Hardware Acceleration in Hulu through Boxee in XP?

**jsl4980** · January 7th, 2010, 05:46 PM

I read through the release notes that Boxee will support hardware acceleration for flash applications in Windows 7 and Vista. I want to know if that will apply to XP as well, or if it already applies to XP.

I have an Acer Aspire Revo 1600 (single core plus ION). Netflix and Youtube work great, but Hulu through Boxee does not work great yet. I'm using the Boxee beta just released today. If you need any other info please let me know. If I have to upgrade to Windows 7 I can do that as well but I'd rather stick to XP if I can.

**judgeschambers** · January 7th, 2010, 05:52 PM

You know, I've gotten conflicting info on this. First that post in the FAQ leaves out XP, so everyone thinks XP is not supported. I don't believe that xp and acceleration are not supported.

I'll ask and get a final answer.

Stand by................................................ ....

**hipnetic** · January 8th, 2010, 08:33 AM

Just bumping this because I have the exact same setup and question as the OP. I've got a Acer AspireRevo 1600 w/XP (and stock 1GB of RAM) and want to know if Boxee will support fluid Hulu, Netflix, and high-def movie playback on this configuration. I've been using XBMC for Windows for some time, launching MPC-HC as an external player, and it works great for my high-def movies. I haven't had a lot of success with Hulu or Netflix on their own (my HD TiVo does a great job with Netflix).

I got early access to the Boxee Beta but had no success with any of those things, but I'm not sure if my problem is that Boxee simply won't support it on my hardware with XP, or if I need to update some drivers, or if my box is too crudded up from having tried out various codecs, etc.

**bradvido** · February 3rd, 2010, 01:53 PM

bumping this again as I have the same exact issue.
From what i've seen, it seems like hardware gpu accelleration is not working with boxee beta on revo 1600 with XP

**jsl4980** · February 3rd, 2010, 02:05 PM

I've tried Windows XP and Windows 7 on my Acer Revo 1600. I had an extra gig of ram from previous upgrades so I've tested XP with 2GB and Windows 7 with 1GB and 2GB of RAM.

In Windows XP with 2GB RAM and all softawre updated - flash video sucks. (that means Hulu, NBC, ABC, CBS - they all suck). Netflix was good.

In XP I have changed up my system to use Hulu's desktop player. Boxee just isn't ready for very low powered XP systems.

In Windows 7 with 1GB of RAM and all software updated - video was good but if a virus scan kicked off it would turn into a slide show.

In Windows 7 with 2GB of RAM and all software updated - video playback was very good through Boxee.

"all software updated" means: Flash 10.1 beta 2p, Nvidia's latest 196.xx drivers, DirectX upgraded, latest Firefox, Move Networks player installed and all other relevant software installed.

To sum up: Boxee 0.9.20.10408 doesn't work on the Acer Aspire Revo 1600 with XP.

**bradvido** · February 3rd, 2010, 02:06 PM

were you using the latest beta version of flash? it's the only one that support HW accel

**posnera** · February 3rd, 2010, 02:25 PM

I have the same results. Revo 1600, 1gb ram, XP. Flash video is unwatchable in Boxee. Hulu Desktop plays the same videos quite well.

This is with the newest Nvidia drivers and latest Flash beta.

I've also found that 720p MKV files don't play properly in Boxee, but play fine in a different player.

I agree with the conclusion that Boxee does not support hardware acceleration in XP. I hope this gets rectified, I'd rather not have to buy Win 7.

**jsl4980** · February 3rd, 2010, 02:48 PM

I don't want to take the thread too off topic, but I would suggest trying Boxee in Linux before buying Windows 7. A friend of mine with a Revo 1600 uses XBMC in Linux and it plays HD mkv files very well. I can't speak for Flash video playback in Linux on the Revo. You could try running Ubuntu off a thumb drive or using Wubi (windows ubuntu installer) to run Ubuntu along side XP. The only downside that I'm aware of with Linux is no Netflix playback.

I will try this when I get a chance unless someone can chime in with any relevant experience with Linux + Boxee on a 1600.

**dan1son** · February 3rd, 2010, 03:17 PM

I've ran Boxee on Ubuntu 9.10. The VDPAU accelerated playback is as perfect as you'd think, but the DXVA2 stuff in Windows Vista or Windows 7 is just as good. It'll play back 1080p MKV H.264 files with ease in either OS.

The problems come around to flash. In Linux Flash playback is actually quite good for the few sites it supports (Hulu mainly). It doesn't support the Move player sites (like Fox, NBC...) or netflix. I find Hulu is incomparably better in Linux than Windows 7 even with Flash 10.1. I think boxee has some work to do on that front.

If you're only going to playback MKV files and such, run XBMC in Linux. If you want to use the social, apps, and streaming aspects of boxee I'd run it on Vista or 7.

**judgeschambers** · February 3rd, 2010, 06:48 PM

Well, the 1600 is underpowered with a single core CPU. Also, it has the ION LE chip, which will only support DirectX 10 no matter what on XP as it is a licensing deal with Microsoft and Nvidia. XP does support hardware acceleration on Boxee. But again, the single core and the Ion LE will cause issues with playback of HD MKV 720p or 1080P files and most any other file types.

Most users have not had great playback using the 1600 with Boxee as a result. Just too much hit to the CPU. Sure, there are some that were able to install Windows 7 and maybe got slightly better playback, but even then it is not that great. Issues are not a Windows 7 issue, it's a hardware, CPU and driver issue that takes the right mix to get to work well together. My 3610 could not be any better.

Lastly, multitasking the 1600 will severely lagg that machine. This includes AV scans, video and web browsing etc. Mileage may vary. No amount of ram or drivers or Linux seems to help.

If possible, consider moving into the 3610 with the 330 dual core with Windows 7. I and most others have had mad success and been extremely happy with it. Flash 10.1=Flawless. Netflix silverlight=flawless. Hulu (flash)=Flawless. NBC, CBS, Fox (move networks)=so so as boxee is still working on the Move Plug In. DirectX in Boxee is not currently supporting acceleration, so 720p MKV's play flawless, but full 1080p MKVs are laggy.

There are a ton of posts here on Acer Revo 1600 and 3600. I've posted a bunch of help covering a lot of related topics. Poke around and search by Revo, ACER, and or 1600 3610. You should find some good reading and possible leads on small tweaks.