[Lmax]

I have installed XBMC now for a while and noticed it has difficulty with high-def content(720p and 1080p). Playback is tearing and shaky. While in mediaportal and media player classic playback is nice and smooth(core-avc codec installed). Since the codecs are incorporated in XBMC i don't have a clue what i can configure to make playback smooth. It can't be the setup, since it's quite new with some decent specs in my opinion.

Weird thing is that if i run taskmanager in the background and play someting, then stop it and have a quick look at the taskmanager i don't see any stress for any of the 4 cores of the cpu. This makes me assume it's a config thing somewhere. The driver of the onboard graphics cards doesn't allow much config though.

I have the following setup:
Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3, AM3, 880G, 4xDDR3, mATX
AMD Athlon II X4 640, 3.00GHz, 2MB, AM3
Kingston ValueRam 4GB(2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz C9
WD Caviar Green 500GB, Intellipower, 32MB, SATA2

OS: Windows 7 64-bit

Any suggestions or things i have to look at? Kind regards.

Lmax

[Weavus]

Which GPU? Do you have DXVA2 enabled?

Try turning off Aero, that fixed my tearing in the past.

[Lmax]

It's onboard, so it's the Integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 4250 GPU.
I'll try to switch of aero and look into the dxva2. Thanks

[Weavus]

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=90083

Dosnt sound too hopeful... You might want to get a cheap nVidia 210 GT http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814121385 plays all my content flawlessly without any strain on the CPU.

[>>X<<]

I believe they no longer use the patched multithread version of ffmpeg so its not going to use all your cores which is why you have the problem your going to need hardware decoding from your GPU

[Lmax]

DXVA2 was already enabled. And i disabled aero. Seems a bit better, but not near the quality of mediaportal/media player classic.
Also tried the newest directx download, seems it doesn't make much difference.

Installing another video card is not my first option. It's all in a low profile media center enclosure, so then i have to find a fitting card, and also spend additional money on a normally good system.

Why doesn't xbmc let you choose the codec's yourself, that would also solve a lot.

[>>X<<]

There was a branch of xbmc (DSPlayer) that used directshow I actually still use an old version but its no longer developed but he has started a new branch with a similar aim

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=94645

You can also use an external player with XBMC, as a last resort you could use the older Camelot which should work as it uses the patched multithread ffmpeg AFAIK

[Mallet21]

Have you tried playback with DXVA2 off? That processor should handle 1080p playback just fine on its own.

[>>X<<]

What even if its mainly only using one core ?

[Weavus]

Installing another video card is not my first option. It's all in a low profile media center enclosure, so then i have to find a fitting card, and also spend additional money on a normally good system.

The card I linked to is low profile, $35 and will save you a world of hurt. A system is only as good as the weakest link and yours is the GPU especially in a HTPC. Personally I think its a no brainer to just buy the card and save yourself a lot of hassle and heartache.