New toy: Asrock ION 330 (1 Viewer)

[VASkO]

I had trouble with SAF. I rather installed the codecs separately and HD 1080i, 1080p, 720p is working like a charm. I'm using the Cyberlink H.264 PowerDVD9 which is only in graph with 1080i/p content i think. 720p is using the codec, that is selected for standard MPEG2 codec and for this one I use Microsoft DTV-DVD (also using DXVA). Can't use core codec, cause a lot of HD channels are 1080i, which CoreAVC with CUDA isn't capable to decode properly (not fast enough, giving only ~20FPS).

Guys, please write down your settings, that do work for you and don't forget to mention for which content type it works. Not all HD is the same.

 

[Domini0n]

I wil do that as soon as I have my unit isntalled and hooked up.
But at my work we tested the trailer of Big Buck Bunny 1080p as well and it worked without problems. We tested the .mov H264 with MPC-HC.

 

[VASkO]

trying out the Arcsoft H.264 codec now. First impressions... Better than Cyberlink. Although "shift+1" shows dropped frames, playback is smooth without stuttering, PQ better and is deinterlaced too!

 

[Domini0n]

Is there a way for me to check how many frames are dropped during playback in MP when playing .mkv files?
I would like to check a little under the hood to see the paths my audio and video travel and what the results are on playback.

I know there was this program some member of this forum made to make it possible to view dropped frames and see which codecs the audio uses. Only I can't find it because I forgot the name. I ask this because I had a double decoding issue with audio on my other HTPC and I wan't to make sure it doesn't happen here also.

Greetings,
Domini0n

 

[worto03]

Hi,

I'm just about to order an asrock ION 330 which I want to instalkl media portal on - I'm a bit new to this so sorry if these are kind of basic questions but can anyone tell me:-

1) Which version of Windows 7 is best - I think I get the diference between home & pro but I'm not sure if I want 32bit or 64bit?

2) Do I need to upgrade from 2GB to 4GB of memory to play high def content using windows 7 & media portal?

Cheers for any advice,
worto.

 

[Domini0n]

Hi,

I'm just about to order an asrock ION 330 which I want to instalkl media portal on - I'm a bit new to this so sorry if these are kind of basic questions but can anyone tell me:-

1) Which version of Windows 7 is best - I think I get the diference between home & pro but I'm not sure if I want 32bit or 64bit?

2) Do I need to upgrade from 2GB to 4GB of memory to play high def content using windows 7 & media portal?

Cheers for any advice,
worto.

1) 32Bits is used for systems with a maximum of 4GB of memory. 64Bits is used for more then 4GB of memory. That has to do with the amount of memory the system can adress.
2) 2GB is more then enough to playback FullHD conent if you use hardware acceleration. It is highly recommended to use hardware acceleration with HD playback. You can search the forum for the SAF codec pack to get hardware acceleration to work.

64Bits is not officially supported by MediaPortal (short MP). 2GB of memory is enough, so I suggest you use 32Bits OS.

And welcome to the MP community.

 

[worto03]

brill thanks for that - so 2gb with hardware acceleration is good enough & if I find it slow I can always upgrade it to 4gb and up the memory to the GPU (from what I've read) but this is all OK to do under 32bit Windows 7.

Thanks for the welcome too - 12 more days not smoking & I can buy the ION 330 and get this whole plan rolling

Cheers,
worto.

 

[Domini0n]

Hehe your welcome...

I have Windows 7 Ultimate 32Bits running on it and it works like a charm. 512Mb shared memory set and when I run a HD movie of 12GB it only uses 44% of my total memory. So 2GB is more then enough...

And don't smoke it's worth it!

 

[Domini0n]

I also bought an Asrock Ion 330. Have not played around so much with it yet, but the first impressions are fairly good.
I started out with Win7, but due to a problem with the remote I couldn't solve, and some other strange things happening, I reverted to Vista and now everything is running great.
I am using SAF-codecs (search on MP forum if you don't know it), which works out extremely well. I have Hardware acceleration on almost everything. Playing back HD-content gives only about 15-20% CPU usage (idling in MP gives around 10%), so I'm extremely impressed by that. I have not yet played a Blu-ray, since I don't have the version with BD-drive in it. But I hope I get the time today to rip some of my Blu-rays and try playing them that way, to see how it handles that.

Only thing I'm a little dissapointed about is that MP seems to be extremely slow in the menus. I am using MP 1.1 Beta and StreamedMP, and whenever I change from BasicHome menu to TV og a plugin it takes forever (10-20 sec). Same when I go back to Home menu. When I change around inside TV (Guide to recorded tv to LiveTV and so on) it's as snappy as it used to be.
I don't know if its the Asrock, MP 1.1 beta, streamed MP or something else that is causing this. The CPU usage doesn't go up at all, so I don't really understand it.

In regards of noise I am very happy about it. I can't hear the fan from my sitting position. And when I go closer to listen, it's a very comfortable sound. Not some high-pitched sound, nor is it something deep that sounds like a subwoofer. I don't know how to describe it.
I have not noticed the DVD-drive noise, and so far I have played a few DVD's. So it seems to be good.


It is possible to get 5.1 analog output, despite there being only 3 jack-connections on the back. You just need to install the software to the Soundcard and enable it there. I can't remember if the software was on the disc that came with the asrock, or if I downloaded it from the web.

Have the same issue, but don't want to switch to another skin, so I posted a new thread on the StreamedMP forum to ask if anyone knows more about it

Slow Menu's StreamedMP

I think this is something that can be solve because it doesn't happen on other skins as you tested... Hope it gets solved because I just like StreamedMP ALOT!


I would also like to ask if anyone has slight tearing with the nVidia GPU acceleration and if they found a fix for it. I had an ATI HD 3200 before this and it didn't had any tearing. It is a very small tearing every now and then, but can't get it to go away. I only use my HTPC to watch .mkv files and do not use it to watch TV.

[edit]
Alot of tearing is happening, thought it was a little, but its not. So the urge to solve it has become greater. Anyone?

 

[Gixxer]

I think I will wait before buying the asrock. I have already fought alot to get a low end client working, now I want a system in which everything runs smoothly without having to tweak every single parameter.

The idea of building my own is growing. Small, microATX one. surely not as nice as the asrock though