2010-01-25, 22:12
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*.
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*.