Atom dual-core + ION - Any way to get Netflix HD to work?

[Eug]

I just got Netflix.ca, and on my Acer Revo R3610 dual-core Atom 330 + ION machine it works fine for SD content but as soon as I switch to HD it stutters like mad.

I tried installing the Silverlight 5 beta but it still is quite bad, and Silverlight 5 is supposed to support DVXA on ION.

This setup works fine for H.264 in Windows Media Player (with Haali Media Splitter), and with Blu-ray playback in CyberLink PowerDVD 10. Perfectly smooth for both.

Has anyone been able to get Netflix HD to work smoothly on Atom ION? Netflix HD works perfectly on my other computers, and on my Blu-ray player.

 

[mnewsham]

is it bandwidth or ANY netflix HD content (already buffered)?

 

[Eug]

is it bandwidth or ANY netflix HD content (already buffered)?

Not a bandwidth issue. I have 25 Mbps down stable on VDSL2. It's a problem with any HD content, even after a reasonable buffer period, and that problem doesn't exist when I use a faster computer or my Blu-ray player on the same internet service.

Plus, the Atom ION machine is hooked up via Gigabit Ethernet, not WiFi.

EDIT:

I found this thread:

It seems most people have the same problem that I do with ION and Zacate.

SL5 only supports HW-accelerated decoding of H.264 (no VC-1 or WM7/8/9)
It's only supported in Windows 7 at the moment
Yes, it uses DXVA API in Windows, but it's not dependent on any Windows codecs. In general Silverlight always tries to be as self-sufficient as possible, with very few OS dependencies, to ensure consistency of user experience.
The Silverlight architecture isn't a plug'n'play architecture like DirectShow or MediaFoundation, so even though VC-1 decode can be accelerated via DXVA (as it has been in Windows since 2006), that's not enabled in Silverlight. SL5 only enables H.264 HW decode.
Netflix used to use VC-1, but has switched to H.264 recently. I don't know whether that includes their entire library or only a percentage of their titles.

 

[BTA]

I have not had any luck with this, Silverlight just seems to suck in my experience.

 

[wirednuts]

i would imagine netflix just hasnt switched fully over to h.264. i would just wait it out. might be a few more months, but eventually the ion setup will run netflix in HD. silverlight is awesome btw, it was just never designed to run on video cards. microsoft is being forced to support video card acceleration because of these netbooks and tablets that dont have real cpu's.

 

[Eug]

Hmmm... Maybe I should try more HD content. I tried multiple HD titles and they all sucked for playback. I'll try a few more new additions, since if they're making H.264 the default for new additions now, perhaps I'll have better luck there.

 

[wirednuts]

thats how it was when they used to use flash. (which is funny because if they were still using flash you would probably have no problems). when they went to switch to silverlight, it was kind of a mess for a few weeks to over a month. they really expected for everyone to have hd-capable cpu's by now though, they did not foresee the rise of gpu acceleration. if they did, they probably would have just stayed with flash (even though i believe silverlight is still FAR superior).

 

[Bateluer]

I have the exact same machine as the OP, and would love actual HD Netflix on it. SD is fine, HD is a slide show. My original intent was to connect the little nettop to an LCD TV for Netflix, but without HD content, I haven't done so.

It can do Hulu 720p without difficulty though.

Giada makes net-top sized devices similar to the Revo but sporting a Core i3 330um or Core i5 430um. 439 and 499, respectively.

 

[wirednuts]

yeah hulu is flash still, as far as i know.

just give it some time, microsoft will support ion sooner or later

 

[shortylickens]

I have not had any luck with this, Silverlight just seems to suck in my experience.

Compared to what? Torrents?

It handles a shitload of video data with darn good efficiency compared to Flash and most in browser and app-based media streamers like Real Media.

 

[Eug]

Hopefully this gets implemented sooner rather than later:

Posted by Zverev Eugene on 17/06/2011 at 7:52 AM
Hi.

Include the following param into the html declaration of your silverlight object:
<param name="EnableGPUAcceleration" value="true" />

My investigations show that this is enough to enable the h.264 hardware-accelerated decoding in current SL5 beta (5.0.60401.0). With this parameter set my lenovo s10 on Atom 330 processor + Nvidia ION shows 1920x1088 content smoothly with 50&#37; CPU load. I have tested direct download and smooth streaming. Both work well.

Mind you. Do NOT set CacheMode property to BitmapCache on MediaElement or SmoothStreamingMediaElement objects. This leads to drop in performance at least with high resolution content. I guess why but as a feeling. I do not have a firm explanation.

If you have to put on the CacheMode for some reason then you are going to have troubles on netbook. I have found a workaround for this problem as well.
Setting the parameter:
<param name="MaxFrameRate" value="1000" />
helps in this case. Keep in mind that if you do not set the CacheMode on MediaElement then this param will be leading to drop in performance.

The conclusion is:

Best practice:
1. Set the param <param name="EnableGPUAcceleration" value="true" />.
2. Do not set CacheMode on MediaElement or it's parents.
3. Set the param <param name="MaxFrameRate" value="50" />. 50 is for reference. Up to 100 is suitable to for netbooks.

If you HAVE to set CacheMode on MediaElement (I do not know a reason for it):
1. Set the param <param name="EnableGPUAcceleration" value="true" />.
3. Set the param <param name="MaxFrameRate" value="1000" />. This somehow helps CPU with MediaElement in case you do not have a load for the CompositionTarget.Rendering handler.

---

Silverlight Hardware Acceleration

 

[RU482]

do you have a free miniPCIe slot?
Get a Broadcom Flash/HD video accelerator card

 

[DaveSimmons]

do you have a free miniPCIe slot?
Get a Broadcom Flash/HD video accelerator card

Eug already has nvidia Ion which accelerates Flash. Does the Broadcom card accelerate Silverlight better than Ion?

 

[Chiropteran]

On my dm1z netbook I found that netflix performed better if I ran it from within Windows Media Center. Somehow the version integrated with media center supported the integrated radeon core's hardware acceleration while running netflix in a browser didn't, or didn't at the same level. Ion being nvidia based your results my vary, but I think it's worth a try.

On the other hand, I couldn't play full 1080p HD from HBO GO on my dm1z without noticeable stuttering. Not sure what is up with that.

 

[PingSpike]

What kind of machine do you need to do HD netflix streaming anyway? I have an old AM2 rig with a single core athlon...probably 1.8 or 2ghz. I just have a x1300 video card for it. Will that get the job done?

I don't know crap about netflix streaming but I just got broadband yesterday and am eager to get something setup.

 

[Spicedaddy]

I'm pretty sure it worked fine on a Celeron SU2300 (basically a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo).

 

[podspi]

I believe Silverlight 5 adds hardware acceleration for video. Once that is added it should work fine on almost everything with a decent GPU.

Until then... I don't think there is any way to make it work.

 

[LypsylateX]

The Netflix app on Windows 8 works perfect with Atom 330HT and ION. Hardware acceleration works and the CPU utilization hoovers around 30% when playing HD material.

It was impossible to use this with Silverlight in a browser on this machine.

Perhaps not the most convenient solution, but a solution. This made it possible for me to keep my Atom-HTPC.

 

[LypsylateX]

I believe Silverlight 5 adds hardware acceleration for video. Once that is added it should work fine on almost everything with a decent GPU.

Does not work with the ION chipset.

 

[Bateluer]

The Netflix app on Windows 8 works perfect with Atom 330HT and ION. Hardware acceleration works and the CPU utilization hoovers around 30% when playing HD material.

It was impossible to use this with Silverlight in a browser on this machine.

Perhaps not the most convenient solution, but a solution. This made it possible for me to keep my Atom-HTPC.

Interesting. I've the same Revo model and I've basically relegated it to acting as a print server.

How's W8 run on it with only 2GB of RAM?

 

[LypsylateX]

Interesting. I've the same Revo model and I've basically relegated it to acting as a print server.

How's W8 run on it with only 2GB of RAM?

In fact it's working very good, W8 seem to be much more efficient than Vista and W7. I would say the experience is on par with XP with 2GB, if not better.

 

[wirednuts]

well this was a huge thread bump in case nobody noticed.

but enough time has passed that if ion isnt supported yet, it probably wont be. however i would be surprised if it still doesnt work.

amd zacate acquired full silverlight support a few months ago. i have an e350 server, and it streams all 1080p content just fine- from netflix, youtube, hulu... you name it. the e350 actually performs extremely well compared to modern processors. its a dramatic difference from an atom setup, especially the ones without nvidia graphics. but even the ion rig i had didnt feel anything like the e350 i have now does. you really cant tell youre using a budget low power chip. it performs real world the same as my i3 htpc minus the gaming of course...

 

[podspi]

Does not work with the ION chipset.

I posted that over a year ago! And I clearly was wrong I guess... You would think they would have put more effort into hardware acceleration. I haven't tried it on my dm1z recently, I'll have to try it out...

 

[blizeH]

Hi,

Sorry to bring up a thread from a few months back, but is there any update on this? I&#8217;m tempted to put Windows 8 onto my 3610 but wonder if I&#8217;m better off just saving up and putting that money towards one of the new i3 Revos... I&#8217;m guessing there would be quite a performance boost from having an i3?

Thanks[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[wilburyan]

Tried windows 8 and the netflix app... HD works without any issues. CPU usage seems to hover around 30%... so HW acceleration is working.