HD Video Playback?

saitrix · 12 Sep 2011 at 22:20

Hi,

Am I correct saying that any new cpu's out these days can cope with large 1080p video playback no problem via only the cpu, ie not offloading onto the gpu? The cpu in mind is the G620, or the G530 when available.

KelDG · 13 Sep 2011 at 10:16

Yup, been running true 1080p on an e5200 with motherboard integrated graphics card for years now (some intel crap-o-matic old S775 integrated thingy on a bargin basement 775 motherboard).

rajravat · 13 Sep 2011 at 11:25

should be no problem at all

DragonQ · 13 Sep 2011 at 11:58

Note that some GPUs/IGPs are better than others for playing back 23.976p material though. Basically none of them can output at this 23.976 Hz exactly but some are very far out and would cause a noticeable stutter every 40 seconds (Arrandale/Clarkdale/Lynnfield) whereas others are really close so you'd only see a repeated frame once every 10+ hours (nVidia with custom refresh rates).

KelDG · 13 Sep 2011 at 12:41

DragonQ said:
Note that some GPUs/IGPs are better than others for playing back 23.976p material though. Basically none of them can output at this 23.976 Hz exactly but some are very far out and would cause a noticeable stutter every 40 seconds (Arrandale/Clarkdale/Lynnfield) whereas others are really close so you'd only see a repeated frame once every 10+ hours (nVidia with custom refresh rates).

I must have a low tolerance to frame rates never noticed this on any PC I have been on, either that or I am extremely lucky.

Energize · 13 Sep 2011 at 20:16

My athlon xp could so I'd image so.

wannabedamned · 13 Sep 2011 at 20:23

Energize said:
My athlon xp could so I'd image so.

What athlon are we talking about? as my Opteron 146 @ 3ghz could do it, but at 2.6ghz it would fall short and stutter. 720p was fine though

Energize · 13 Sep 2011 at 20:27

I believe it was the 2600+, this was using VLC.

wannabedamned · 13 Sep 2011 at 21:05

Energize said:
I believe it was the 2600+, this was using VLC.

Hmm, You sure it didnt have GPU decoding enabled? because my opteron 146 couldnt do it, so a socket A 2600+ athlon wouldnt beable to. Not 1080p.

Energize · 13 Sep 2011 at 23:34

I don't even think they had that feature then. You probably weren't using an efficient decoder like VLC used, many media players were slow in comparison.

wannabedamned · 14 Sep 2011 at 02:30

I used VLC. It was capable of 720p, But 1080p stuttered. I also tried FFDshow and a few other decoders to remedy the stuttering. None worked, thats when I purchased a new card inorder to offload the decoding. As X800 + Opteron 146 @ 2.6ghz couldnt handle it.

Just do some looking around, people are struggling to get 1080p running on single core socket 939 CPUs. It baffles me how you could get it to run on an old Athlon XP 2600+.

I had an old 2500m that I had overclocked to 3200 standards, and that couldnt touch HD.

V F · 14 Sep 2011 at 03:28

wannabedamned said:
Hmm, You sure it didnt have GPU decoding enabled? because my opteron 146 couldnt do it, so a socket A 2600+ athlon wouldnt beable to. Not 1080p.

Both my Athlon XP3200+ couldn't do 720 on Youtube smoothly. 100% pegged with stuttering.

30 - 50% on a X2 4600+ with Windows XP but the last I remember when I had it on Windows 7 it would barely go beyond 35%. Use to vary between 25 - 35% usage with the Asteroid smash with Pink Floyd music.

joeyjojo · 14 Sep 2011 at 12:33

Energize said:
I don't even think they had that feature then. You probably weren't using an efficient decoder like VLC used, many media players were slow in comparison.

There's no way an athlon xp can manage HD video. I had to go from an E4400 to something with more power to play 1080p smoothly. Using media player classic.

Energize · 14 Sep 2011 at 15:01

V F said:
Both my Athlon XP3200+ couldn't do 720 on Youtube smoothly. 100% pegged with stuttering.

That's because it's a flash player. They are very slow compared to normal media players.

joeyjojo said:
There's no way an athlon xp can manage HD video. I had to go from an E4400 to something with more power to play 1080p smoothly. Using media player classic.

My cpu is <10% when playing back 1080p in the h.264 format, 1% when using gpu acceleration. I can assure you that they managed it just fine.

sarge78 · 14 Sep 2011 at 16:34

HD video playback (or 1080p) could mean anything.

40 or 4 MBits? (Bluray vs iTunes HD?)
What else is in the container? (Lots of subtitles and complex audio etc)

Makes the world of difference...

wannabedamned · 14 Sep 2011 at 17:19

This confuses me greatly...How can you possibly be running HD 1080p on a processor less powerful than my processor, Which doesnt manage it...

I'm not talking Youtube, I'm talking MP4 and MKV's generally.

I'm using the same software, VLC Player.

I do happen to have a Socket A system in bits, I'm tempted to put it together and test it

Kotu · 15 Sep 2011 at 00:18

i have an x2 3800 which with coreavc hits 100% on both cores and is still unable to playback 1080p mkvs, it can just about do 720p. If there really is a miracle to make 1080p playback on old single core systems then i would be very interested.

saitrix · 15 Sep 2011 at 07:13

Hmm looking into it more it seems XBMC can only use a single core too! So that makes it even less likely the G620 would cope. If only the Intel gpu worked well with XBMC software it would make for the perfect htpc cpu! Looks like even more looking round to find a solution....

I seem to remember CoreAVC being the most efficient codec on Windows though.

wannabedamned · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:11

I've tried everything, As I had a HTPC setup running Media portal in my living room. Media portal with some tweaking can use anything exernal software to play the films. I attempted CoreAVC, VLC, and FFDshow. And i tried them all with various settings, No amount of tweaking allowed my CPU to run 1080p. A GPU for offloading was a must. Is there a particular reason you're avoiding a Graphics card? As even the cheap cards will allow for smooth playback.

saitrix · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:41

Low idle power and I want to vesa mount it. I was looking at an su2300 setup with ion gpu. Its annoying that the Intel gpu doesn't work well in xbmc as its perfect otherwise. High performance with a sub 20w system idle but gpu offloading doesn't work correctly in xbmc. Plus I need it to be very quiet as it will be on 24/7 in my bedroom.