AppleTV + XBMC + new broadcom mini-PCIe card = 1080p support..

NickK

NickK

NickK

Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2003
Posts
24,468
The current stock AppleTV cannot support 1080p content because the hardware is not powerful enough. Instead any 1080 content has to be down mixed to 720p prior to streaming.

I've been reading about a new Broadcom Crysal HD mini-PCI-Express card that fits into the AppleTV internally that provides H.264 hardware acceleration. This allows the AppleTV to offload the processing to the broadcom chip instead. During 1080 playback, AppleTV uses 50% of it's 1GHz Intel Pentium-M in addition to the new card. Not really a problem as the device isn't really there todo anything else.

The AppleTV device runs AppleTV OS which is basically OSX Tiger 10.4 or it is possible to install linux and replace OSX completely. This offers two ways to use the AppleTV with either XBMC/AppleTVOS or XBMC/linux.
Broadcom have released early Linux drivers and the XBMC developers have created an OSX driver for the new chip but are currently waiting to release as they're under NDA with Broadcom.

So those with an AppleTV it may be worth having a look at this long thread at the XBMC forums.

So AppleTV@£219+cost of a bcom card = 1080p cheaper than a Mac Mini@£499 starting price. Decisions, decisions..

The same card can be used in non-Apple netbooks etc for 1080 content.

edit: the title should have been "AppleTV" not "Apple", any kind Don that can change the title?
 
Last edited:
I'd rather either get an AppleTV and just have 720p footage or get a Mac Mini and have 1080p.

Looks interesting for those with patience but not for me as I own Apple kit so I don't have to do hacks!
 
As I've just been through this thought process myself recently, I thought that it might be worth mentioning that I have a Mac Mini which was used for HTPC duties and just managed to play 1080p content.

I decided that I wanted a Blu-ray player but all of the standalone ones seemed expensive for what you got, and were less flexible than the Mac, even though some of them support network shares, XviD playback etc. In the end, I bought a PS3, and so far I only seem to have gained the Blu-ray option and not lost any of the features I made use of with my Mac Mini. Obviously there's no iTunes integration, but as I don't use iTunes except to transfer things between my laptop and iPhone that wasn't an issue for me :)

I would imagine that a PS3 would be cheaper than an AppleTV as well as offering a Blu-ray player, too.

arty
 
arty said:
As I've just been through this thought process myself recently, I thought that it might be worth mentioning that I have a Mac Mini which was used for HTPC duties and just managed to play 1080p content.
Click to expand...

Interesting - which generation & CPU speed was that?

My MBP (C2D 2.4GHz, 4GB 667MHz DDR2) can playback 1080 content no problem using VLC.
 
I'm about to use Patchstick on my new ATV unit so I can open it up to access more goodies. I'll take a look at that thread, but don't want to open my unit tbh as I've just bought applecare for the thing lol
 
NickK said:
Interesting - which generation & CPU speed was that?

My MBP (C2D 2.4GHz, 4GB 667MHz DDR2) can playback 1080 content no problem using VLC.
Click to expand...

I think it was the second generation of Intel ones; it has a 1.66GHz Core Duo CPU and 1GB of RAM. Considering its age it actually manages very well with most 'light' modern applications, but I have to admit that the convenience, ease and speed of the PS3 has totally won me over. It makes a damn good media player, IMO :)

arty
 
I agree - the PS3 is a great media player. Initially mine was hooked up via Medialink to my old Mac Mini.

I bought a 2008 Macmini (one before current) and threw an SSD in it so I could run it on office apps and act as a file server - since then I've only used the Mini for media serving, my PS3 just gets used for games now.

I've an AppleTV in the front room and bedroom, and it all just works, and brilliantly.

Sure, I bet you could do it for cheaper, and probably for 1080p too, but the big thing for me is it just works and I don't have to do anything with it..... I'm the kind of person who can't be bothered to change from standard definition on sky to the HD version though :rolleyes:
 
The reason I'm thinking Mini is because I'd like to plug in my MIDI kit into it for some drum practice in front of the TV (the MIDI kit is light enough to move compared to an acoustic kit!). Also I'm slightly concerned that Apple may stick a spanner in the works for AppleTV by locking it down further with a software update.

My current TV can't do HDMI, but it's something I'll update.
 
I currently use a system that can *just* play 1080p without issue - an Acer Aspire Revo, its a 1.6 Atom with an ION graphics chipset (9400M IIRC).

To be fair, Video it handles ok with VDPAU, but menus etc. it can be a bit sluggish (although mostly ok), and last time I checked, WMVHD cannot be played because of an Audio Encoding it struggles with.

I was planning on going Mac Mini not particularly for video performance, but for improved menu response, and to use it for web browsing etc. as well.

That said, I have an XBMC app for my iPhone where I can browse the video's and click play from my iPhone, making it far more usable.

I think at £150 the Revo is a better deal than Apple TV if you're not worried about the aesthetics. They also do a Dual 1.6 Atom for around £200.
 
I'm looking at an Apple TV 160GB at the mo - worth it for about £170?

It'll be hooked up to a 40" Sony LCD TV.

How much HD movie content is on the itunes store? I've got Iron Man, but not in HD and wouldn't mind the option to upgrade. Like itunes plus.
 
Mikey said:
I'm looking at an Apple TV 160GB at the mo - worth it for about £170?

It'll be hooked up to a 40" Sony LCD TV.

How much HD movie content is on the itunes store? I've got Iron Man, but not in HD and wouldn't mind the option to upgrade. Like itunes plus.
Click to expand...
Depends what you want to use it for. It is essentially an iTunes Extender. I bought mine recently with the idea that I could use it to rent films, and then purchase the ones I liked on blu-ray.

Sadly the studios are ruining the whole rental model by offering films to purchase only, and holding out on the ability to allow us to rent. It is quite frustrating at times to stumble across a good 'old' film only to see that you can only buy it for £10.99. There is a lot of HD material on the iTunes AppleTV store, however bear in mind that you can only rent in HD. I have yet to see any film that can be purchased in anything other then standard def, which is a bit poor but understandable too.
 
I've got to the point of waiting until the film hits supermarket discounts. Recently picked up Stardust on DVD for £3 for example. Often boxsets are £7 etc. Blu-ray are in the region of £18, same film just a more pixels.. and when you're watching a good movie you're engrossed in the plot itself and not the number of pixels..

Also you don't get any of the extras when you buy a film and the last film (and only) iTune film I bought was a french film but it came with only the american soundtrack without being able to watch in french without english subtitles.. ruined it in my opinion.

The unmodified AppleTV isn't capable of playing 1080p, only 720. So it's likely that the "1080" bit rate is poor compared real 1080..

I have two mates with XBMC and 1080i/p TVs. One works for MS and knows more than is humane about windows.. he spent yesterday trialling the new version of XBM for windows (he's using Win 7) - the DirectX support added is only for the menus and the windows version of XBMC still does not use DirectShow for hardware acceleration thus XBMC latest can't play 1080i/p.

On the other hand the linux xbmc-live disc works with hardware acceleration for 1080p but the nVidia ION drivers required for hardware visual acceleration (190.x) have been broken by nVidia because now they don't support HD streamed PCM sound (worked in 185.x) :rolleyes: @nVidia (but lets not go there) so are software down-mixed to another format.

The Mac version I don't know about as I've not had the chance to try and test the visual and audio yet.

The mini I was thinking of was the top CPU (2.6GHz) with 4GB (replace with 8GB later) as I'll make it my development machine so fast compiles would be useful.
 
Last edited:
Will the ATV play the M-hd's that are floating around, or is it a no go? I currently get them convert them to MP4 and play them on my xbox 360 .
 
NickK said:
On the other hand the linux xbmc-live disc works with hardware acceleration for 1080p but the nVidia ION drivers required for hardware visual acceleration (190.x) have been broken by nVidia because now they don't support HD streamed PCM sound (worked in 185.x) @nVidia (but lets not go there) so are software down-mixed to another format.
Click to expand...


Why is that an issue? The old ones still work fine (As mine have for the past 7 or 8 months on my Atom/ION nettop).
 
No, I haven't rebuilt mine for a while, I'm using an SVN version thats a few months old, although, if I recompiled, it wouldn't touch my Nvidia drivers.
 
NickK said:
and when you're watching a good movie you're engrossed in the plot itself and not the number of pixels..
Click to expand...

Heh heh, not yet!

A friend of mine has just recently got a new superduper telly, a set of B&W speakers, a decent amp and a blu-ray player.

Last weekend he was enthusing about it and I asked him if he was actually watching the film, or just watching the quality (just like we did when DVD first hit) and he admitted he was still being awed by the quality rather than what was playing :D I chuckled.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom