Help and advice in setting up/config of a single core system (2 Viewers)

[NumberSix]

Howdy!

Some nice folks have got me started in the newcomers forum, but since I'mstill having some issues, I figured I'd cast my net a tad wider.


As I told them, I've been a bit dense of late, so my apologize, I've done searching and testing, but seem to be a tad lost.

My goal's are (in order)
A) Be able to fluidly play back assorted video files from .avi to .MKV/ h.264 files in 1080P..

B) Use my HTPC to play music,eventually hooking up to a central Music/media server from aolder box I have. (in the future)
C) set it up for MAME and other gaming emulations. (show these kids how we kick it... Arcade style!)
D) Oh yes, and possibly most importantly, to be able touse the RiffTrax player to watch my fav movies with my dear MST3K pals.

My need for advice is this, am I asking tomuch of a single core system?

I've followed the guides and previous advice, but I keep getting stutterering when playing 1080P files. The worst being Wall-E which is from a Blu-Ray source, and is 1080p.DTS.x264.mkv file.

My graphics card is a Nvidia 6600 GT with 128 megs of RAM, It's supposed to be able to support onboard HD acceleration. with purevideo... however all the news I see about hat is old, is that still something I should try, or is that obsolete?

I guess what I'm asking iswhat codec's are best for not taxing system resources?

I tried gooses well written guide,but still got some stuttering, and I was wondering if purevideo from nvidia was something that would help?


I also tried getting the codecs from PowerDVD, but that didnt help either.
and coreavc as well.

I just feel likeI'm chasing dead ends, and dont mind experamenting, but if anyone has experiencewith a setup and useage like mine any hints/guidance would be most appreciated!

Or ofyou know anyone who has a spare dual core AMD socet 939CPU lying around... I bet that would help a lot! man, those things are pricy now! I'd just get a new MOBO/CPU before Ipaid as much asI see them selling for, which is more than annoying!

Anyway, if you need any more info than whats listed here, just let me know, and thanks so much for the help!



TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: Version 1 RC 3
MediaPortal Skin: Basic
Windows Version: XP Home Edition SP3
CPU Type: 2.00 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64
HDD: Maxtor 160 Gigs (will add more as buid stabilizes)
Memory: 2.5 gigs DDR2
Motherboard: Asus A8N-E 2
Video Card: BGF NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Video Card Driver: NVIDIA Driver Downloads GeForce Release 178
Sound Card: Onboard
Sound Card AC3: Optical Out
Sound Card Driver: 5.10.0.5750 (from 2004!)
1. TV Card: none
1. TV Card Type:
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: FFDshow
MPEG2 Audio Codec: FFDshow
h.264 Video Codec: FFDshow
Satelite/CableTV Provider: DirecTV
HTPC Case: Anantec
Cooling:
Power Supply:
Remote: None
TV: JVC HD-61FH97 [Monitor] (61.0"vis)
TV - HTPC Connection: DVI-HDMI cable

 

[mr viggo]

Sorry, you won't be able to play 1080p on that system, it's too slow
And the gfx-card that you have doesn't acc. h.264 content, i does mpeg2 however, but as I understand it, you want to go for HD as well

My tip is to go for a new gfx. Preferably an ATI HD 4-series. And then use DXVA (hardw. acceleration) to play that 1080p you wanted.

 

[NumberSix]

Ahh thanks.

Well since money is tiht, I wonder if 720P-1080i would be do-able on this system,?

But essentially you think I can get away with just upgrading the GPU, and the CPU should be OK, when I'm able after the holidays?

(Have to take care of the kids before I take care of myself on this one!)

Thanks again!

 

[mr viggo]

To be honest, if you want to play high-def content you have to upgrade something. The cheapest way to go is a new gfx and if I remember correctly, your motherboard was equipped with a pci-e.
As I understand it, this is a popular on-line store in the US. And I'd go for something like this: Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-R455D3-512I Radeon HD 4550 512MB 64-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

 

[Liquidtouch]

I have a very similar setup as you and would be more then willing to help you out. Check out my system to the left under my "Country" flag.

I currently am doing both of these things

A) Be able to fluidly play back assorted video files from .avi to .MKV/ h.264 files in 1080P..

B) Use my HTPC to play music,eventually hooking up to a central Music/media server from aolder box I have. (in the future)

For a test try downloading and playing this file:

dvdloc8.com - i_am_legend-1080p_blu-ray_trailer.zip - Download Movie Clip

I Am Legend - 1080p Trailer
Video Type: 1920x816 (1080p), 23.967 FPS, Blu-ray Profile
Audio Type: AAC, 5.1 Channel

I can play this fine on my AMD64 3200+ (2.00Ghz), ASUS A8V-X Motherboard, 2 GB of DDR Ram, ATI 9550 256MB AGP card. I will admit the CPU is probably running fairly close to capacity but I get no stutters and the quality looks great and thats all that matters to me....(Not sure what will happen if I record 2 shows at the same time but your not needing TV)

You have a better video card and more RAM. I think you can get it to work.

If you find it stuttering let me know and I can go into more details over the codecs and settings I am using. I have been a Media Portal user for the past 2 years and have overcome MANY problems along the way. Its still a time-consuming hobby but the HTPC has gone from a time waster into a "can't watch the tv without it"

I want to get emulators working as well but the TV/Video aspect has been time consuming enough. If RC4 is stable enough I may tackle this.

Not sure about RiffTrax but that site looks good, I will certainly check it out. I loved MST200.

Cheers,

Jeffrey

 

[globaldonkey]

Agree with Mr Viggo that your system is a bit under spec to be doing 1080p, and a new graphics card with DXVA (h.264 acceleration) is probably your best bet at this stage. The next hurdle you'll hit after that is that not all h.264 encodes can be accelerated (not encoded to "standard"), and subtitles can cause problems too, and then you are back to needing a fast dual core for those odd situations.

In the interim, you could try using something other than ffdshow for your h.264 codec. FFdshow is a great all-rounder, but it's not the most efficient h.264 decoder around. You could try CoreAVC to start with (as you don't have DXVA now, and CoreAVC doesn't support it) and that should at least get you going with 720p on your system as is. CoreAVC costs about $20, but well worth it on systems without DXVA support.

If you do eventually invest in a new GPU, then look to use something like PowerDVD 8 to get the hardware acceleration going.

 

[Liquidtouch]

Agreed try CoreAVC. I tried using ffdshow for h.264 and the processor went up to 100% and media portal stopped responding. With CoreAVC I have been able to watch anything downloaded from the net. I can not play HD files recorded on my Canon HF100 camcorder in its standard format but after editing the files on my desktop and reencoding to a compressed format I can watch them no problem.

What kind of HD content are you primarily trying to watch?

 

[mr viggo]

CoreAVC is a good decoder but... since he/she has a 1080p screen at 61", full-hd is the way to go. And that will never work with that CPU without a proper gfx card that fully acc. that media.

As for 720p. That could work, but not without issues in the end. An old cpu like that, working under heavy load for a long period of time is hard to cool down, thus increasing the noise from the HTPC. My old AMD 2500+ had ~70% load with coreavc during 720p and it was OC'ed at 2,2Mhz and the playback wasn't as smooth as when used DXVA on the same system.

 

[Liquidtouch]

I am curious why you say it will never work? Or am I way of course as to what he is trying to do here?

I have an AMD 3200+ Winchester Processor
I have used both an Nvidia 6200 and ATI9550 video card
I am using CoreAVC for .h264 decoding
I am using a DVI to HDMI connector to my 37" 1080p HDTV
I am using SPDIF Optical Out to my Stereo
XP desktop resolution is set to 1920X1080

I can watch and view fullscreen .avi, .mkv, .divx etc etc files encoded at 1080p with full surround stereo in either dolby digital or DTS with absolutely NO stuttering. My camcorder is HD but encodes using AVCHD, I CANNOT watch those without stuttering as the AVCHD codec is very processor taxing but editing it and outputing it as HD divx or mkv i CAN watch it.

Isn't that what he is trying to accomplish? I have not tried using a BlueRay Disk player however?

I admit i wish I had a duo core and my system isn't whisper quiet but with the stereo volume up while watching a movie you soon forget about the noise of the fans. My processor is running about 36 degrees Celsius, I wouldn't say thats cool but its not going to overheat.

jeffrey

 

[NumberSix]

Thanks for the suggestions all!

I'm sure that at some point I'll wnd up upgrading the MOBO/CPU, but for now, I'm trying to make due with what I have,

I haven't had much time to play with it this week, I'm hoping to spend awhile on it over the weekend.

mr viggo, thanks for the suggestion on the GPU, I was wondering if THIS card would also be a good choice?

It's a Galaxy GeForce 8400 GS 512MB (256MB on board)
*BTW, I hate it that they list a certain amount of memory, then turn around and say that it just "uses" that much memory, takes the rest from system RAM. It's decent technology, and all, but it's just misleading... anyway, thats my beef*

Anyway, heres the Link to the card itself. Which is only $30
LINK

It states that it can do Video Acceleration, although I have no idea at the quality level. Still, for the price, it's worth testing. I just don't want to chase a red herring if there's a known reason not to go with this card.


As for what i watch *looks over shoulder* shhhhh..

Actually the main thing I want to do is watch my TV programs that either I cant see in the US, or that i have to wait forever to see (usually in a butchered form) here. British shows like Doctor Who/Torchwood/Jekyll/Primeval that range from basic .AVI to .x264 .MKV file extensions.

The one DXVA MKV 1080P file that I tried looked HORRID, but after your information, I understand why. (funny how I've read up on this stuff, but nothing made sense until I broke down and asked!

What I have been doing is getting the shows, using ConvertXtoDVD and just watching them on my DVD player. But I wanted to take that step out. (Even though I do like making the menus and such, I can live without that) and in most cases, I'm losing quality by the conversion to DVD.
At some point, with prices going down, I would like to get a Blu-Ray drive, but based on your input, I imagine that would be pointless until i get a new MOBO/CPU.
Also Liquidtouch, thanks for the tips and offer! I'll download the files and test them ASAP,


Another question.
I went with XP Pro because it uses less system resources, and thought it would help in playback, if this card (or the
card mr viggo recommended) would I get the benefits of the card if I stayed with XP, or should I go with Vista? I noticed that there were some issues with Vista with MOBO drivers etc, but if it would help with playback, I would try harder to find system drivers that were compatible. I just wanted to cut down on the overhead taken by the OS.

As for PowerDVD 8, on another thread charli181 had recommended getting the codecs by downloading the trial of it, and not using the actual program. Would that work as well, or should I get the program itself to take advantage of the hardware acceleration?

For now, I'll play with CoreAVC until I change my GPU.

Thanks everyone for your kindness and advise! I'm sorry to say that my begging for help has most likely, just begun!


I'll add in the Video Card rebate info here, in case it could be of any use to anyone here.

Thanks again!


The following info I pass on in case it this is a decent HTPC GPU, and someone else wants to take advantage of the deal.
Then it has a rebate for $10, that helps make it cheap!

But I found a older coupon, thats still valid, that makes it stupidly cheap! a $25 off coupon!
Link to $25 rebate PDF

And then, because I'm just that way... I found the card for $25 at tigerdirect, and after looking at the rebates, it appears that i can use the $25 rebate there as well, so basically, it's not free, I still have to pay shipping, but I can take that! (if only I could stack the coupons, I would make money, but thats just gereedy)