Using Freeview|HD on Intel Atom

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codyc1515

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#56699 21-Jan-2010 10:51

Hi all,
I am (attempting) to use a Freeview|HD USB tv stick, on my laptop with an Intel Atom processor. I understand that it's not designed for stuff like this, but surely it must be possible with some sort of overclocking or similar.

The computer I am using is an HP Mini 1000-111TU, and I am already using GMA Booster which accelerates the graphics card from 122Mhz to 400Mhz.

Any suggestions?
--cody

wellygary

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#291794 21-Jan-2010 10:58

Decoding H.264 requires a large chunk of raw processing grunt, ( not graphics chip work) and I suspect that the Atom simply does not have the power and transistor count to do it.

To see how little actual grunt is in an Atom see this comaprision

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-atom-efficiency,2069.html

sbiddle

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#291796 21-Jan-2010 10:58

576i stuff may work OK, there is no hope at all for any of the 720p or 1080i stuff on TV1/TV2 and TV3.

codyc1515

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#291798 21-Jan-2010 11:00

sbiddle: 576i stuff may work OK, there is no hope at all for any of the 720p or 1080i stuff on TV1/TV2 and TV3.

It was just I have two laptops, one with an Atom, and one with a Celeron M.
The celeron kicked butt, yet, they both claim to have the same speeds (1.66GHz).

Anyone have any details on overclocking the Atom?

vinnieg

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#291805 21-Jan-2010 11:17

it won't work with overclocking sorry man, the Atom is just too slow

I have the N330 in my HTPC which is too slow, but coupled with the 9400GT it kicks butt for Freeview/recording freeview and streaming to other PCs/PS3s

The celeron at 1.66ghz would be much faster than an atom at the same speed, even the 1.3ghz celeron mobile chipset beats a 1.66ghz atom

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

sbiddle

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#291807 21-Jan-2010 11:25

codyc1515:
sbiddle: 576i stuff may work OK, there is no hope at all for any of the 720p or 1080i stuff on TV1/TV2 and TV3.

It was just I have two laptops, one with an Atom, and one with a Celeron M.
The celeron kicked butt, yet, they both claim to have the same speeds (1.66GHz).

Anyone have any details on overclocking the Atom?

It just ain't going to happen.

You'd need to overclock an Atom by probably a minimum of tenfold increase to be able to software decode H.264 and that's just physically impossible.

They are totally different processor architecture, speed means very little these days when comparing processors.

An Atom PC on the other hand with a video card or GPU does does H.264 decoding will work brilliantly.

wellygary

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#291808 21-Jan-2010 11:26

codyc1515:
sbiddle: 576i stuff may work OK, there is no hope at all for any of the 720p or 1080i stuff on TV1/TV2 and TV3.

It was just I have two laptops, one with an Atom, and one with a Celeron M.
The celeron kicked butt, yet, they both claim to have the same speeds (1.66GHz).

Anyone have any details on overclocking the Atom?

A 1.6Ghz Atom gets whomped by a 900mhz Celeron M. It is simply a class of processor designed for light duties, not Heavy lifting.- cut your losses it ain't gonna happen.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

codyc1515

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#291812 21-Jan-2010 11:31

:(
I was probably going to be reselling it soonish anyways, as I already ordered a Panasonic ToughBook from overseas which has a Core 2 Duo, surely that would be able to handle the HD?

freitasm

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#291828 21-Jan-2010 12:04

You should be worried about the video card and its support for hardware decoding of H.264 as much as for the proc power.

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kyhwana2

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#291840 21-Jan-2010 12:23

Im not sure if CoreAVC supports the codecs that freeview uses (It should do) but I can play (just!) 720P H264 on my atom netbook (N270, 1.6ghz) using CoreAVC. Forget about 1080i though..

But the atom just isn't powerful enough to decode HD. If you have an atom box, you realy need Nvidia's ION platform to decode HD video, but from the sounds of it you don't one of those.

(Increasing the clockspeed of the GMA950 doesn't help, that doesn't do any HD decoding at all)