HTPC (XBMC/VDR) based on an APU!

[Kano]

I dont think you will ever get full h264 playback with vaapi (and xbmc). The xvba lib from the fglrx driver can be used with the xvba-video wrapper, thats correct, but it has still the h264 l5.1 check enabled, when it detects h264 which xvba cannot decode then you will see nothing. If you like you can patch xvba-video as the code is now available, but i would not bet a cent that h264 l5.1 support will work this or next year. intel snb has got some stability issues, you still find apps/games that crash x. using vdpau is currently still the most painless thing as you can even use it for flash. if you only want to use xbmc you could be happy using snb however, but maybe patch libva to disable vc1 support for snb as it does not work correctly with xbmc (it does with mplayer-vaapi). most likely the older intel ironlake chipset is currently more stable, but did not test it for a while. btw. i still need a s1156 board (and cpu cooler), so feel free to contact me if you want that i test more hardware... btw. hopefully i can test my i7-2600 on a z68 board soon...

[bridgman]

The OSS drivers are unlikely to ever support hardware UVD. We are all hoping for it, bridgman promised to "look into it" at some point in the future, but it's all very vague.

We started looking into it a while back, around the end of 2011. It's gone from "some point in the future" to "working on it as time permits", which is a small improvement

[AnonymousCoward]

I dont think you will ever get full h264 playback with vaapi (and xbmc). The xvba lib from the fglrx driver can be used with the xvba-video wrapper, thats correct, but it has still the h264 l5.1 check enabled, when it detects h264 which xvba cannot decode then you will see nothing. If you like you can patch xvba-video as the code is now available, but i would not bet a cent that h264 l5.1 support will work this or next year.

Why do you need H.264 L5.1? What sources are you using that are encoded with level L5.1? There are a lot of hardware decoders that do not have support for L5.1. I suggest you complain to your supplier, tell him to uses proper encoding params.

[pingufunkybeat]

We started looking into it a while back, around the end of 2011.

A while back to the future, then?

But seriously, thanks for the update, and please get the docs out That would be a killer feature if possible.

[deanjo]

Why do you need H.264 L5.1? What sources are you using that are encoded with level L5.1? There are a lot of hardware decoders that do not have support for L5.1. I suggest you complain to your supplier, tell him to uses proper encoding params.

Ya there isn't any mainstream L51 content yet. Unless you have a RED camera and are looking to decode it on a 30" monitor at native res.

[bridgman]

We started looking into it a while back, around the end of 2011.

Oops. Make that end of 2010

[oliver]

just buy this one: AMD A-Series A8-3850 then you don't need any UVD unit.

because the cpu is faster then the bobcad E350 one and later you can use the shader based video acceleration.

don't buy a E350 for linux you will cry because the cpu is to slow and the GPU is to weak.

What about using the E350 with the binary blob though; you reckon that is not possible as well?

[oliver]

What about using the E350 with the binary blob though; you reckon that is not possible as well?

Unable to find the edit button, did some more research on the A8-3850 and it's really no comparison.

The A8-3850 alone cost 140 USD, that also requires a 120-150 USD motherboard. It burns 100W's compared to the E350's 18W and has 4 fast cores. For a desktop or gaming rig, pretty good.

But for in my 'tv-pc' it's major overkill. I'll go dig around whether someone can playback 1080p x264 encoded mkv's or atleast 720p with the blob.

Worst comes to worst, there's always crystal hd

So while i'm on my search about the E350, anybody has experience with it?

P.S. I saw a nice deal for the asus e350 based board, 105 USD on newegg, 'open box', but alas, just as I was about to order it, it is already gone

[oliver]

binary blob===??? you are kidding... the _UVD2/3 unit do not have an WebM decoder .

an E350 is to slow!

I don't care for webM, as I don't even install a webbrowser, it's used as an XBMC/VDR box. if it can playback x264 mkv's it's fine

[oliver]

i can proof you wrong: AMD A-Series A6-3650, 4x 2.60GHz =75? http://geizhals.at/deutschland/653205

But that's the A6-3650, before you said to get the A8-3850!!

But that's an interesting point, get the cheapeast/slowest llano maybe instead ... or I just put it off for a nother ear and see what happens. My opteron right now handles all decoding in software reasonably fine.