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<blockquote data-quote="tsamb." data-source="post: 310825" data-attributes="member: 17422">Hi there Tmac,I played around with the Asus P2-M2A690G barebone which uses almost identical (but smaller) motherboard.&nbsp; It was back when the LG Blu-Ray/HD DVD combo drive had just come out and I was hoping to get HTPC Blu-Ray playback from a small form factor.&nbsp; The barebones with that motherboard was the best IGP solution that hardware decoded H.264 and VC-1.The end result was that the hardware decoding wasn't up to scratch to decode 1080p H.264.&nbsp; It handled 1080p VC-1 fine, but the combination of the BE-2350 and the 690G couldn't handle H.264.&nbsp; Most notably, Casino Royale on Blu-Ray was completely unwatchable with tons of dropped frames and stuttering.&nbsp; CPU usage was between 80% to 100% with the majority of 1080p H.264 titles.&nbsp; VC-1 was between 40% and 60% with no dropped frames and MPEG-2 the CPU usage was negligible.I thought perhaps the BE-2350 was a bit underpowered so I popped a Brisbane core Athlon 5200+ in there, but still exactly the same problem with H.264.I believe your biggest bottleneck in that system is the hardware decoding of the 690G's IGP.The generation after that is a lot better.&nbsp; I recently put together a new testbed with the 780G chipset and the hardware decoding with that has improved considerably.&nbsp; (The 780G mobo is happy decoding 1080p with the BE-2350.)So if you can, either shell out for a cheap current gen dedicated GPU with HD decoding, or upgrade your mobo to either the 780G or an nVidia board with an 8200/8300 IGP.Another thing to note; I have noticed that the PowerDVD H.264 codec is a lot more efficient than ffdshow in terms of CPU usage.&nbsp; I haven't tested CoreAVC, so I can't quote a comparison on that.As for your S/PDIF problem there is no major difference in the signal of an optical and a coax.&nbsp; Is your coax (RCA) connection using a very long (and perhaps flimsy) cable?&nbsp; If so try a short cable and see if that gets rid of the delay.&nbsp; I doubt it has anything to do with the cable, though, it is probably a software or driver problem.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tsamb., post: 310825, member: 17422"] Hi there Tmac, I played around with the Asus P2-M2A690G barebone which uses almost identical (but smaller) motherboard. It was back when the LG Blu-Ray/HD DVD combo drive had just come out and I was hoping to get HTPC Blu-Ray playback from a small form factor. The barebones with that motherboard was the best IGP solution that hardware decoded H.264 and VC-1. The end result was that the hardware decoding wasn't up to scratch to decode 1080p H.264. It handled 1080p VC-1 fine, but the combination of the BE-2350 and the 690G couldn't handle H.264. Most notably, Casino Royale on Blu-Ray was completely unwatchable with tons of dropped frames and stuttering. CPU usage was between 80% to 100% with the majority of 1080p H.264 titles. VC-1 was between 40% and 60% with no dropped frames and MPEG-2 the CPU usage was negligible. I thought perhaps the BE-2350 was a bit underpowered so I popped a Brisbane core Athlon 5200+ in there, but still exactly the same problem with H.264. I believe your biggest bottleneck in that system is the hardware decoding of the 690G's IGP. The generation after that is a lot better. I recently put together a new testbed with the 780G chipset and the hardware decoding with that has improved considerably. (The 780G mobo is happy decoding 1080p with the BE-2350.) So if you can, either shell out for a cheap current gen dedicated GPU with HD decoding, or upgrade your mobo to either the 780G or an nVidia board with an 8200/8300 IGP. Another thing to note; I have noticed that the PowerDVD H.264 codec is a lot more efficient than ffdshow in terms of CPU usage. I haven't tested CoreAVC, so I can't quote a comparison on that. As for your S/PDIF problem there is no major difference in the signal of an optical and a coax. Is your coax (RCA) connection using a very long (and perhaps flimsy) cable? If so try a short cable and see if that gets rid of the delay. I doubt it has anything to do with the cable, though, it is probably a software or driver problem. [/QUOTE]

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