Paak Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Maybe it's related to the use ddsfanart advanced option? What's the ddsfanart? I was running XBMC on a classic xbox and had little problem (with the exception of not being able to play 720 or better and being fairly slow...I just chalked both up to it being on the classic xbox). Are you storing all your fanart/thumb on the HD? I had been storing all my fanart/thumbs in the folder with the media content on unRaid... Link to comment
boof Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 It is why I use a 4Gig Compact-Flash drive in an CF-to-SATA adapter in my Revo media player. Cheap, quiet, and did I mention cheap. It too has plenty of space for XBMC live. http://www.amazon.com/Bootable-Compact-Flash-Converter-Adapter/dp/B0030D3T16/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1295384089&sr=8-2 Joe L. This is a neat idea. What sort of performance do you see subjectively? The stats on CF cards (Unless you get into the 'may as well buy an ssd bracket') don't look stellar for raw throughput. I suspect that isn't too much of an issue for xbmc though - how do you find boot times etc? Link to comment
Paak Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Just ordered a CF card (couldn't find any of the older ones I had) and the adapter Joe pointed out. I'll give that a try and see how it works. Joe, just a heads up, I might have some questions on set up for ya! Link to comment
Joe L. Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 This is a neat idea. What sort of performance do you see subjectively? The stats on CF cards (Unless you get into the 'may as well buy an ssd bracket') don't look stellar for raw throughput. I suspect that isn't too much of an issue for xbmc though - how do you find boot times etc? It boots in about 25 seconds here using xbmc live dharma. Link to comment
boof Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 This is a neat idea. What sort of performance do you see subjectively? The stats on CF cards (Unless you get into the 'may as well buy an ssd bracket') don't look stellar for raw throughput. I suspect that isn't too much of an issue for xbmc though - how do you find boot times etc? It boots in about 25 seconds here using xbmc live dharma. Sounds good - what speed card do you have? Link to comment
Joe L. Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 This is a neat idea. What sort of performance do you see subjectively? The stats on CF cards (Unless you get into the 'may as well buy an ssd bracket') don't look stellar for raw throughput. I suspect that isn't too much of an issue for xbmc though - how do you find boot times etc? It boots in about 25 seconds here using xbmc live dharma. Sounds good - what speed card do you have? I honestly do not remember. (and I'm not taking the revo apart to look) But... I do know it was not one of the really high-speed cards. I'm pretty sure it was a Kingston brand. Probably this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134514 Today I'd probably go with this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220460 as it is twice the space and much faster, and almost the same price. In fact, I am ordering that 8Gig one in a few minutes so I can boot even faster. I rarely reboot, so it really does not make a lot of difference, but when I do, it is usually when I am trying to get something playing that simply locked up the xbmc device when I'm working with a beta release installed. Then I'll be happier if it is faster. Joe L. Link to comment
Tight_wad Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Maybe it's related to the use ddsfanart advanced option? What's the ddsfanart?... Excerpt from XBMC wiki located http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=ThumbnailCache DDS artwork XBMC uses the compressed format DXT1 or DXT5 in the form of a .dds file. These are GPU-friendly compressed formats which allow for very fast loading of textures. It comes at the disadvantage of a loss in quality - DXT compression can in some cases be very bad quality. XBMC uses libsquish which is reasonably optimal at compressing the images. In the future XBMC may use DXT5 in the YCoCg colour space which is the same size as DXT5 (i.e. 8bits/pixel) but is visually close to being lossless. For now, if XBMC deems the quality isn't quite good enough to use DXT1 or DXT5, we use ARGB (i.e. 32bits/pixel) which can result in some very large images on disk. On systems with slow disk access, these may take longer to load than .jpg or .png versions. The generation of .dds versions of the artwork is automatic if you have set the <useddsfanart> advancedsetting. DDS versions are generated in step 7 above. Even if you haven't set the advanced setting, XBMC will still load .dds versions of the textures if they're available, so on slower systems you may wish to generate .dds versions offline and place them in the texture cache directly. And active thread about it http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=59115 I did this on my main computer that I use for back end work. My collection is about 1750 movies, and it took me almost 7 hours for it to generate the dds's for my posters and fan art, after I scrolled one by one through my library. The size of the dds's were about double the size of my tbn's and jpg's. That I think is why the question about the dds's was originally brought up, it will about triple + the space used for the thumbs. At least it did mine. Not sure my speed increases, but I will say that when I would page through my library view, I didn't have any delays bring up posters or backgrounds. And I didn't see in degrading of quality in them. Link to comment
Rajahal Posted January 19, 2011 Author Share Posted January 19, 2011 Thanks for the explanation Tight_wad. I might look into dds now as well. When I scroll through my library, the cover/fan art definitely lags behind the title. Link to comment
Tight_wad Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Thanks for the explanation Tight_wad. I might look into dds now as well. When I scroll through my library, the cover/fan art definitely lags behind the title. Just keep in mind that if you do decide to do this, you will have to flip through your library one at a time so that each fan art and cover art is shown, about 3 second between each is plenty of time I think. I have heard someone say that a script could be written to do this, but that is beyond me. I did one of the views that did a list with large cover art and fan art in background. After that, XBMC will slowly add each one into the Thumbs folder until done. Not sure I would do it and then try to watch a movie on that same computer until done. I plan to do this, but waiting to make the jump to Mysql or not. Link to comment
Paak Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I got a question! My Zbox came in along with everything else. Put the CF card and adapter in, loaded XBMC onto a thumb drive and start everything up. The Zotac splash page comes up and then all I get is a black screen with a flashing cursor, nothing else, what am I doing wrong? When I pull the CF card/adapter out and leave the thumb drive in, the XBMC splash screen comes up and asks if I want to run or install. I've tried hitting Del, F2, F9, and F12 during the Zotac splash screen to get into Bios but nothing happens. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance! Link to comment
prostuff1 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I got a question! My Zbox came in along with everything else. Put the CF card and adapter in, loaded XBMC onto a thumb drive and start everything up. The Zotac splash page comes up and then all I get is a black screen with a flashing cursor, nothing else, what am I doing wrong? When I pull the CF card/adapter out and leave the thumb drive in, the XBMC splash screen comes up and asks if I want to run or install. I've tried hitting Del, F2, F9, and F12 during the Zotac splash screen to get into Bios but nothing happens. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance! It sounds like it is trying to boot from the CF that does not have any "OS" on it. I do not have a Zotac but my Jetway Mini-Top runs Openelec (XBMC for embedded devices). When I update the OS via a USB stick I have to specifically select it as the boot device on startup. From a quick look at the BIOS information pdf you will probably need to hit F11 to bring up the BBS (BIOS Boot Specification) page. From there you should be able to select the USB drive. If you have not checked out Openelec I highly suggest that you do. It is under active development and the forums are very active also. Link to comment
Paak Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thanks Prostuff1, Yea I figured it was trying to boot off the CF, but I couldn't get into the Bios to change the setting. F11! good call, I'll try that. I looked at the OpenELEC but couldn't figure it out. I have XBMCFreaks install on a thumb drive as well as the latest XMBClive on another thumb drive. I'll try both of those (since I'm at work and can't dl OpenELEC here), see what happens and maybe try OpenELEC when I get home. Thanks again! Link to comment
dan4081 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thanks for the explanation Tight_wad. I might look into dds now as well. When I scroll through my library, the cover/fan art definitely lags behind the title. The dds made a massive improvement on my Revo. Especially made a big difference when scrolling through large Photo libraries. I shoot with a Nikon D90 so my photos are pretty big, and now with the dds thumbnails my Photo libraries are a pleasure to use. This was the one annoyance I originally had with the Revo and was close to building a more powerfull pc, but this really solved the problem. It also made my movie library much smoother and faster to scroll through. Link to comment
prostuff1 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thanks Prostuff1, Yea I figured it was trying to boot off the CF, but I couldn't get into the Bios to change the setting. F11! good call, I'll try that. I looked at the OpenELEC but couldn't figure it out. I have XBMCFreaks install on a thumb drive as well as the latest XMBClive on another thumb drive. I'll try both of those (since I'm at work and can't dl OpenELEC here), see what happens and maybe try OpenELEC when I get home. Thanks again! Openelec can be installed on a thumb drive also, they have instructions on there page. Once the Openelec thumb drive is booted you can hit install to move it to the CF card. The best part of Openelec for me is that updating is a matter of copying over 2 files to a folder that is exported from the machine via smb. Once I connect to the folder I drop the 2 updated files in, restart the machine and away I go. Link to comment
Paak Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Hmmm, using F11 got me to set the boot priorities and allowed me to boot off the thumb drive but didn't give me access to the Bios. Went to Zotac's forum and found Delete is SUPPOSE to get me there, sadly it doesn't though. Only reason I'm trying to get into Bios is to set the GPU buffer and disable "Boot to RevoBoot" (although I'm pretty sure it would be called something else as it's not a Revo). Is this really needed? Just trying to follow along with the Lifehacker guide Raj pointed to. I did manage to get XBMC running off the thumb drive, however, since I don't have any media with me at work I really can't test it out or hook it up to a network. Guess I get to wait until I get home tonight. Link to comment
Tight_wad Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Paak, I have setup 3 of the Zbox's and I have found that getting into the bios to be a challenge every time. When you hit the power button, just start speed tapping the delete button, don't just hold it down, but tap it. It usually takes me 3 tries to get it. It boots really fast, just have to keep trying until you get it. Link to comment
Rajahal Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 The best part of Openelec for me is that updating is a matter of copying over 2 files to a folder that is exported from the machine via smb. Once I connect to the folder I drop the 2 updated files in, restart the machine and away I go. Hmm, sounds a bit like unRAID Link to comment
Paak Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thanks Tight_wad, that worked! Looking at the Lifehacker thread, none of the options (adjust iGPU Frame Buffer and "Boot to Revoboot" *I'm guessing "Quick Boot" for the Zbox*) are anywhere. Any suggestions on what to change? Or just leave well enough alone? Link to comment
luca Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thanks Tight_wad, that worked! Looking at the Lifehacker thread, none of the options (adjust iGPU Frame Buffer and "Boot to Revoboot" *I'm guessing "Quick Boot" for the Zbox*) are anywhere. Any suggestions on what to change? Or just leave well enough alone? I went through the same motions trying to install to OS on a CF card. I was impatient to get the thing going, so I gave up and installed Win7 on an 80GB 2.5 drive I had ready as "plan B". For accessing the BIOS, keeping the DEL key pressed for a couple of seconds, once the zbox logo appears, usually does the trick. Great little box, thanks to Rajahal for posting this thread. The zbox has replaced my clunky HTPC, and is playing everything I throw at it no problem. One small problem I have, is that my Harmony remote does not seem able to wake it from sleep (PowerToggle key). Link to comment
Rajahal Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 One small problem I have, is that my Harmony remote does not seem able to wake it from sleep (PowerToggle key). My MCE remote won't wake it either. I believe it is a software configuration issue, as I've read reports of others waking their Zbox with a remote. I haven't had time to delve into it yet. Link to comment
dgaschk Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Does anyone know of a barebone system with digital audio out and space for a slim optical drive? Link to comment
Rajahal Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 Actually I just posted one today: Jetway HTPC - $209.99, no promo or MIR No optical out, but you can do digital audio over HDMI. Link to comment
dgaschk Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thats close, but I need digital audio out to connect to a receiver. Link to comment
Rajahal Posted January 27, 2011 Author Share Posted January 27, 2011 There's converters, but they aren't cheap... 4 x 1 HDMI Switch with Optical Toslink Routing What about buying the Zbox (which does have optical out) and then just strapping it to an external slim DVD drive? Probably the cheapest option you'll find, though it does lose points for elegance. Link to comment
dan4081 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thats close, but I need digital audio out to connect to a receiver. My Revo doesnt have digital audio out so I used a usb to digital audio adapter to my receiver. This isnt the one I have but is similar: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829118007&cm_re=usb_audio_adapter-_-29-118-007-_-Product Works perfect. Link to comment
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