Broadcom BCM70015 - HD playback

[mardibloke]

Anyone considered if this Broadcom card could fit in the 2133, to make HD video playback possible?

Broadcom.com - BCM70015 - Single-Chip High Definition Advanced Media Processor

I mention it as I see they have linux drivers now:

Broadcom.com - Crystal HD Video Decoder Drivers

I guess if it fitted anywhere it would have to replace the wireless card.

[Meins321]

i only know those 70012 mini pci cards from Dell and HP Nettops flying around on ebay for 20-30€
install the driver and add it to Media Player Classic Home Cinema as a filter, and it will decode for you.

i would try these if anyone here can help me with the front switch, is it hardwired? as it works on ubuntu as well

[mardibloke]

Finally got around to the hardware upgrade.

My HP2133 now has the Broadcom Crystal HD card installed.

Working great for 720p movie/TV show playback.

Purchased this card for £36:

HP Mini 1000 110 BroadCom BCM70010 BCM70012 HD Decoder on eBay (end time 03-Aug-10 20:01:34 BST)

Followed the service manual on how to remove system board, to get to the PCI-e slot:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...Fc01658655.pdf

Just took my time, and pretty easy job, popped out the wireless card and replaced with Broadcom HD card.

Everything else just works as before (bluetooth, webcam, etc), except Wireless, so I picked up a USB wireless card for £10.

I went for this as has great range:

Scan.co.uk: Edimax EW-7711Uan Worlds smallest 11g & (11n-150mbps) wireless USB 3dbi High Gain, Win7 Ready

or you could go for something really tiny like this:

Scan.co.uk: Edimax EW-7811Un 150Mbps 802.11 b/g/n "Worlds Smallest" nano USB adapter

Some photos:

HP2133 w/Broadcom HD - a set on Flickr



and 1080p video playback (Dual screen with 24" external display):

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joqbzncZSss]YouTube - HP2133 HD Playback w/Broadcom HD Card[/ame]

[mardibloke]

- --
Rod, UK

[hicksman]

I can't believe no one has commented on this! Any idea by how much this improves performance? I'm definitely interested in better video playback but so far i'm just working by optimizing software.

Also, i took a look around and didnt find much in the way of mini PCIe cards. Where did you find out about this one?

Oh and does this have any affect on 3D acceleration? My guess is no.

[mardibloke]

Also, i took a look around and didnt find much in the way of mini PCIe cards. Where did you find out about this one?

Oh and does this have any affect on 3D acceleration? My guess is no.

No assist for 3D, it just helps with video playback, and *only* using these applications:

"Applications currently supported include Windows Media Player 12, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, ArcSoft TotalMedia™ Theatre (OEM edition) and CyberLink PowerDVD (OEM edition)."

There was no way at all I could playback 720p content, without this card. Now 720p video is just fine. (note I have the 1.6 model, and have fitted SSD hard disk). What is impressive is CPU is hardly busy at all during playback.

More detail on the card here:

Broadcom.com - Crystal HD Video Decoder Drivers

[Meins321]

nice and thank you for your videos....
is 1080p frameskipping?
And you could use media player classic home cinema just go to options and load the broadcom codec as it runs on that hardware card. That might give you even more headroom for 1080p mkv with dts audio....
is cpu utilising low enought for use with 1,2Ghz Models like lower than 50% all the time?

and how is youtube performance in firefox or Chromium Webbrowser can you play any HD content?

Might be worth it as XMBC supports it and with ubuntu it might be my new mini media center ^^

[mardibloke]

Thanks for the tip on Media Player Classic HC - will take a look at it.

Mines a 1.6Ghz (also forgot to say 2GB memory), so no idea how well this would work on a 1.2Ghz model - sorry. Its mainly that 1080p video playback is now possible and smooth, before the Broadcom I could not play them at all. The 2GB memory and fast SSD drive sure must be helping too, but the Broadcom card is the main reason it works.

Youtube broke for me at some point, now pegs CPU at 100% with 720p youtube videos I need to try a reinstall/update for flash player.

Again, thanks for the XBMC tip, I really want to go back to Ubuntu, but I could not get the 3D drivers working on 10.04. May have another try.

[Meins321]

3D should be working to the point where it is needed for video and surfing, gaming is still out of question for me.
i don't know how to test the 3d "mode" as just performance seems to go up, without via drivers the capabilitys are the same.
which application do you want to run under ubuntu, i can test them first on my running ubuntu system.

[Meins321]

3D should be working to the point where it is needed for video and surfing, gaming is still out of question for me.
i don't know how to test the 3d "mode" as just performance seems to go up, without via drivers the capabilitys are the same.
which application do you want to run under ubuntu, i can test them first on my running ubuntu system.