H.264 VA-API Support For Intel Clarkdale/Arrandale

[curaga]

I'd guess 2.6.35 would have this out-of-the-box. By then xbmc will probably have va-api support.

[djiezes]

I wonder : How exactly would this translate into out-of-the-box support?

As far as I gathered Ubuntu 10.04 - end of april - will use the 2.6.32 kernel. While the intel graphics support is only from 2.6.33 onwards? Same for this va-api?

It's just that I built a htpc around a core i3 530 cpu. I also ordered an nvidia card (gt 240, passively cooled) with the vdpau feature in mind, but it's still unavailable.
So I'm stuck with windows for now, but would really want Ubuntu with xbmc on there. (9.10 won't install)
And I wonder if I would be better of cancelling my nvidia card.

Even if Ubuntu would support the intel graphics for my core i3, I'd still have to wait for xbmc to support va-api, right?

So, to summarize: When would you expect I'd be able to use ubuntu with no separate (nvidia) gpu, only the core i3 530. (without having to patch the kernel myself).
And could I expect xbmc support for the va-api?

[drag]

If supporting hardware decoding inspires people to go out and purchase new hardware to get that support then all the more power to Intel.

It's not like Intel does driver development out of the goodness of their own heart. It's all about capitalism. The fact that it's open source means that us, the users, can put the effort into supporting older hardware if that is our desire.

Everybody is happy, everybody is able to get what they want. Glorious.

For the record, you can find out easily if your hardware has decoding support through Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA

They keep a nice table that has the different features that the hardware is suppose to support. And, ya, G33 does not support anything beyond MPEG2.

Man, I am looking forward to those CPU/GPUs. They may not be much faster then what I have now, but 14 hour battery life with hardware decoding probably will make them worth it!

[brent]

People who have older IGPs (like my G33) would like to get some help from VA-API too, especially since we have older, slower CPUs.

These old GPUs cannot accelerate anything except MPEG2 properly, so it won't happen.

[darkbasic]

edit: Hey forum software, would be nice to get a warning if new posts appear while you're writing :P

It is only able to complain about being out of time to edit your post or having wrote a post which is too short

[DebianAroundParis]

People who have older IGPs (like my G33) would like to get some help from VA-API too, especially since we have older, slower CPUs.

[Kano]

That would be good right, but currently latest xbmc svn can not use plugins. I would like to test vaapi with vlc or mplayer first...

[[Knuckles]]

Good to hear that it is planned for a near-future.
I was eyeing a laptop like uwgandalf's timeline, and would very much like the support

Now, if we can get support for va-api into XBMC, that would be extra awesome.

[curaga]

It will come later to G45.

edit: Hey forum software, would be nice to get a warning if new posts appear while you're writing :P

[uwgandalf]

yep, I asked this in the VA mailing list, they said planned for Q2. Let's hope that's true. My acer timeline gets awfully hot watching HDs in bed