View Full Version : Question regarding x264 HD on 2.4 ghz Celeron and ati 9000pro? Choppy playback :(
Hi
So I was recently given a decent little toss away pc...2.4ghz Celeron, 1gig RAM, 120 GIG 7200RPM HD, ATI 9000 PRO128mb AGP, WinXP Pro (running VERY light, under 200mb of RAM).
I've just installed the latest version of XBMC for windows, plugged my new pc into my 1080p tv, fired up xbmc and when I try to play anything of the mkv container format, x264 specifically, 1280x720 the video is very choppy...totally unwatchable. From what I've read online, this rig SHOULD be able to play this x264 HD content, but is it a problem with the XBMC overhead, or the codec it uses? I also tried to play with VLC and that wasn't any better, but I've heard VLC is not the best for performance, only compatability. Any ideas...do I need to upgrade, CPU or Video? Is there a sub $100 video card that would help? If I have to spend any more than that, I really cant justify it. Seems strange given how much the little old xbox can play, ALMOST plays x264 but not quite, so I thought for sure this new 2.4ghz rig should blow the xbox based xbmc away....sadly not yet.
Thanks for any help! CHeers all.
J
:confused2:
celeron is the issue... video card doesnt matter as xbmc doesnt use it to process video
you should really try reading at least 1 of the 20 or so threads about hardware before posting something about hardware... this has been addressed in at least 50 individual posts over the past year
wow, nice attitude...and yes, I did search for celeron x.264, and just celeron and could not find any difinitive answers regarding its ability to handle higher resolution x.264 content...do you feel better though, having spread a little more negativity? Thanks for the poster above, you answered my question, plain and simple, cheers kind person! :)
J
... yes I have a crappy attitude towards useless & crapy questions
... so many noobs asking the same 'basic' hardware questions - over and over, that have been answered, with the same answers, over and over.
things like...
having a problem playing HD video = hardware not powerful enough
why doesn't XBMC do hardware decoding = it doesn't just F'n deal with it or use something else.
what hardware do I need = read the other 1 F'n million posts asking the same question - noob!
wow, lol, alright...but I ask, you use the term 'noob' like it is derogatory, do we not all start someplace? Or was that just an old school ref to mr noob saibot ;)
again, thanks for taking your time to respond ;) Cheers!
I have a P4 2.6ghz and some 720p videos still lag in certain scenes especially ones with rain where there are motion all over the screen constantly, most TV Series I can watch without any problem though but I wouldn't dare to venture watching anything 1080p on my setup and since XBMC does all rendering with the CPU and a celeron is slower then a P4 I think there's your answer sort of.
I did buy CoreAVC (because it's dirt cheap) and with that I can play anything 720p with CPU to spare so for movie nights I tend to use that but then I don't have any of the comforts of XBMC which is gay.
And random curiosa is I spent my very first post here posting a pretty similar question and I got excellent answers (even a dev replied), I knew it probably was a very common question and that I most likely would get shot down but luckily I was wrong and I got the answer to my question.
Hey, thanks for the hardware comparison, yes I agree...it does seem to be coming down to CPU. I've reverted to, sadly, using mediaportal for the couch sitting GUI, KMPlayer setup as an external player, and in KMPlayer, I have it set to decode x264 via CoreAVC and now I can finally play my x264 content perfectly, even with my Celeron! Happy times...I guess I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a CPU upgrade if I ever want to go back to XBMC. Cheers again, and thanks for the help and entertainment! ;)
cold_realms
2008-12-07, 17:32
Hey, thanks for the hardware comparison, yes I agree...it does seem to be coming down to CPU. I've reverted to, sadly, using mediaportal for the couch sitting GUI, KMPlayer setup as an external player, and in KMPlayer, I have it set to decode x264 via CoreAVC and now I can finally play my x264 content perfectly, even with my Celeron! Happy times...I guess I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a CPU upgrade if I ever want to go back to XBMC. Cheers again, and thanks for the help and entertainment! ;)
It's a matter of waiting for the xbmc guys + The ffmpeg guys to add GPU HA to the video decoding.
The first response you got is typical because every other day there is someone like you asking the same questions. Yes, we all start off as noobs but we would hope that users would take the moment to read these forums and see the carefully written answers we have given on this subject. Just because you did see anything that says explicitly x264 + celeron doesn't mean it's not right on the front page. Any thread about HD video of anykind -or- "what hardware to play hd?" Has all the same answers.
digitalhigh
2008-12-07, 18:35
Check out this thread:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40136&highlight=coreAVC&page=1
Is a very nice little workaround to the HD problem without totally abandoning XBMC.
to nxumdon's defence, a bit (still no excuse for not searching first) -- I created a Thread Usage FAQ and asked it to be a sticky... the mod's never responded.
There needs to be a Windows Forum FAQ also that covers hardware and such... not sure why the mods for this forum are ignoring this need?