Xbox with XBMC vs. dedicated CD/DVD/XviD/DivX-players?
#46
my roomate has the philips dvp642 or whatever it is standalone player. i think xbmc kicks its ass in every important respect. the ui is much nicer, and the video decode quality is *far* superior. i couldn't believe that thing was for real! posterization, artifacting... just terrible. xbmc beats it handily.
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#47
here's a question: i'm getting the infocus 4805 projector which apparently has excellent upscaling due to the faroudja chip. everything i've read says that it is best to let the projector do the upscaling and send it dvd video at 480i. is there a way to set xbmc to do this (leaving everything else -- xvid, games, etc -- at real hd resolutions) or am i stuck using the ms dash to play dvds?
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#48
would turning off "upscale to gui resolution" accomplish this? in other words, i want everything sent to the projector un-scaled, so games at 480p or 720p, dvds at 480i, and i'm not sure about media files -- if i turned off upscaling and watched an xvid that was at 640 x 352, would that be sent as 480p? all this is assuming that 480p and 720p are enabled in the dash.
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#49
upscale to ui resolution ofcourse only affects media played in xbmc, thus not games.

you can only set upscale global, so you cannot tell dvd's to do 1 thing, and other files something else. (within xbmc)
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#50
thanks, pike. so with "upscale to gui" disabled, everything (eg xvid at 640x352) is sent at 480i?
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#51
(tslayer @ may 15 2005,08:28 Wrote:better.

ts
plus you can configure to 0 overscan (most dvd+tv make a litle zoom cutting the image, depending you model that can be huge) and no aspect ratio error (some players like the philips dvp have a horrible ar error)....

xbox all the way :kickass:
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#52
(jubilex @ aug. 20 2005,17:26 Wrote:thanks, pike. so with "upscale to gui" disabled, everything (eg xvid at 640x352) is sent at 480i?
i see no reason why you want to upscale just the ui then.. run ui in 480i and have upscale to ui enabled Smile
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#53
the other comment i'd make is that the newer dvd players about to hit the market with h.264 decoding chips in them will do hd resolutions in mpeg iv-avc.

clearly this is ahead of the xbox's capabilities but i think its only fair to see xbox 360 as the competitor to the new era dvd players coming about.....ofcourse if and when the 360 can be used as a homebrew development platform......
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#54
Star 
you guys should really read this up-to-date "stand-alone mpeg-4 (divx, xvid...) player buyers guide" by y.t., in it he tries to quickly guide you through the things you didn't think you you needed to know but should before/when buying a set-top-box (stb) divx/xvid player, it will help you aviod the pitfalls and the quirks you have to live with no matter what you decide to go with, ...and btw it briefly mentions xbmc as an alternative to standalone players too.

ps! personaly i would not buy a standalone divx/xvid player instead of xbox with xbmc unless that standalone also featured; full pvr functions with a very large integrated hdd (where you could also store any other video, music and picture files which could be used in savable playlists), also 720p/1080i native-resolution video playback, and upconverting all other video to 720p/1080i, h.264 avc playback, plus a build-in hd-dvd or bluray disc reader and a network-connection (with samba-share support). however then we're in a totally different price-bracket and i (and probebly most of you) would not be able to afford it until it way goes down in price which it wouldn't until at least a couple of years. ...who knowns, by then maybe the xbox360 can be modded and xbmc been ported to it, making the standalones obsolete once again.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
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#55
okay, i got my projector and i'm still a little confused.

i've got all the resolutions enabled in ms dash. i've tried xbmc set to ntsc 16:9, 480p, and 720p, all with "upscale to gui" off. .avis play in 480p (as they should), the king kong hd xvid trailer plays in 720p (as it should), but dvds still play in 480p (should be 480i). i played the dvds with dvd-x and avalaunch and they play in 480i as they should. are there any settings i can change that would make xbmc play dvds in 480i?

thanks
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#56
why would you want your display device to show interlaced instead of progressive? progressive provides better display quality.
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#57
caldor, the projector has the faroudja chip which apparently is one of the best if not the best on the market when it comes to scaling/deinterlacing. better picture quality would be obtained by feeding the projector the unaltered 480i dvd source rather than having the xbox upscale it to 480p.
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#58
i am kind of a newb to xbmc, but i do have a few questions about the dvd playback built in. i did update the player(s) to the latest versions via the xbmc-cvs_2006-01-01-t3ch release and replacing everything in the \system\players\ directory on my xbox.

1.) video and sound quality wise, is it better than dvd-x 2.0 and the microsoft one where you have to use the remote and dongle?
2.) does it support progressive scan?
3.) what are the ideal settings for dvd playback for the optimal picture clarity?
4.) how come a big portion of dvds do not autoplay or play when i select playdvd
5.) how come the xbmc database doesn't get updated with dvd info like it does with cds and cddb?

just a few quick questions for a new xbmc user who has only used for a day or two :-)



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#59
i am kind of a newb to xbmc, but i do have a few questions about the dvd playback built in. i did update the player(s) to the latest versions via the xbmc-cvs_2006-01-01-t3ch release and replacing everything in the \system\players\ directory on my xbox.

1.) video and sound quality wise, is it better than dvd-x 2.0 and the microsoft one where you have to use the remote and dongle?
2.) does it support progressive scan?
3.) what are the ideal settings for dvd playback for the optimal picture clarity?
4.) how come a big portion of dvds do not autoplay or play when i select playdvd
5.) how come the xbmc database doesn't get updated with dvd info like it does with cds and cddb?

just a few quick questions for a new xbmc user who has only used for a day or two :-)



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#60
welcome Smile

1. it should be (and is to my eyes). see for yourself.

2. yes. it can also upscale to 720p or 1080i (720p preferred).

3. high quality renderer, no soften, and no flicker filter. interlace options depend on the dvd at hand. generally it should be set to none, unless you have an interlaced dvd (try auto).

4. no idea - the dvd player is a recent addition, and is not flawless. post a debug log with a dvd that does this.

5. cause noone has coded it - you want to do it?

cheers,
jonathan
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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Xbox with XBMC vs. dedicated CD/DVD/XviD/DivX-players?0