Germany
Hi,
I am not using my Epia-M for HTPC anymore because it died some times ago.
The problem is not the CPU power of the board. DVB and H/W encoding cards work ok. Video playback is more or less ok (see the BUT).
BUT: The onBoard graphics (UniChrome S3) simply spoken is crap! It has no DX9 support nor good VMR9 support. The "hardware MPEG decoding" is simply a lie*. This is because of bad driver and firmware support by VIA. Since MP uses now only VMR9 you will get problems with it. If you are willing to stick an additional DX9 graphics card in it you might get a good system.
But why? With AMD Cool'n'Quiet you get a much faster and almost quiet system for the same amount of bucks.
Everything IMHO, I could not test the latest MP versions with Epia.
Flip.
* its only accelleration with decoders supporting the Epia-M board.
I am not using my Epia-M for HTPC anymore because it died some times ago.
The problem is not the CPU power of the board. DVB and H/W encoding cards work ok. Video playback is more or less ok (see the BUT).
BUT: The onBoard graphics (UniChrome S3) simply spoken is crap! It has no DX9 support nor good VMR9 support. The "hardware MPEG decoding" is simply a lie*. This is because of bad driver and firmware support by VIA. Since MP uses now only VMR9 you will get problems with it. If you are willing to stick an additional DX9 graphics card in it you might get a good system.
But why? With AMD Cool'n'Quiet you get a much faster and almost quiet system for the same amount of bucks.
Everything IMHO, I could not test the latest MP versions with Epia.
Flip.
* its only accelleration with decoders supporting the Epia-M board.