| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
cecil
Site Admin
Joined: 19 Sep 2003
Posts: 2643
Location: Fontana, Ca
|
 Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:06 pm Post subject: VDPAU |
 |
|
Well, I must say I'm a little bit surprised. A few weeks back, Nvidia announced Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix (VDPAU). Essentially this means if you have a supported nvidia chipset, the chipset will now do the heavy lifiting of decoding various video codecs. See the message for support codecs and chipsets.
Yesterday, Isaac committed a patch to MythTV's trunk that enables VDPAU in MythTV. The chat in IRC has been rather excited. While VDPAU is in it's infancy, this is a great development.
I know various people want small, powerful and capable frontends. With VDPAU, it will be possible. Imagine a small system attached to and HD-PVR working quietly while you are enjoying HDTV!
While it would take a little work to get this going in R5, it can be done. Just get the latest beta nvidia drivers and follow this thread. In R6, this will be far easier!
My surprise is because nvidia is the first to deliver an MPEG4 decoding solution. With all the work Intel is doing, I kinda expected something from them before anyone else. I know AMD/ATi is also working on improved support! At any rate, more options are heading our way! Thanks for using KnoppMyth and I hope you stick with us for your entertainment needs. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
RacerX
Joined: 05 Sep 2004
Posts: 245
|
| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 4:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Very Interesting Indeed,
I have always been a fan of the idea of using the power of the graphics card to do more of the heavy lifting with HDTV. I've read thru a lot of the posts about this topic on Mythtv.org users list. It would be great to a smallush HDTV front end that can use a moderate dual core processor with a more modern Graphics Card.
Thanks to Nvidia for opening up the door a little more to get MPEG4 to become the standard on linux.
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
davilla
Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 95
|
| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
see my post about using a dual-core atom 330 with nvidia 8400 PCI card. VDPAU is very cool. It's quite amazing to see 720p high profile L4.1 h.264 video content playing with < 5 percent cpu usage (mplayer).
It's too bad the AppleTV only has a nvidia 7300 so no VDPAU for it :( |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jmckeown2
Joined: 02 Sep 2006
Posts: 359
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I see offloading the tasks saving CPU; but what does it do the GPU, If the work is going to the GPU, then obviously the GPU is going to get hotter. I'm not seeing any specs saying how much hotter. Would a passively-cooled graphics card still be practical? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
davilla
Joined: 20 Mar 2006
Posts: 95
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| My nvidia 8400 is passive and yes the GPU heat sink does get hot. Not skin removing hot though. Total power consumption is 52 Watts with 3.5 HD and CD attached. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
pilesofspam
Joined: 09 May 2006
Posts: 102
|
| Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 1:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| This is incredible news, and pretty much what I was waiting for before purchasing an HD-PVR for my knoppmyth box. davilla- thanks for your work on this. Obviously, Cecil, thanks for your work as well. Time to get one on order! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
nharris
Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 388
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:38 am Post subject: |
|
|
| pilesofspam wrote: | | Time to get one on order! |
I hope you have a strong stomach and good Linux skills. For the HD-PVR you need to compile/install/run MythTV trunk (bleeding edge) and a special V4L driver branch. For VDPAU support, you will also need to run the beta nVidia driver.
According to the grapevine, your graphics card needs to have at least 512M and be on the list of supported cards. Also, I hear that H.264 looks great... but regular HD MPEG2 looks bad right now.
All that said, I'm looking to get a 9xxx series card so I can play around with this too. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tophee
Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 724
Location: London, UK
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
I think this sounds really promising. Once the driver gets out of beta things should improve. I am now considering a new graphics card. The passive 9400 or 9500's look good. Think they might be the next big upgrade. 
_________________
Version:R6 (latest)
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 9500gt via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 2Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, 500GB, 1Tb (x2), 2Tb all Samsung Spinpoint drives, Nova-T, Nova-T500, Nova-S, LG DVD r/w rom |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Greg Frost
Joined: 10 May 2004
Posts: 1888
Location: Adelaide, Australia
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 1:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I was all set to buy an asus m2n68-vm because of its onboard hdmi (and local availability), but it uses a GeForce 7 series GPU. Are there motherboards with DVI/HDMI out that have a chipset that will support VDPAU that someone can recommend? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
nharris
Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 388
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Liv2Cod
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1123
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mihanson
Joined: 25 Sep 2005
Posts: 972
Location: Los Angeles
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Liv2Cod
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1123
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
HDMI, for one. Plus, if one is building a system anyway, it makes sense to choose a MB that has the "good" graphics built-in.
_________________
Do you code to live, or live to code?
Search KnoppMyth forum through Google |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
snaproll
Joined: 24 Jul 2005
Posts: 324
Location: Ft. Worth TX
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject: |
|
|
'Card overheated multiple times and eventually just stopped working after about 3 weeks.'.......  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
pilesofspam
Joined: 09 May 2006
Posts: 102
|
| Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| nharris wrote: | | pilesofspam wrote: | | Time to get one on order! |
I hope you have a strong stomach and good Linux skills. For the HD-PVR you need to compile/install/run MythTV trunk (bleeding edge) and a special V4L driver branch. For VDPAU support, you will also need to run the beta nVidia driver.
According to the grapevine, your graphics card needs to have at least 512M and be on the list of supported cards. Also, I hear that H.264 looks great... but regular HD MPEG2 looks bad right now.
All that said, I'm looking to get a 9xxx series card so I can play around with this too. |
Good advice- I've been hacking linux for a long time, and occasionally even get paid for it- still, what I lack in skill I make up for in obsession (and a forum like this doesn't hurt). I saw the forum post from the Nvidia driver developer. The 512 limit is only supposed to be 'For Now' implying that 256 cards will eventually be supported as well. There's also an issue with the driver supporting up to a certain index frame (specifically 4) in h.264, but that shouldn't be an issue with the HD-PVR- just downloaded h.264 content. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
