Boxee setup is just too hard--Hardware Acceleration Not Working???

[lespl2009]

(I have been a software engineer for 12 years.)

I have EVERYTHING set up for supported video acceleration. It does not help. Video playback is choppy and slow.

If Boxee is using the same Flash as my browser it is puzzling why the performance penalty with Boxee. The browser (even lowly IE) doesn't require a fragile installation of software, hardware, drivers, flash, etc, etc. for fast playback, it just works. Boxee is such a cool idea I wish it would just work. I have done my homework (sheesh) setting up Boxee with the correct clean install, hardware, etc, etc, but it's still slow. Sorry guys. Setup is just too hard.

[judgeschambers]

Ok this is four posts now over and over. You should be posting your help questions in the OS threads with hardware configurations. Better yet, I'll move it for you and ask that you post your hardware set up. This is the second time.....

Please read the First Stop link in my sig to determine what hardware is needed for Boxee Beta to work correctly. If you have further questions, please provide the information outlined below.


What is your total hardware configuration, OS and boxee beta version?

[lespl2009]

My system:

Windows 7 Ultimate - Updates current as of 6/6/2010
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3800+ 2.40 GHz
2GB RAM
32 bit OS
NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT (WDDM v1.1)
Boxee 0.9.21.11487
Flash 10.0.45.2

Browser Hulu plays perfect on this system. Boxee Hulu barely moves.

[DPK]

There's got to be something weird with your machine that is being overlooked as I've run Boxee on various systems without hitches like you have described. I rarely have to do anything for Boxee to work. Usually it's just a download and execute process.

Can you please attach a complete copy of your boxee log file during an instance of attempting to play something via hulu? Thanks.

That or you could just be trolling us.

[judgeschambers]

First problem is the CPU is a single core. That will tax it quite a lot as each program that is opened hits the one core too much. Boxee requires a fair amount of CPU (core) of it's own. So, that is going to be a major show stopper.
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K8/AMD...0CNBOX%29.html

Second, not running Flash Beta 10.1 RC 7. You will not trigger GPU acceleration without it installed. You need to install the Active X for IE and the Add-in for FFox as FFox is what Boxee uses. No need to actually install FFox though.

Now, even with the proper video card, which you have, with a single core to run all functions you may experience lag when boxee is run to view the Flash videos. As mentioned above, due to its complexity, boxee requires a fair amount of cpu power on it's own. Let alone what's needed to run the player and the Internet connection. Conversely, I have a much lower end Athlon 3600+ 32bit chip system with a NON-gpu accelerated GPU and it runs boxee flash just fine...as long as it's not full screen.

So, install Flash RC 7 and see what you get. Also, to free up resources, you may need to remove any unneeded services.

[darcilicious]

For starters you should probably start with this:

* Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta- To use GPU acceleration in Boxee Beta with compatible video cards. Examples-Hulu, YouTube, etc.

o Flash Beta 10.1 - Windows, Mac, Linux
Windows-Install both ActiveX and Plug-in (32 and 64 bit)
Mac & Linux-Install the singe file listed.
Uninstall first any Adobe Flash programs before installing this update!
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/

[judgeschambers]

For starters you should probably start with this:

I suggested before he hit the First Stop link for drivers and Flash info....

[lespl2009]

Let me just make a comment. Even if I get this working on this machine, there is a bigger issue for me...

I don't pay for cable or satellite. I use broadcast HD and internet video exclusively. Seems like I am exactly the kind of user Boxee would be targetting. In my living room I have a fairly old computer acting as my internet video server and it works great. In fact I laugh at people who pay for TV because I have a much greater selection than they do and it's all on demand. In my rotation of home computers the oldest weakest machine becomes the video server. And that is as it should be because HD video playback does not require much horsepower and does not require hardware acceleration.

Now Boxee comes along. It's the perfect front end for users like me. I am Boxee's target audience or sure. The problem is Boxee shuts me out due to hardware demands that are miles above the rest of the internet video world. Weak hardware and internet video are a perfect match today, but not with Boxee.

Does Boxee have to re-encode the video in order to paint the overlays or something -- is that what this is all about? I'll tell you what would work for me...

Add a "full screen pass through" mode that plays video exactly the way the browser plays it, or any of several stand alone video players out there, that play video perfectly with weak hardware. That would do it. The way Boxee works now it is not a good fit for internet video users like me.

Have written that, I will send a debug log later today no problem. I will do a clean install again, and should I install Flash beta or keep the RTM?

[darcilicious]

Per my previous post and the link to the post you've been pointed to, if you want to enable GPU acceleration (and you do, btw ) then install the latest Flash RC.

[lespl2009]

I am interested in the comment about concern with single core machines. The Boxee UI is perfectly snappy. It is also very snappy on my living room video server which is a weaker processor still. In fact the UI overlays run fast right on top of the struggling video.