View Full Version : XBMC - Asrock ION 330
Meglivorn
2009-06-22, 02:42
I just read a test about the "new" Asrock nettop with the dual-core atom 330 on ION platform.
The thing got me that they tried with XBMC for Windows, and had problems even running the GUI. I noticed something similar on my laptop (turion64 1800MHz + 640 M ram), 100% processor usage but I credited that the VGA is far outdated (ati - x200) and memory is low.
But I didn't expect that the dual core atom wih 2Gigs ram... It's not about HD videos. Just the GUI.
Anyone had experience like this or the test made something wrong?
(Oh, I can link the test but it's not in english.)
Evanrich
2009-06-22, 02:50
Search the forums.
XMBC for windows will barely run on the ion platform, as it has no hardware acceleration. If you want it to run smoothly, use the linux build as it features VDPAU hardware acceleration.
Meglivorn
2009-06-22, 03:19
I wrote it's NOT about the HD or any video playing. I know that the win version has no gpu support -_-
I was asking about the GUI.
Im currently running windows 7 and xbmc on an asrock ion 330. The gui is less responsive than in linux, but its not something that bothers me much. If the problem with hardware accelleration is resolved, or i manage to launch external players seamlessly, ill stick to windows instead of linux.
mindweaver
2009-06-22, 12:17
I wrote it's NOT about the HD or any video playing. I know that the win version has no gpu support -_-
I was asking about the GUI.
XBMC GUI runs of your GPU not the CPU.
ValHarris
2009-06-22, 15:03
Hello XBMC Forum, this is just my first post, so please be friendly :)
I tested my shiny new ASROCK Ion 330 last weekend and this is where i got so far :
I installed Windows XP and installed all drivers which are on the support CD. After that i installed XBMC for windows. I connected the PC to my FullHD Sony-LCD via HDMI and tested a mpeg4 Video from HDD and a DVD from the Multi-Drive in 1080p scale. Result : Both videos did not run smothly. Audio via HDMI works fine. When i used a 1080i scale everything was fine.
I also tried PowerDVD9 with the same results.
I downloaded CUDA Driver: NVIDIA Driver for Windows XP 32-bit 185.85 but this changed nothing. Then i switched to a XBMC-Live-USB solution, but with other problems, i will make a post in the corresponding Sub-Forum.
Has anyone tried Windows 7 with better results ?
Greetings
ValHarris
What skin are you using ?
I just read a test about the "new" Asrock nettop with the dual-core atom 330 on ION platform.
The thing got me that they tried with XBMC for Windows, and had problems even running the GUI. I noticed something similar on my laptop (turion64 1800MHz + 640 M ram), 100% processor usage but I credited that the VGA is far outdated (ati - x200) and memory is low.
But I didn't expect that the dual core atom wih 2Gigs ram... It's not about HD videos. Just the GUI.
Anyone had experience like this or the test made something wrong?
(Oh, I can link the test but it's not in english.)
Its a known issue with some setups search 100% CPU or similar, turn on debug and then change the vsync setting and your probably find one setting will bring down your CPU
Some revisions work better than others for me, give this one a go but try changing vsync first on the one your using and the one below
http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=355706&postcount=687
XBMC GUI runs of your GPU not the CPU.
That's news to me
Hello XBMC Forum, this is just my first post, so please be friendly :)
I tested my shiny new ASROCK Ion 330 last weekend and this is where i got so far :
I installed Windows XP and installed all drivers which are on the support CD. After that i installed XBMC for windows. I connected the PC to my FullHD Sony-LCD via HDMI and tested a mpeg4 Video from HDD and a DVD from the Multi-Drive in 1080p scale. Result : Both videos did not run smothly. Audio via HDMI works fine. When i used a 1080i scale everything was fine.
I also tried PowerDVD9 with the same results.
I downloaded CUDA Driver: NVIDIA Driver for Windows XP 32-bit 185.85 but this changed nothing. Then i switched to a XBMC-Live-USB solution, but with other problems, i will make a post in the corresponding Sub-Forum.
Has anyone tried Windows 7 with better results ?
Greetings
ValHarris
As we don't (yet) have hardware acceleration of playback of media in windows. You will not be able to playback HD-content with an Ion board in windows.
What this thread was about was the GUI performance, which is accelerated in both windows and linux, in fact xbmc requires hardware 3d-acceleration for the gui. So the gui run both in CPU and in GPU.
The OP is wondering how the Ion board will perform in windows regarding the GUI, browsing through media or other user interface related stuff, not playback of media.
That's news to me
Yep I was thinking that..... :eek:
XBMC GUI runs of your GPU not the CPU.
XBMC GUI uses OpenGL, so it's GPU accelerated but like all games, it uses CPU too.
About the review OP mentioned, I am wondering if they have all the ION drivers installed and GPU acceleration was enabled in XP. I'd think Atom 330 is fast enough to run the GUI with a bit of GPU assistance. May be ValHarris can share his experience about the GUI (not video playback. Playback wouldn't be pleasant for 1080p videos on Windows).
ValHarris
2009-06-23, 09:27
XBMC GUI uses OpenGL, so it's GPU accelerated but like all games, it uses CPU too.
About the review OP mentioned, I am wondering if they have all the ION drivers installed and GPU acceleration was enabled in XP. I'd think Atom 330 is fast enough to run the GUI with a bit of GPU assistance. May be ValHarris can share his experience about the GUI (not video playback. Playback wouldn't be pleasant for 1080p videos on Windows).
I´m pleased with the performance of the XBMC GUI under Windows XP. So i can use it for pictures and music, but without the possibility to play movies smothly its not a final solution for me.
Hello XBMC Forum, this is just my first post, so please be friendly :)
I tested my shiny new ASROCK Ion 330 last weekend and this is where i got so far :
I installed Windows XP and installed all drivers which are on the support CD. After that i installed XBMC for windows. I connected the PC to my FullHD Sony-LCD via HDMI and tested a mpeg4 Video from HDD and a DVD from the Multi-Drive in 1080p scale. Result : Both videos did not run smothly. Audio via HDMI works fine. When i used a 1080i scale everything was fine.
I also tried PowerDVD9 with the same results.
I downloaded CUDA Driver: NVIDIA Driver for Windows XP 32-bit 185.85 but this changed nothing. Then i switched to a XBMC-Live-USB solution, but with other problems, i will make a post in the corresponding Sub-Forum.
Has anyone tried Windows 7 with better results ?
Greetings
ValHarris
Just downloading NVIDIA drivers with CUDA will do nothing unless you enable CUDA in the software your using
Powerdvd and CoreAVC you need to enable it for it to work doesn't work if its off :laugh:
I installed Ubuntu Remix 9.04 on my ASRock. I also installed the lates Nvidia Drivers and the lates XBMC.
I can't get any Sound via HDMI to my receiver. I tested everything mentioned in the forum but no sound. If I boot XBMC LIVE and change in settings to "hdmi" everything works perfect.
I'm a linux newbie. Is there anyone out there who has the same configuration an got HDMI-Sound working?
I installed Ubuntu Remix 9.04 on my ASRock. I also installed the lates Nvidia Drivers and the lates XBMC.
I can't get any Sound via HDMI to my receiver. I tested everything mentioned in the forum but no sound. If I boot XBMC LIVE and change in settings to "hdmi" everything works perfect.
I'm a linux newbie. Is there anyone out there who has the same configuration an got HDMI-Sound working?
No, I tried everything too and got no where with sound through hdmi, although I also had this working in XBMC Live. In the end I just connected a SPDIF cable and it worked first time.
No, I tried everything too and got no where with sound through hdmi, although I also had this working in XBMC Live. In the end I just connected a SPDIF cable and it worked first time.
I had the same problem then i unmuted every device in alsamixer including the one not visible unless you go further to the right with the arrow buttons and then set sound output device on everything to nvidia hdmi audio (alsa). that worked for me at least
Admiral Michael
2009-10-30, 00:50
I tired Ubuntu/XBMC on my ASRock and there were two issues I couldn't fix:
With my TV I need to resize the desktop otherwise the screen goes past the boundries on the TV, I want to do this in XBMC and linux as I would like the option to surf the internet on my TV.
I also couldn't figure out how to get XBMC to use the HDMI port for audio, I was able to get it to work in Ubuntu but when launching XBMC the hdmi option wasn't there (I followed a how-to here).
PantsOnFire
2009-10-30, 16:50
Admiral, not sure about the sound issue (I was never able to fix mine so I went back to xbmc windows).
But regarding the display, I had this problem and I solved it by changing the TV options. It was set to 16:9 and the image was larger than the tv screen itself, but switched it back to "just scan" and that did it. - it might work for you?
Happy to see the ASRock getting good press lately :-) xbmc.org featured it and I see ASRock are going to bring out a 4gb model with RC now.
joshuass
2009-10-30, 17:31
Yes you will definitely want to set your TV to "just scan" or an equivalent setting that basically tells the tv you want 1:1 pixel to pixel ratio. You're describing "overscan". There may be an option in the nVidia settings too, provided that the nVidia drivers for linux have a control panel of sorts.
Also, for hdmi sound, I've tried to get my ati based card to do the same in linux and was unable to but I am pretty sure it had something to do with how the .conf for alsa audio was setup. Searching google for ubuntu hdmi will lead you to a bunch of posts about the whole setup.
Dannydeman
2009-10-30, 18:20
I want to buy this Asrock 330, so as far as I read here, it won't be a smooth experience with XBMC? I prefer to use Windows 7 with XBMC DX, and I'll use a external player with CoreAVC/CUDA enabled. I'm not worried about the video, but the UI will be not-smooth in Windows?
I want to use Aeon, so if it's a little jerky, that is understandable. My laptop which has 2.0ghz and a Ati mobility radeon 3450 even shows some lower FPS in some parts of the skin. But ION video chipset would be faster then my currect videochip, so I have good hopes :) Just need someone to test it.