HD lags - which component should I replace? (2 Viewers)

[Lehmden]

Hi.
Maybe you like to test "OpenElec" as well. On such low- end hardware dropping Windows completely may set free some resources desperately needed for "main work"...

 

[allanp81]

I use an old ati x1300 on one of my clients and I can watch 1080i TV and also 40Gb 1080p Bluray rips without any problems. Main cpu is an old 1.86ghz core2duo. I see nothing wrong with the main posters specs.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

ATI were and maybe still are, ahead of Nvidia cards regarding video playback, but the 6600gt just will not play those files without stuttering, 720p is no problem for it.

 

[allanp81]

I'll have to double check but I don't think the ati x1300 supports dxva so the cpu is probably doing all of the work. Will have to check to confirm that though.

 

[allanp81]

Ok I checked my older client and there's definitely no dxva going on as CPU is generally fairly high. I noticed though that if software deinterlacing is enabled then HDTV 1080i is unwatchable with it maxing out the CPU. Turning this off and it drops to about 40-50% which is a lot but still manageable. Bluray rips are a bit lower than this I'm guessing due it needing less cpu power to display a progressive image.

I would recommend the original poster check his codec setup as I still think his setup should play everything without stuttering.

 

[kiwijunglist]

Ideally you want to upgrade your video card, then it would probably be ok
eg. HD 6450 or HD 7750 would work well.

However, both these cards are PCI-E and your motherboard has only 1x PCI-E slot which is used by your tv tuner card.
I would not recommend buying a new AGP video card.

Because of this I would not recommend upgrading anything until the point you decide to get a new motherboard.
When you upgrade the motherboard you will also need to buy a new cpu/ram with that.

 

[allanp81]

But I thought there was no support in dxva for 1080i? Therefore upgrading your graphics card will make no difference.

 

[kiwijunglist]

DXVA in 1080i works for both Nvidia and AMD video cards that support it (probably most cards in the last 4+ years)

However I think you are not in the position to upgrade graphics as you don't have a spare PCI-E slot. There are a few AGP cards that support DXVA, however they are rare, overpriced, and buggy.

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.

Main cpu is an old 1.86ghz core2duo. I see nothing wrong with the main posters specs.

Pentium D is way below C2D CPU. You can not really compare those... Windows, TV Server, MySQL and MP eats most of the CPU Power so nothing left for software encoding of any kind...

 

[kiwijunglist]

Yes I would recommend in your situation to not change any hardware until you can change everything in one go.