Mini Computer Performance Issues and Best OS to use...

[schneideris]

I have been battling an issue with audio breaking up and getting out of sync over time. Watching live tv can go well for several hours some times and then others it only takes an hour for it to happen. Initially I thought it might be my backend server which was having some other hardware issues. Today I completed the build and install of a new server and the issue has persisted. That leaves me with the thought that this is a frontend issue and possibly the Zotac Mini (Atom 330 processor) box not be able to keep up.

The question that I have is, what version of Windows would be the best to use (Windows XP, Win 7, Win 8)? I have used Win 7 and now 8 with both demonstrating this issue. Am I even going to get this box to work competently as a frontend?

[ga_mueller]

I used an Atom 330 3 years ago for GBPVR (precursor to NPVR), along with XP. Only way it would work was with a video card; I used an 8400GS. Otherwise choppy video/audio breakup and all the rest. Very old tech; you should upgrade.

[schneideris]

Thanks Ga, good to know and much appreciated.

[mvallevand]

I bought an Atom 330 based machine almost five years ago http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...ck-ION-330 and I was underwhelmed then. I do use it was an XBMC machine from time to time now with OpenElec and I think that is a better platform for it that Microsoft.

Martin

[schneideris]

Perhaps I should try using XBMC and then try OpenElec? I suspect the 1080i resolution is what is giving the box it's greatest grief but it would be interesting to try.

[mvallevand]

It's free to try, just install to USB and configure the BIOS to boot from USB

Martin

[jcjefferies]

Before you write off the Atom 330 remember that it is quite a bit more powerful than a Raspberry Pi which will playback 1080p video. You mention a 1080i display but you don’t mention if the material is SD or HD. When you get these problems is the processor running up to 100%? Does the video card in the Atom support h264 video acceleration if you are playing HD video?

I have been evaluating Openelec as a replacement for my Windows NextPVR client for about two months running on an old 3GHZ Pentium 4 which has a speed benchmark about 60% that of your Atom. I had several playback problems when it ran XP some of which disappeared when I installed Vista but another irritation one persisted. I hate the XBMC menus so recommend Martin's X-NEWA XBMC add-on as all my NextPVR playback problems have gone.

Chris

[boringgit]

Remember though that in Windows we are generally 'lucky' enough to enjoy proper driver support for our hardware. The linux world can be a bit more haphazard... The Raspberry Pi manages 1080p by the skin of its teeth (or perhaps a bit better than that), due to what was until very recently a closed source driver blob for what is actually a very highly optimised gpu.
The Atom is a more powerful processor (again, arguably) but most likely paired with an Intel gpu, a modern one of which is actually pretty capable... an older one pretty poor. I suspect your Linux graphics performance will be less than Windows, can only hope that the reduced cpu load might compensate?

[schneideris]

So here is a strange observation. I just enabled ReadyBoost to see if that would have an impact, no change (could have sworn that I had enabled this before). Did a reboot to see if that would fix it and this is where the strange part happens. On reboot, almost as soon as a stream starts the audio stutter happens. It appears that this behaviour is prominent in the afternoon, not so much in the morning. Checked out the CPU (30%), Memory (55%), and Network (1%) performance and that does not appear to have any issue. Checked the server and it has lots of CPU, Memory, and Network performance available so again, that can't be it. This is just to strange.

[Reddwarf]

So here is a strange observation. I just enabled ReadyBoost to see if that would have an impact, no change (could have sworn that I had enabled this before). Did a reboot to see if that would fix it and this is where the strange part happens. On reboot, almost as soon as a stream starts the audio stutter happens. It appears that this behaviour is prominent in the afternoon, not so much in the morning. Checked out the CPU (30%), Memory (55%), and Network (1%) performance and that does not appear to have any issue. Checked the server and it has lots of CPU, Memory, and Network performance available so again, that can't be it. This is just to strange.

Which audio decoder is in use?