feature request forum I think.

For linux (for now) NVidia is your friend, ATI is your enemy.

-Rupert

[bobo1on1]

That being said I think the ATI linux drivers have been improved recently(?), but the XBMC guys only support NVidia on Linux for GPU accell.

From my point of view, it seems as if every time ati releases a new driver, something in xbmc breaks because of it.

[>>X<<]

I'm pretty sure without checking the speck your iGPU supports DXVA so you should look at the DSPlayer branch of XBMC or running XBMC using MPC-HC as an external player with either of those options using DXVA your CPU will hardly move even with 1080p

If you want to go the nVidia route I would go for a GeForce GT220 not that expensive and are PureVideo4 cards

[r0k5t4r]

Ok so I might go for the GT220. But will this also solve the flickering problems? Because this is actually the most annoying thing.

[Milleman]

When it comes to Linux and graphics/video, NVIDIA is your friend! I'm running XBMC on a dual core Atom w. ION chipset mainboard and it works great! Besides, they are really affordable. But since you already have spent your money, getting an NVIDIA card is the best you can do. Although I haven't tested the GT220 myself, the specs looks great. (I have tested on 8800 GT) Referring to other postings here, the GT220 should work just fine.

When I purchased my ION system and installed XBMC, I was really amazed on how low the CPU usage were. Having that said, you really don't need a powerful CPU. It all comes down to the GPU. When using the NVIDIA card, don't forget to change the Video rendering to VDPAU in the Video Playback menu. Otherwise the video gets stuttering. Having the "Auto" selection won't help.

[Hibbelharry]

If you look at Video Playback Features the GT220 are great, but currently audio via hdmi is problematic. I know some nvidia guy is already working on getting the audio support up and running but as far as i know these things are not yet ready. I think it will surrely not be more than a month before the support hits the streets but up to now consider this non working.

[PANiCnz]

Unless you want to game on your HTPC dont bother with the 8800GT, they are far more power hungry and hot for what you need.

All current generation of Nvidia cards will accelerate HD video under Linux fine even the entry level cards.