Questions about Nvidia drivers and VDPAU for Acer RevoAspire

[dutsnekcirf]

Peers,

As already mentioned in the title, I have an Acer RevoAspire 1600. It has the Nvidia ION LE graphics card. I want to be certain that it's using VDPAU and the latest (I think?) Nvidia drivers. I've read posts about people using the Avenard repository and that by using it it drastically improved performance. I've also read that the Avenard repository is no long necessary if you're using auto-builds.

I believe I am using auto-builds (0.23.1 PPA with the Mythbuntu-testing PPA) with this installation but I don't know if I have the most current Nvidia drivers. In my X Server Settings it shows that I have version 260.19.06 but the Nvidia drivers website shows 260.19.12 as their most current. http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-d...12-driver.html Also, under the Hardware Drivers application it only shows one available Nvidia driver to select (And all it says is Current Version). I've also read that I can enable the Nvidia repository (which I can't figure out how to do) and it'll show me more options for Nvdia drivers. I've read that I should be running the 195 version as opposed to the 185 version. But I don't even know which version I'm running except for what it shows in the X Server Settings which doesn't say 185 or 195.

So it appears I don't have the latest version. So naturally you'd think I should update. However, on that same Nvidia download page it talks about removing VDPAU support which is what I want most of all.

So now I'm confused; very confused. How do I know if I'm using VDPAU for sure? I have it enabled in myth frontend. And HD content works fine in myth frontend. But, I'm also running Boxee and HD content does not work fine there. I've enabled VDPAU in Boxee too, but online content is very choppy.

It would be very helpful to receive a clear explanation on this. This is one of those times when too much research has caused nothing but confusion.

Thanks everyone.

Jonathan

[dutsnekcirf]

okay, so here's some more information. I believe I have the latest Nvidia drivers per repository. I also have flash 10.1 installed based on what I can see in synaptic package manager.

If I run top and then start a recording (at 1080i) in mythtv frontend I only get about 17% cpu usage. But that's merely a recording and flash is not involved. If I open Firefox and go to Hulu and watch an episode there top shows something like 144% cpu usage. Which can't be right. And that would have nothing to do with Boxee per se. It's got to be a firefox / flash / driver thing.

I've read that Flash does not use VDPAU. At least I think I read that somewhere. However, do you think that using the Avenard repository would fix these problems?

I'm asking that question based upon the information found in this thread: http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.ph...hlight=avenard

Though that thread is from January. I can't help but wonder if things have improved with the auto builds since then. Also, because I'm running Mythbuntu 10.10, I can't tell if there's an Avenard repository for that distribution yet.