Beta Builds getting worse?

[DManthei]

Hello all,
I'm pretty poor, so my HTPC is just an old Dell Optiplex GX280 with 2GB of memory and a Radeon HD4650. It seems to me that video playback has gotten worse with each newer release of Boxee.

- Flash playback is worse than in May
- H.264 fails to A/V sync correctly after HTPC sleep
- Netflix still has just enough lag to make me watch in Firefox
- Menu navigation has become laggy and jerky.

None of these issues existed when I first started using Boxee in May.

I understand how beta testing and debugging work, and I also realize the Boxee crew has limited resources. I hope that these issues have surfaced due to bug fixes and underlying code changes that improve stability and functionality. Hopefully in the near future, playback will improve. Afterall, video playback is the whole point, right? My system hasn't changed, so it can't be me right?

Boxee 0.9.21.12594, July 5 2010
Windows XP Pro (lightened by nlite)
P4 HT 2.8Ghz
2GB DDR2 533
Gigabyte Radeon HD4650
40GB Maxtor SATA 1.5Gb/s
Intel Gigabit LAN
All the latest drivers
Firefox, ClamAV, Spybot, CCleaner, and Boxee are the only apps installed.

[judgeschambers]

I can't agree that beta is worse, in fact it's better on my rigs.

Unfortunately, your rig is below the minimum requirements to run boxee adequately.

• Single core will struggle due to the high demands of boxee, flash and silverlight.
  
  • Needs a dual core with the 4 hyper threads or a quad core for the very best performance.
  
  
• XP does not accelerate the GPU either.
  
  • You need to run Vista or Win-7 to see GPU acceleration.
  
  

If all this video works in a browser but not in boxee, that really shows the issue I'm referring to. You can't even compare at this point. It's just unrealistic to expect perfect playback from this hardware.

I understand that you're "poor" (So am I), but I see things playing worse over time with that hardware especially as more video goes HD.

Check my First STop sig ink. I have all the hardware requirements needed to run boxee. As well as what formats, containers to trigger GPU acceleration.

[judgeschambers]

One other thought,

You could install Vista or Win-7 and with that video card, you may, may get better playback as you'll see GPU acceleration. Which will take a lot of the hit off that CPU. I did this with an older single core XP rig and added a GPU accelerated vid card.

It wont' be perfect, but video plays better and beats buying a brand new rig.

[DManthei]

judgeschambers,
Thanks a lot for the reply.

I do have a spare system here that's got an AMD Athlon X2 4600+, but it was far worse than the GX280 was, so I switched back. I only have 20 running processes, so I don't think I could put this thing on much more of a diet.

But hey, if it's not meeting the minimum requirements, I have no room to complain. I see a lot of people talking about using Intel Atom CPU's in HTPC's...are they really much more powerful than a 2.8Ghz P4?

I can't seem to win the OS war...OS X on the GX280 is very slow, XP doesn't do GPU acceleration, and Ubuntu doesn't do Silverlight/Netflix! I may give the Vista suggestion a shot...but I don't have a legit license key. I suppose I could use my student ID and get the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $29.99 from digital river...

Thanks again for the heads up on the sys recs, looks like I'm gonna throw in the towel on Boxee until I can afford the Box or a better HTPC.

[judgeschambers]

judgeschambers,
Thanks a lot for the reply.

No problem. Glad to help clarify things.

I do have a spare system here that's got an AMD Athlon X2 4600+, but it was far worse than the GX280 was, so I switched back. I only have 20 running processes, so I don't think I could put this thing on much more of a diet.

You've done well with 20 processes. But unfortunately, it's the lack of CPU cores that's hurting ya on this one.

But hey, if it's not meeting the minimum requirements, I have no room to complain. I see a lot of people talking about using Intel Atom CPU's in HTPC's...are they really much more powerful than a 2.8Ghz P4?

Yes, that's true.
I have the Atom Ion 1.66 ghz Revo. It's more powerful as it can multi task with dual cores and 4 hyper threads. Then piggy back it to an ION video chip to provide the GPU acceleration and , BAM. These rigs are at the VERY bare minimum and do have some limitations. But they are cheap ($330 with Win-7 64 installed) and do a pretty good job overall. Again, not perfect, but pretty damn good.

I can't seem to win the OS war...OS X on the GX280 is very slow, XP doesn't do GPU acceleration, and Ubuntu doesn't do Silverlight/Netflix! I may give the Vista suggestion a shot...but I don't have a legit license key. I suppose I could use my student ID and get the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $29.99 from digital river...

You can't beat the student discount! I did it with XP in 1999..LOL. Again, this will help your rig leverage the video card you have as it does support GPU acceleration. It won't take all the hit off the CPU, but it will help.

Thanks again for the heads up on the sys recs, looks like I'm gonna throw in the towel on Boxee until I can afford the Box or a better HTPC.

The next step would be a ATom/Ion...just don't get an ION-2!

[DManthei]

Thanks a lot for the info! I will try installing Windows 7 on a spare HD. I'll use the 30 days of activation grace period to see how it works. If it doesn't help, I didn't waste any money...if so, then I can look into buying the upgrade license and upgrading the XP drive.

Sorry to have occupied your time with my issue...I was afraid something bigger was the culprit of poor playback. I appreciate all your suggestions.

Thanks again!!

[judgeschambers]

Oh man, no need to apologize. That's what we are here for.

Keep this link updated with your findings.

[The Boxee Man]

I agree the latest beta release broke more than it fixed.

[Rulo]

You can even try Windows 7 Enterprise for 90 days.
Give it a go here.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/e...x?ITPID=wtcpgs

[marcel]

@The Boxee Man can you elaborate a little?