[D-tyme]

Do any of you know, if I got a mini and an iPad, could I control my mini via vnc? Would the XBMC interface now on my 52" also be viewable/controllable on my iPad?

You will be able to control XBMC with the iPhone/iPad App "XBMC Remote"

[D-tyme]

Could you get multi-channel audio for DTS/AC3 working over the HDMI port?

The lack of an adjust display refresh rate option is very disappointing, hopefully this can be implemented in the future.

I'm not understanding the concern with DTS/AC3 audio over HDMI. It works currently with the AppleTV with or without XBMC on my setup. Maybe I'm missing something?

Also, what are the "symptoms" of not having this "adjust display refresh rate option." I've watch plenty of 24fps and 30fps movies without experiencing problems that would deem this as "disappointing." Am I missing something here as well?

[davilla]

Also, what are the "symptoms" of not having this "adjust display refresh rate option." I've watch plenty of 24fps and 30fps movies without experiencing problems that would deem this as "disappointing." Am I missing something here as well?

The effects will depend heavily on how good your HDTV display handles refresh rates and what your native refresh rate is set as. I never see any issues on my few year old now WestingHouse 42" HDTV.

I heard that users running 50Hz playing back 24fps content have issues. That's a classic.

[D-tyme]

The effects will depend heavily on how good your HDTV display handles refresh rates and what your native refresh rate is set as. I never see any issues on my few year old now WestingHouse 42" HDTV.

I heard that users running 50Hz playing back 24fps content have issues. That's a classic.

Thanks for explaining.

I'm too are not seeing any issues relates to frame-rate on my Panasonic AE4000U.

That said, I am interested to see if the new Mini will handle my somewhat aggressive encoding options that I use for my BluRay rips...

[voip-ninja]

I'm not understanding the concern with DTS/AC3 audio over HDMI. It works currently with the AppleTV with or without XBMC on my setup. Maybe I'm missing something?

Also, what are the "symptoms" of not having this "adjust display refresh rate option." I've watch plenty of 24fps and 30fps movies without experiencing problems that would deem this as "disappointing." Am I missing something here as well?

XBMC can pass Dolby True-HD but optical can't handle this, so it should pass over HDMI but we don't know until someone tests it.

If I understand correctly, without the adjust display refresh option, if you switch between playing a 1080p/24 video and doing something else, the display refresh will not automatically change, from 1080p/24 to 1080p/60 for example.

I am looking at buying a 1080p/24 capable display and would want to get best quality by going 1080p/24 to the display but also need it to display 1080i/60 or 1080p/60 for other content without having to go change the display settings in XBMC each time.

[JensGH]

Here is a stats screenshot with 1080 24p


cpu utilization during playback between 30-45

I have no VC1 file, but I will look for a testfile...

Multi channel just works fine over HDMI

"Adjust display refresh rate" is a feature request for XBMC for Mac platforms.

ok, good to know^^

[voip-ninja]

Here is a stats screenshot with 1080 24p


cpu utilization during playback between 30-45

I have no VC1 file, but I will look for a testfile...

Multi channel just works fine over HDMI


ok, good to know^^

Thanks for showing, you will have to look at activity monitor or run "top" to see what cpu is really doing, the xbmc status aren't correct I think.

Is this 9.11?

[davilla]

Here is a stats screenshot with 1080 24p


cpu utilization during playback between 30-45

I have no VC1 file, but I will look for a testfile...

Multi channel just works fine over HDMI


ok, good to know^^

Hehe, vda-h264, nice to see that VDADecoder works

[davilla]

That said, I am interested to see if the new Mini will handle my somewhat aggressive encoding options that I use for my BluRay rips...

If the bluray is h.264, just strip the encryption. XBMC and VDACdecoder will handle it just fine. You should not be re-encoding, it's a waste of time now, rip the main title if you want but don't re-encode.

[D-tyme]

If the bluray is h.264, just strip the encryption. XBMC and VDACdecoder will handle it just fine. You should not be re-encoding, it's a waste of time now, rip the main title if you want but don't re-encode.

I understand your point, and it would save time; but I'm aiming for storage. I can flip a 25gb+ .mkv to a 5gb .mkv with DTS and burned in Subs with little to no loss in quality (eye-wise). I just hate to have to take up the space if I don't have to.

[Sam.Nazarko]

A 5GB MKV is not good enough for 720P, let alone 1080p, and I'd consider it reasonable for a 720x480 DVD.

If your including a DTS track, then that's 1.5Mbits being taken away. If we assume your 5GB video is 2 hours long, that leaves you with a mere ~4 megabits. That will give you some ugly artifacting with 720p, let alone 1080p. See iTunes "HD" content for an example - sure it is OK but it does not compare with the source master at all.

[D-tyme]

A 5GB MKV is not good enough for 720P, let alone 1080p, and I'd consider it reasonable for a 720x480 DVD.

If your including a DTS track, then that's 1.5Mbits being taken away. If we assume your 5GB video is 2 hours long, that leaves you with a mere ~4 megabits. That will give you some ugly artifacting with 720p, let alone 1080p. See iTunes "HD" content for an example - sure it is OK but it does not compare with the source master at all.

I beg to differ...I don't encode to a specific size, it just so happens to turn out that way. Most of my DVD encodes are less than 2GB and you would not be able to tell the difference between it and a real DVD...and that includes a Pass-thru AC3 DD track.

As for my BluRay encodes, I just doubled checked and my Avatar 720p /w PassThru DTS-HD is 6GB...and thats a longer than normal movie. while it doesn't play very well on the AppleTV, it plays just fine on my iMac.

My settings for Avatar:

@ RF:19

ref=6:me=umh:b-adapt=2:weightb=0:weightp=0:analyse=all:no-fast-pskip=1:b-pyramid=1:bframes=6:merange=32:direct=autoubq=10:cabac=1

The results:

x264 [info]: frame I:1983 Avg QP:17.11 size: 98228 PSNR Mean Y:46.13 U:49.41 V:50.29 Avg:46.91 Global:46.49
x264 [info]: frame P:62154 Avg QP:20.61 size: 33415 PSNR Mean Y:43.97 U:47.83 V:48.75 Avg:44.77 Global:43.88
x264 [info]: frame B:168470 Avg QP:23.17 size: 11246 PSNR Mean Y:42.53 U:47.47 V:48.44 Avg:43.42 Global:42.92
x264 [info]: consecutive B-frames: 2.0% 4.4% 11.2% 60.7% 8.4% 9.4% 3.8%
x264 [info]: mb I I16..4: 6.6% 65.6% 27.8%
x264 [info]: mb P I16..4: 1.6% 14.2% 4.3% P16..4: 41.4% 23.8% 7.4% 1.3% 1.1% skip: 5.0%
x264 [info]: mb B I16..4: 0.1% 1.9% 0.9% B16..8: 43.7% 12.3% 3.9% direct: 5.1% skip:32.0% L0:38.9% L1:46.2% BI:14.9%
x264 [info]: 8x8 transform intra:68.7% inter:69.6%
x264 [info]: direct mvs spatial:100.0% temporal:0.0%
x264 [info]: coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 89.2% 87.0% 60.0% inter: 32.4% 28.9% 5.0%
x264 [info]: i16 v,h,dc,p: 33% 18% 3% 46%
x264 [info]: i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 8% 7% 1% 11% 17% 15% 16% 12% 13%
x264 [info]: i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 8% 6% 1% 9% 17% 15% 17% 12% 14%
x264 [info]: i8c dc,h,v,p: 40% 22% 18% 19%
x264 [info]: ref P L0: 71.7% 13.0% 7.6% 3.7% 3.6% 0.4%
x264 [info]: ref B L0: 88.5% 6.2% 3.4% 1.2% 0.7%
x264 [info]: ref B L1: 96.2% 3.8%
x264 [info]: SSIM Mean Y:0.9779659

So, having said all of this, if you aren't getting said results, then I would suggest you change your process.

[davilla]

I understand your point, and it would save time; but I'm aiming for storage. I can flip a 25gb+ .mkv to a 5gb .mkv with DTS and burned in Subs with little to no loss in quality (eye-wise). I just hate to have to take up the space if I don't have to.

Just be careful not to use wacky encoder settings that violate h.264 spec regarding bit-rate/profile/level and number of reference frames. Hardware decoders such as CrystalHD and VDADecoder are less forgiving than ffmepg regarding h.264 encodings. x264 seems to allow anything and not care that the result would violate h.264 spec.

[voip-ninja]

I can also pick up on a low bitrate encode very quickly. 5Mb/s is nowhere near enough for a BD 1080P encode.

Watch those on a good quality TV at proper viewing distances and it will look ugly as hell. If you're okay with the quality then certainly no worries but claiming it's "good enough" for anyone is a bit of a stretch.

Still love to see what the cpu is doing on this new box with full bitrate .mkv files with VC1 video.

I'm resisting the urge to pull the trigger on one of these Minis so I'm hoping someone will tell me there are frame drops/issues with full BD rips that aren't H.264.

[Sam.Nazarko]

Problem is I've a good eye for macroblocking and artifacting and it really peeves me off. Especially with the broadcaster's use of ridiculously low bitrates.

--level 5.0 --filter 0,0 --ref 5 --bframes 8 --b-adapt 2 --subme 10 --aq-mode 1 --trellis 2 --partitions all --me tesa

are my encoding settings. The output is absolutely fantastic. I use extremely high bitrates so I raised the profile level for compatibility. I use TESA for my M.E. algorithm and have subpixel refinement set at 10. This greatly increases encode time (typical movie ~25 hours on a Quad Core) but the results are worth it. I originally set up this profile for ION but it works really well on CrystalHD as well, with no hickups at all except for startup trainwreck.

See http://pastebin.ca/1885331 for typical video attributes.