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  • #31
    If you get it with your netbook fine, but as addon card is it really TOO expensive. The cost to buy ion instead of intel onboard vga is MUCH less.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by BlackStar View Post
      I've heard that Broadcom has an HD decoder that needs ~200mW to work. No idea if this is used on this card, but if it is then this card shouldn't consume more than 1W.*
      * in addition to whatever graphics solution is also being used.

      While it's nice until more netbook/nettop manufacturers start putting on a HDMI connection or at least a mini-DVI and optical out it doesn't serve much use HTPC wise. Of course if this is the sole reason to buy this card and add it in a person is probably better off picking up one of the many media player solutions like the Asus O!Plays which can be had for around $90-$100 and have it permanently attached to their home theater which consumes less then 10 watts for a total solution with it's MIPS processor and with a remote control to boot.

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      • #33
        Well, until we see a rise in smartbooks or VIA-based solutions. But even then, I'm not totally sure if Ion2+Nano will come out in a reasonable frame, with a reasonable price.

        If you get it with your netbook fine, but as addon card is it really TOO expensive. The cost to buy ion instead of intel onboard vga is MUCH less.
        Not necessarily true, esp. with the new Atoms.

        when it comes to netbooks, this is super-cheap. BestBuy was selling the Acer D250 for $249 and there were plenty in the store. Closest thing was a Gateway 11.6" with an Athlon and an HD3200 (I believe) for $299. ION netbooks seem to be more in the $499 range, and nettops aren't realy that cheap ($399 for good ones).

        An ion board is admitedly only something like $100 now if you don't mind MIRs and don't mind having no expansion, but you also have to deal with closed nvidia drivers. (nVidia might have solid drivers, but I want an open device for long-term usefulness)

        @deanjo: Asus O!Play has like no info on it. The only one that gets any love is the WD TV & WDTV Live. If you're looking for somthing to rival a TiVO, a cheaper Pinetrail (hoping the cost goes to $80 for a mini-ITX board that has a DDR3 slot) with this would be great.

        Then you can put in a TV tuner like the Hauppauge HVR-1600, and a pair of SATA disks. Of course, if you're not using a tuner, the WDTV is a better deal...

        (there's also the fact that this card is only $20 ontop of an existing desktop/netbook/laptop, and I think that's the key here.)

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        • #34
          You can get an Ion, or you can get a cheaper netbook based on the new Atom chip with this that has a faster cpu and uses less power. True, you don't get the fast 3D performance, but I don't think that's very useful on these netbooks anyway, people just want the video acceleration. I think Ion might be obsolete with this.

          The other big winner with this is people who want to stick with OSS drivers instead of using NVidia's blob.

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          • #35
            Why do you think Broadcom is a big OSS supporter? They do everything they can that OSS driver which are shipped by distros do NOT work out of the box because they do not allow the redistribution of the firmware. Intel does and lots of others do not care, but not even Ubuntu ships those firmware. The oss firmware developed is only for some older chips. To use all Broadcom wlan hardware you still have to use the sta driver which is not better than nvidia or fglrx. I do not think that this driver needed for that hd chip is better until it is inside the kernel and needed firmware redistributeable.

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            • #36
              Originally posted by Kano View Post
              Why do you think Broadcom is a big OSS supporter?
              I don't, necessarily. But if this chip runs with OSS drivers then it's pretty clear that people who don't want to run binary blobs tainting their kernels would be pretty happy.

              They do everything they can that OSS driver which are shipped by distros do NOT work out of the box because they do not allow the redistribution of the firmware. Intel does and lots of others do not care, but not even Ubuntu ships those firmware. The oss firmware developed is only for some older chips. To use all Broadcom wlan hardware you still have to use the sta driver which is not better than nvidia or fglrx.
              I'm not looking at the company, just this product in particular.

              I do not think that this driver needed for that hd chip is better until it is inside the kernel and needed firmware redistributeable.
              Is it not redistributable yet? I guess I was under the impression it was, and that it would be entering the kernel very soon.

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              • #37
                Having to download firmware for an HD video decoder is still better than having to do that with wireless cards.

                This is a good move by broadcom.

                Also, this is much better if Intel stops making new products with poulsbo and just uses their own chips + this video decoder.

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                • #38
                  Originally posted by some-guy View Post
                  Having to download firmware for an HD video decoder is still better than having to do that with wireless cards.

                  This is a good move by broadcom.

                  Also, this is much better if Intel stops making new products with poulsbo and just uses their own chips + this video decoder.
                  ++

                  The good news is that the new Atom CPU (with the integrated GPU) does not use Poulsbo. It uses a cut down version of Intel's well-supported 4500 chip (or a beefed-up version of the X3100, depending on how you look at this). It still cannot decode HD and the new Atom performs identically to the old one, but:
                  (a) No Poulsbo!
                  (b) 1/2 the power consumption (10+ hours of battery life is now possible)
                  (c) The IGP should be able to support OpenGL 3.x (the previous 950 chip could only make it to OpenGL 2.0 or 2.1)

                  Intel is recommending a 3rd party decoder for HD video, which is why Broadcom's OSS drivers are *very* appealing. Cheap Linux netbooks with the new Atom+IGP, an HD decoder chip, 10+ hours battery life and all-OSS drivers? Count me in!

                  Current Ion netbooks, in comparison, are both pricier and have worse battery life. Unless Ion2 is a miracle, Nvidia is pretty much out of the x86 netbook market (but could make a big comeback in ARM netbooks).

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                  • #39
                    @Kano: I actually find that, in terms of an "evil" scale, loading a firmware for an HD decoder is less bad than for a wifi chip. Especially since, correct me if I'm wrong, but won't this mean that as long as someone has a copy of the firmware the device will keep working?

                    And this is if Broadcom requires a closed firmware to be loaded...

                    @BlackStar: Oh man am I ever glad Pineview is almost here. We can finally axe the GMA950. This won't impede Ion, because if anything it'll keep it alive (now you can show that ion is an external card and still beats intel's device, and it can be more of a video device than a chipset, which is what nVidia is good for).

                    Plus, this way an HTPC built around the Atom is reasonable. Of course, if you're not recording, it makes more sense to buy a device, but still...

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by sreyan View Post
                      The kernel driver might be GPL but the firmware is still under broadcom's license. Will mainstream distributions include the firmware and have support out of the box?
                      I doubt that...most likely you'd have to go to Broadcom's site to get the firmware file and drop that into /lib/firmware.

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