Need help with Broadcom BCM70015 Crystal

[Lieberung]

Hello folks, first post - be gentle ;-)

I just installed Broadcom BCM70015 Crystal HD High Definition video decoder (PCIe Mini Card) in my Zotac Ion motherboard and installed the drivers for Windows 7 (64) which I downloaded from this webpage: http://www.broadcom.com/support/crystal_hd/

Everything looks fine in the device manager, the decoder shows up fine under audio and video controllers, but I can not see any changes in video quality when streaming HD from Netflix or play hd video locally (i.e. it images stutters, video does not follow audio etc), the CPU load is the same as before installing the decoder so I guess the Broadcom device isn't in use.

Anyone here who can tell me how to get Windows (or applications) to use the Broadcom video decoder instead of the CPU when playing/streaming video?

OS: Windows 7 64 bit
HW: Zotac IONITX-T-U Atom D525, 4GB RAM (HTPC connected with HDMI to TV)

 

[Ketchup]

There are several factors here, such as the way the program was written, the way the drivers were written, the web brow you are using, and so on.

So, what program are you using for local media, and what browser are you using for netflix? If you haven't already, make sure your Silverlight is up to date.

What is your CPU usage showing? If everything is running on that Atom, I could easily see it pretty high, but at least it's got two cores with two threads per core.

Also, does that Crystal HD card have a tray icon? The Nvidia chip on my laptop has one, and sometimes I have to tell it what programs to use with it.

 

[Lieberung]

There are several factors here, such as the way the program was written, the way the drivers were written, the web brow you are using, and so on.

So, what program are you using for local media, and what browser are you using for netflix? If you haven't already, make sure your Silverlight is up to date.

What is your CPU usage showing? If everything is running on that Atom, I could easily see it pretty high, but at least it's got two cores with two threads per core.

Also, does that Crystal HD card have a tray icon? The Nvidia chip on my laptop has one, and sometimes I have to tell it what programs to use with it.

Thanks for you quick reply.

For local media I mostly use J. River Media center (for audio) and XBMC for video. For video streaming (Netflix etc) I use Chrome (v28.01500.95.m), Silverlight 5 (5.1.20513.0).
When streaming HD video from netflix the CPU usage is about 40-60% on all 4 "cores" simultaneously (performance tab in task manager)and video is stuttering and cant catch up with the audio (and subtitles). The Video Catches up with audio and after some minutes.

Cant find any Crystal HD tray icon Im afriad, but I know what you mean, I have the same Nvidia option on my laptop as well.

The vendor has provided files for API interface to the HW acceleration library for use in media players but Im not sure how to use them. http://www.broadcom.com/support/crystal_hd/

 

[Ketchup]

OK, so let's back up a little bit. I am trying to figure out where the Broadcom card came from. So, here is my guess, just let me know where I went wrong:

"Bought a Zotac Ion board with an Atom processor, the Nvidia ION wasn't cutting the mustard for video decoding, bought a Broadcom BCM70015, see no improvement."

I haven't used XBMC before. Does it come with any video codecs, or have you gotten those separately?

Is the CPU usage next to zero when you aren't playing video?

 

[Ketchup]

Also, did you download the API interface from the page you linked?

 

[Lieberung]

OK, so let's back up a little bit. I am trying to figure out where the Broadcom card came from. So, here is my guess, just let me know where I went wrong:

"Bought a Zotac Ion board with an Atom processor, the Nvidia ION wasn't cutting the mustard for video decoding, bought a Broadcom BCM70015, see no improvement."

Correct. This is a HTPC with a Zotac ION itx with atom 1,8gz cpu. I removed the wireless PCIe card and replaced it with the Broadcom.

Bought the Broadcom card based on feedback both from users of Apple TV users and Netbook with Atom cpu with both Linux and windows. It was cheap ($24) so I thought what the hell.
Some feedback Here: http://www.amazon.com/Broadcom-BCM97.../dp/B0051RRTJ2

and here: http://www.amazon.com/Broadcom-BCM70...ref=pd_cp_pc_0

I haven't used XBMC before. Does it come with any video codecs, or have you gotten those separately?
Also, did you download the API interface from the page you linked?

XMBC has its own webpage on the card http://xbmc.org/broadcom-crystal-hd-its-magic/
where it says Windows users should download the drivers from the Broadcom webpage as Ive done. I have also downloaded API interface, consisting of 5 small "h-files", but Im not sure what to do with them .
XMBC also has a wiki page of the card: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Broadcom_Crystal_HD

Is the CPU usage next to zero when you aren't playing video?

Yes.
Actually the performance isse is worst when streaming HD content from Netflix which uses Silverlight. The reason I also mentioned local video playback is that cant see any changes in CPU usage or video quality when playing video / streaming video in browser after I installed the card.

I have searched a bit more on the net and it seems that its Microsoft that dont have support for it in Silverlight http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Fo...db-4ee8-b12f-7685dacd4c77/broadcom-crystal-hd

 

[Lieberung]

after exploring some more with XBMC and enabling and disabling the Broadcom card in device manager it actually seems there is a difference and to my surprise XMBC runs videos more smoothly when tha Broadcom card is disabled. Go figure.

 

[Ketchup]

I was reading some about that board and a lot of people say it works well but runs really hot. Have you looked to see what the temps are like?

I am surprised by the results from the Broadcom card. I wonder if you played your video in something like VLC media player, you would see better results? One of those Amazon reviews said that player worked pretty well with it.

How up-to-date are the video drivers? This is weird because the Newegg reviews, other than the heat, say the thing works pretty well. I wonder if there is some compatibility issue with that Broadcom card and the Nvidia chipset?

Have you tried a different browser? I know Firefox is good at offloading to the GPU. I am sure Chrome would to, but I don't use that browser much.

 

[Lieberung]

I was reading some about that board and a lot of people say it works well but runs really hot. Have you looked to see what the temps are like?

I am surprised by the results from the Broadcom card. I wonder if you played your video in something like VLC media player, you would see better results? One of those Amazon reviews said that player worked pretty well with it.

How up-to-date are the video drivers? This is weird because the Newegg reviews, other than the heat, say the thing works pretty well. I wonder if there is some compatibility issue with that Broadcom card and the Nvidia chipset?

Have you tried a different browser? I know Firefox is good at offloading to the GPU. I am sure Chrome would to, but I don't use that browser much.

Haven't had the time to check for temperatures. Ill download VLC to try that one out but Im not sure what to do with the API files I mentioned.

Also its the HD streaming which i the most important issue to fix. I did try Firefox and streamed some HD content and its a bit choppy in the start but gets better after a minute or so. I disabled the Broadcom while streaming and no effect so I guess Firefox/Netflix doesnt use it at all (as I mentioned in previous post, it seems Silverlight have no support for it).

Ill try VLC later. Have to call it a night.

Thanks for your feedback and input so far, appreciate it.