# Tuning an eMachine er1401 for 1080p



## andyzammy (Dec 20, 2011)

I bought this box to use as a client for my media server. It is a relatively low spec machine (AMD Athlon II Neo K325 dual core CPU, 2GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9200), but has been reported to manage it.

After installing x11/xorg, x11-wm/dwm, x11/nvidia-driver, multimedia/vlc (all packages apart from the driver), I found that it couldn't even play 720p without a lot of seaming and judders. This isn't streaming from the network yet, reading from the hard drive.

I tried the man pages, but sysctl(8), sysctl.conf(5) and tuning(7) didn't help me at all. Are there any tips/options that can increase performance to match my needs?


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## taliz (Dec 20, 2011)

Have you configured X to use the "nvidia" driver instead of the "nv" driver? And is VLC built with VDPAU support?


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## andyzammy (Dec 20, 2011)

taliz said:
			
		

> Have you configured X to use the "nvidia" driver instead of the "nv" driver? And is VLC built with VDPAU support?



X is using "nvidia" yes. And I can't tell if VDPAU support is included, sorry. I installed the STABLE packages for everything except for the driver. I looked through the multimedia/vlc config but couldn't see an option for VDPAU. Please could you tell me how I could find out? Otherwise, the answer depends on whether it is built by default.

Looking through the default config options I have noticed that OPENGL isn't set. Could this help me? Also, how about OCFLAGS?


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## SirDice (Dec 20, 2011)

I'm not sure VLC even has that option. multimedia/mplayer does have it.


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## T-Daemon (Dec 20, 2011)

SirDice said:
			
		

> I'm not sure VLC even has that option.



It has, by VAAPI.

*@andyzammy*: Set the _VAAPI "Support hardware decoding via VAAPI"_ option in the vlc's port configuration (it's disabled by default). As one of the dependencies, multimedia/vdpau-video, will be installed.

Here some reading about vlc and vdpau:


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## andyzammy (Dec 20, 2011)

I built multimedia/vlc and multimedia/mplayer with the appropriate options and vlc has improved, though it is still isn't watchable (at 720p). mplayer does much better, playing 1080p at the same quality that vlc manages 720p. 720p is watchable but judders are still present.

Are there any tweaks I can make to optimize the quality? I spent 60 seconds on each of these programs preferences.. Will look up the best settings now, just wondering if there is anything else that can be done on the OS side of things? I read the link you gave T-Deamon and the hardware meets the requirements.

Is it worth trying out multimedia/xbmc if two other programs can't do it?

Thanks for the help so far!


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## T-Daemon (Dec 20, 2011)

For vlc:
In Preferences --> Input & Codecs of vlc there is the setting _"Use GPU acceleration (experimental)"_. Is it active or is it not possible to set the option?

For mplayer try this:

`$ mplayer -vo vdpau -vc ffh264vdpau video_file`

Other video codecs for vdpau : ffmpeg12vdpau, ffwmv3vdpau, ffvc1vdpau, ffodivxvdpau (see man mplayer(), search for vdpau).

If you want to try out xbmc with vdpau, enable the option in the port's configuration (disabled by default). There is the VAAPI option too. I'm not
sure which one of them has to be enabled. Options FAAC and NONFREE are also worth paying attention to them.


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## andyzammy (Dec 20, 2011)

T-Daemon said:
			
		

> For vlc:
> In Preferences --> Input & Codecs of vlc there is the setting _"Use GPU acceleration (experimental)"_. Is it active or is it not possible to set the option?
> 
> For mplayer try this:
> ...



The GPU Acceleration option is enabled in vlc.

That command works for mplayer, 1080p works just fine. Will give the other codecs a try too. Admittedly, I used gmplayer but as I had ticked the option in the config, I thought magic would happen in the background and sort all codecy stuff out for me. There doesn't seem to be a fraction of the available options in the GUI compared to the command line... looks like I have some more reading to do.

Will crack open a new thread about sound before giving xbmc a try. Thanks for the help everyone!


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## brianc (Dec 23, 2011)

Depending on your situation and preferences, you may like XBMC for playing videos. I found it a little easier then always having to play HD from the command line. My Atom media player can play HD videos no problem using XBMC with vdpau.


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## andyzammy (Dec 23, 2011)

brianc said:
			
		

> Depending on your situation and preferences, you may like XBMC for playing videos. I found it a little easier then always having to play HD from the command line. My Atom media player can play HD videos no problem using XBMC with vdpau.



Hi brianc, yes that's the plan but before I go ahead with xbmc I need to fix a problem I'm having with audio.


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## brianc (Dec 23, 2011)

I am in the same boat, no HDMI audio with NVidia ION board... I have to use the optical out which makes for switching between Satellite and media center a pain. I spent hours and hours researching with nothing, I posted on NVidia's forum but have got no replies. 



			
				andyzammy said:
			
		

> Hi brianc, yes that's the plan but before I go ahead with xbmc I need to fix a problem I'm having with audio.


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