Support for VIA EPIA SP?

[Skunk]

Can GBPVR use the internal hardware MPEG decoder on the new VIA EPIA SP 1300 motherboard?
http://www.viavpsd.com/product/epia_sp_s...oardId=261

IS the EPIA board powerfull enough to run with GBPVR?


Regards
Bjorn Andersen

[sub]

Can GBPVR use the internal hardware MPEG decoder on the new VIA EPIA SP 1300 motherboard?
http://www.viavpsd.com/product/epia_...herboardId=261

It doesnt have a full decoder in the same sense as the PVR350 and XCard, but rather MPEG2 accelleration features that can be used to speed up the decoding process. You need to use a software decoder like the Cyberlink decoder which can take advantage of the presence of these features. It'd drop your CPU usage by probably 15 - 20 percent.

IS the EPIA board powerfull enough to run with GBPVR?

Barely. It'll work, but the menus etc will be a little sluggish.

[Skunk]

EPIA SP have a fully hardware MPEG-2 decoder but only a MPEG-4 Accelerator.
It uses 15 % cpu usage for MPEG-2 playing and 80-100 % for avi/DivX. All under epiOS (a Linux dist specieally for VIA EPIA).

I had hoped it worked in Gbpvr, course im so tired of noicy and powerconsuming htpc's.

[sub]

Sounds like you should keep using epiOS then. VIA dont make any hardware accelleration available under windows, other than the minor boost gained through DXVA.

[Alun_B]

I currently run GBPVR on a SP13000 (with a PVR500 tuner card). All works well so far. Had a few minor problems when setting up the hardware acceleration using the cyberlink codec, but it seems stable now. During playback, my CPU usage is around 25-35% with hardware acceleration activated. Pretty nice!!

So, yes, you can easily run GBPVR on this board.

[stefan]

Could you post us details, please? I try the cyberlink decoder. It has better image quality than intervideo (in my opinion) but it skips some. Runs at about 80% of CPU power. Cyberlink runs at about 40-50% (on an Epia 10000 ) but looks not as good (apart from the fact that it doesn't skip during playback). Basically I have to options: good image quality and some (but still noticable) skipping and high cpu, or worse quality but virtually no skipping (and low cpu). I have tried messing with cyberlink registry settings, but can't seem to get it to make any difference at all...

[Skunk]

Alan_B, where do you get the Cyberlink codec from?
And, do you have a guide to follow?

[Alun_B]

OK. No problem.....

My current setup is running GBPVR v9310. I installed Power DVD version 5.0 (cyberlink codec) and activated the "hardware acceleration" tag in the Power DVD video settings.

In GBPVR "playback" config, I selected the cyberlink codec for both video and audio decoding. I selected Vinyl AC'97 as the audio renderer (I had sound quality problems when I used the cyberlink audio renderer). Using these settings, I get CPU usage in the range of 25-35% when watching live TV. I have a PVR500 card, so that lightens the load on the cpu too.

I initially had problems with DVD playback when I set up the PVR. I use the same audio decoding/rendering settings as in "playback", but I use the "DVD Navigator" instead of the Cyberlink option in the navigator list. When I initially tried using the Cyberlink navigator, the PVR locked up on DVD playback. Switching to the standard DVD navigator fixed the problem immediately.

I have de-interlacing set to "encoder pass-through" in live Preview Mode options. I had problems when this was set to any of the other options.....jerky picture and bad sound etc.

I sometimes find the audio/video losing sync. Not sure what the problem is with this, but am looking into it. Anyone got any ideas??

I have connected my PVR to the TV through a RCA-SCART connector. Output is a little blurry, making text on the TV a little difficult to see. I am going to try using the S-Video soon, to see if I get better image quality. I know very little about this aspect of things yet, so am open to suggestions.

As for windows registry settings, I don't really anything about this. I'm not versed in looking at registry settings yet, but am planning to start looking into it at some stage.

If you guys have any additional questions, I can do my best to answer them.

[martijnvdl]

I currently run GBPVR on a SP13000 (with a PVR500 tuner card). All works well so far. Had a few minor problems when setting up the hardware acceleration using the cyberlink codec, but it seems stable now. During playback, my CPU usage is around 25-35% with hardware acceleration activated. Pretty nice!!

So, yes, you can easily run GBPVR on this board.

Sounds nice! How's the performance of the menus and the tv guide?

[Alun_B]

Sounds nice! How's the performance of the menus and the tv guide?

Thanks. Menus and tv guide display surprisingly well. There is only the slightest picture lag/stutter when I change channel and the on-screen guide momentarily overlays on top of the live tv feed. Once the guide disappears, the tv picture displays perfectly. Apart from that, I have no issues with menus or tv guide.