Netbook for playing HD video (via HDMI on big screen)

[sabriah]

Beagleboard for example has been out for a while but nobody has taken on the task of porting XBMC to it and by the looks of it could be a long time for that support.

The Beagle Board looks nice, but... $149.00

[deanjo]

Wait for ARM netbooks, they gonna be launched in first quarter 2010. These netbooks will have special DSP integrated for HD Video decoding and they will be cheaper than the normal netbook.

It's going to be hard for them to take on the Atom solutions on price. If anything intel has shown over the past that they are willing to drop prices to take on competition. Then there is of course the time it will take to get such accelerated support properly done and implemented. Beagleboard for example has been out for a while but nobody has taken on the task of porting XBMC to it and by the looks of it could be a long time for that support.

[Riotta]

ARM netbook

Wait for ARM netbooks, they gonna be launched in first quarter 2010. These netbooks will have special DSP integrated for HD Video decoding and they will be cheaper than the normal netbook.

[deanjo]

It can. Even on Windows 7, though this one requires 2 GB RAM to get something near as smooth as one gets on Linux with only 512 MB...

Using what? That great abandoned GMA500 driver?

[gbeauche]

The statement is completely correct, US15W netbook is not capable of playing 1080p h264 in linux (or windows even once the bitrates increase).

It can. Even on Windows 7, though this one requires 2 GB RAM to get something near as smooth as one gets on Linux with only 512 MB...

[deanjo]

This statement is not fully correct as is since other US15W-based netbooks fall into this category as well. However, you have to add "The HP ION system, with an HDMI connector, ..." ;-) IOW, netbooks with an HDMI connector are not so common.

The statement is completely correct, US15W netbook is not capable of playing 1080p h264 in linux (or windows even once the bitrates increase). All ion based netbooks also feature a HDMI connection as well.

[gbeauche]

The HP ion system is really the only choice to watch HD video in linux.

This statement is not fully correct as is since other US15W-based netbooks fall into this category as well. However, you have to add "The HP ION system, with an HDMI connector, ..." ;-) IOW, netbooks with an HDMI connector are not so common.

[chithanh]

I think none of the CPUs is strong enough to decode 1080p H.264, so without GPU acceleration you cannot playback that properly.

Intel and AMD open source drivers do not accelerate H.264 decode at present. NVidia VDPAU should work with the proprietary driver.

[deanjo]

The HP ion system is really the only choice to watch HD video in linux.

[sspphheerraa]

Hello, all
I need netbook with HDMI and possibility to decode FullHD without problems. I have many videos h.264 1080p and MPEG-2 1080i and want to watch them on my 42"LCD.

I choose between 'HP mini 311' (with Atom N270 and nVidia ION), 'Acer Timeline 1810T' (Intel Core2 Solo SU3500 and Intel 4500MHD), MSI Wind U210X (with AMD Yukon L335 1,6 and ATI Radeon X1250)
What is the better solution for linux?

Thx,