So I’ve decided to bit the bullet and pick up an Apple iTV box. Having 5 xBox’s around the house and one ubuntu box, I thought an 160gb iTV for 75 bucks on craigslist would be a nice addition to my XBMC collection.
So, I’ve read I the good stuff about CrystalHD chip so I ordered and installed it, upgraded the firmware from Apple to 3.0.2, Patched it with ATV 4.1.2 , loaded all the Crystal bits v26 and loaded the “Current” SVN nightly build (at this point in May the SVN build is suspended since March for stabilization).
XBMC is up and running, I have the option for Crystal enabled under Video, but playback cannot keep up 24 fps on most content while CPU utilization is low. Granted if I play some older AVI’s it seems to play ok, but any 720p or 1080 files in the 1.5gb+ size don’t play fluid and drop frames and cannot keep up 24fps
Even watching the RSS feed across the bottom seems to jerk every now and then, it’s not fluid and neither is the menu gui. Granted it’s rendering more then the XBOX and Crystal HD doesn’t kick in until playback, but I just expected more. Even playing an older 700mb AVI's there's a "micro-jerks" like some background service is locking the GUI thread and XBMC is unaware.
In thinking this might be an older SVN Issue, I have Factory wiped the unit, did all the patching again and now have loaded the SSHCS (rev 30442) instead of the older nightly. I see they have moved the crystal option to a radio button instead of a render method which I have left at Auto, but the frame rate issue still remains.
Most files I’ve been trying are Mt2s and Mp4 containers but so far I’m not impressed and so far all of the content that plays good on the aTv also plays better on the Xbox? I know these files are just wrappers and i'm in the process of inspecting them with g-spot to see if it will shed any light (ie Only h264?). I've also noticed that if I move the videos local on the aTv that performance does seem a little better.
My network seems to be working fine and using speedtest.net can clock 25\5 dn\up across the network and internet. The filezilla upload of a 4gb file from a Windows 7 box, sourced from my video server (another windows 7 box) to the aTV via copied in about 15 minutes.
Looking at the logs, I can see all sorts of things like.
I know everything is in a complete state of flux right now and the OSX\Apple is't heavily tested, but has anyone seen anything like this?
Much thanks in advance for taking the time to read and reply, and much thanks to the entire XBMC team for all the hard work over the years.
Regards,
Mike
So, I’ve read I the good stuff about CrystalHD chip so I ordered and installed it, upgraded the firmware from Apple to 3.0.2, Patched it with ATV 4.1.2 , loaded all the Crystal bits v26 and loaded the “Current” SVN nightly build (at this point in May the SVN build is suspended since March for stabilization).
XBMC is up and running, I have the option for Crystal enabled under Video, but playback cannot keep up 24 fps on most content while CPU utilization is low. Granted if I play some older AVI’s it seems to play ok, but any 720p or 1080 files in the 1.5gb+ size don’t play fluid and drop frames and cannot keep up 24fps
Even watching the RSS feed across the bottom seems to jerk every now and then, it’s not fluid and neither is the menu gui. Granted it’s rendering more then the XBOX and Crystal HD doesn’t kick in until playback, but I just expected more. Even playing an older 700mb AVI's there's a "micro-jerks" like some background service is locking the GUI thread and XBMC is unaware.
In thinking this might be an older SVN Issue, I have Factory wiped the unit, did all the patching again and now have loaded the SSHCS (rev 30442) instead of the older nightly. I see they have moved the crystal option to a radio button instead of a render method which I have left at Auto, but the frame rate issue still remains.
Most files I’ve been trying are Mt2s and Mp4 containers but so far I’m not impressed and so far all of the content that plays good on the aTv also plays better on the Xbox? I know these files are just wrappers and i'm in the process of inspecting them with g-spot to see if it will shed any light (ie Only h264?). I've also noticed that if I move the videos local on the aTv that performance does seem a little better.
My network seems to be working fine and using speedtest.net can clock 25\5 dn\up across the network and internet. The filezilla upload of a 4gb file from a Windows 7 box, sourced from my video server (another windows 7 box) to the aTV via copied in about 15 minutes.
Looking at the logs, I can see all sorts of things like.
Code:
19:57:42 T:51768320 M: 3010560 DEBUG: CDVDPlayerAudio:: Discontinuity - was:6084336340.048000, should be:6084350141.612187, error:13801.564187
….
19:57:42 T:51766784 M: 13041664 DEBUG: CrystalHD: SetDropState... 1
19:57:42 T:51766784 M: 13041664 DEBUG: CrystalHD: SetDropState... 0
…..
19:58:12 T:51766784 M: 3952640 DEBUG: CDVDPlayerVideo - CDVDMsg::GENERAL_RESYNC(6114566791.666667, 0)
19:58:12 T:51766784 M: 3948544 INFO: CDVDPlayerVideo - Stillframe left, switching to normal playback
…..
20:01:07 T:53542400 M: 2822144 DEBUG: CrystalHD: Added a new Buffer, ReadyListCount: 51
20:01:07 T:53542400 M: 3121152 DEBUG: CrystalHD: Added a new Buffer, ReadyListCount: 52
20:01:07 T:53542400 M: 2854912 DEBUG: CrystalHD: Added a new Buffer, ReadyListCount: 53
20:01:07 T:53542400 M: 2887680 DEBUG: CrystalHD: Added a new Buffer, ReadyListCount: 54
20:01:07 T:53542400 M: 6148096 DEBUG: CrystalHD: Added a new Buffer, ReadyListCount: 55
...I know everything is in a complete state of flux right now and the OSX\Apple is't heavily tested, but has anyone seen anything like this?
Much thanks in advance for taking the time to read and reply, and much thanks to the entire XBMC team for all the hard work over the years.
Regards,
Mike
Right now -> 
