Over the weekend, I purchased an Acer Revo 1600 for my fiancé's parents. I figured for $150, the Revo 1600 with the Nvidia ION would make a powerful Boxee HTPC without breaking the bank. Boxee has Netflix, mkv-avi-mp4 movie playback, online streaming video, Pandora, Flickr, and more. This tutorial will be in two parts, one part for XP users, and the other for Vista/Server 2008/7 users.
Windows XP Boxee Guide
First off, if you're using your Revo 1600 with Windows XP, then you will NOT get HD decoding in Boxee. HD videos will stutter badly. You must have Vista/Server 2008/7 to get DXVA2 (Direct X Video Acceleration 2, which we'll go into in the second half of this tutorial) If you feel comfortable with installing Vista or Server 2008 or Windows 7, then I would recommend switching the OS.
Upgrade Drivers
Acer/Nvidia driver for Audio over HDMI (do not use the Nvidia.com driver because it does not work with the Revo, as of 4/27/10)
Geforce/ION LE 197.45 WHQL Graphics Driver
Nvidia ION LE Nforce 15.46 WHQL Chipset Driver
Sign up and Install Boxee
Install Flash 10.1 Prerelease for HD Flash Playback
Sound over HDMI
Right out of the box, the Revo was almost ready to play with Boxee. The only thing I had to tweak was the sound over HDMI.
- After installing the drivers, I had to disable the Realtek Sound adapter in Hardware Devices in System Properties. Then sound over HDMI was working and so was Dolby Digital/DTS passthrough. If you don't need sound over HDMI, then don't disable the Realtek Sound adapter.
- Lastly, go into Boxee > Settings > System > Audio > Select Nvidia HD Audio
Video over HDMI
By now, video should be outputting beautifully in 1080p or 720p. If you have overscan problems, right click on your desktop. Go into the Nvidia control panel. Click on HDTV. There should be an menu item to adjust overscan. Follow the on screen instructions.
- If you want Netflix, then open up a browser like Google Chrome/Firefox, log into your Boxee account, then click on services. Click on Netflix, and sign in. This will now link Netflix fo your Boxee account.
- Download and install Microsoft Silverlight
- Open up Boxee.
- Go to My Apps and select Netflix.
- Netflix will ask to install a cookie. Click Yes
- Enjoy using Netflix on Boxee
Windows Vista/Server 2008/7 Boxee Guide
Boxee really shines in Vista/Server 2008/7. Whichever installation you choose, they all will have DXVA2, and DXVA2 is needed to accelerate HD movie playback. Instead of the CPU lagging to do the work, the Nvidia ION will now power through.
I chose Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Standard Edition with the Windows 2008 Workstation Converter.
After installing the OS, we need to upgrade the drivers. Be sure to get the right drivers if you install a 32-bit or 64-bit OS as they are different. Video/audio/chipset drivers are all on Nvidia's website, and they work.
Upgrade Drivers
Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit, Windows 2008 Server 64-bit
Geforce/ION LE 197.45 WHQL Graphics Driver
Nvidia driver for Audio over HDMI
Nvidia ION LE Nforce 15.51 WHQL Chipset Driver
Windows 7 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows 2008 Server 32-bit
Geforce/ION LE 197.45 WHQL Graphics Driver
Nvidia driver for Audio over HDMI
Nvidia ION LE Nforce 15.51 WHQL Chipset Driver
Windows 7 32-bit, Windows Vista 32-bit, Windows 2008 Server 32-bit
Geforce/ION LE 197.45 WHQL Graphics Driver
After upgrading the drivers, the audio worked great in my installation. I did not need to any additional tweaking, nor did I have to disable anything. Sound over HDMI worked beautifully, and I had Dolby Digital/DTS passthrough over HDMI. If you run into problems, try changing the sound settings inside Boxee > Settings > System > Audio > Select Nvidia HD Audio
Video over HDMI
By now, video should be outputting beautifully in 1080p or 720p. If you have overscan problems, right click on your desktop. Go into the Nvidia control panel. Click on HDTV. There should be an menu item to adjust overscan. Follow the on screen instructions.
Netflix
- If you want Netflix, then open up a browser like Google Chrome/Firefox, log into your Boxee account, then click on services. Click on Netflix, and sign in. This will now link Netflix fo your Boxee account.
- Download and install Microsoft Silverlight
- Open up Boxee.
- Go to My Apps and select Netflix.
- Netflix will ask to install a cookie. Click Yes
- Enjoy using Netflix on Boxee
Final thoughts
The installation in Windows 2008 R2 x64 went smoothly. After upgrading the drivers, installing Boxee, flash and Microsoft Silverlight, we had a full blown HTPC. Thanks to the Nvidia ION, we enjoyed watching smooth playback of 1080p mkv's, YouTube HD, and Netflix instant movies. CPU utilization was under 20-30% when playing HD movies. (Pressing "i" in Boxee brings up utilization) Overall, great power in such a small box.
Now go enjoy!
The installation in Windows 2008 R2 x64 went smoothly. After upgrading the drivers, installing Boxee, flash and Microsoft Silverlight, we had a full blown HTPC. Thanks to the Nvidia ION, we enjoyed watching smooth playback of 1080p mkv's, YouTube HD, and Netflix instant movies. CPU utilization was under 20-30% when playing HD movies. (Pressing "i" in Boxee brings up utilization) Overall, great power in such a small box.
Now go enjoy!
Just a quick question, as this is one of the few posts that outline the install on an Acer Revo in clear language. I followed all the steps, but get choppy flash playback. I also have not been able to play any mkvs. Did you do this on a clean install? I already had xbmc installed with DSPlayer/DXVA built in. I also set the video memory to 512MB. Did you do the same?
ReplyDeleteHi, thank you for your kind comments. I went with a clean install on Windows 2k8 Server.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for XP users, XP does not support DXVA2, so Boxee will not accelerate the decoding of HD movies.
For the video memory, from what I remember, I was using 128MB.
I am able to play 1080p Youtube, and 1080p/720p MKV's with Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough over HDMI.
Hope that answers your questions. Let me know how it goes. Cheers!
-Tri
Hmm, don't know what I am doing wrong then. I am using Windows 7 Enterprise and not 2k8 server. I will try reducing the video RAm and see if that helps.
ReplyDeleteHi, I checked my installation, and the video ram was @256MB, and it was enough to play 720p MKV's. I'm not sure why MKV's don't work for you though, as it should be built into boxee beta? Do they work in XBMC?
ReplyDeleteI'm using Google Chrome with Adobe Flash 10.1 Prelease Beta.
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html
If you did an upgrade from the stock XP that came with the system, there is a lot of bloat-ware installed, which can slow down the system. I originally uninstalled McAfee and everything else that wasn't needed. Lastly, the only other thing I can think of is that Windows 7 may require more physical RAM?
Have a great weekend,
-Tri
Are you getting smooth Flash playback inside of Boxee? I followed your guide and am running Server 2008 Standard as well. Everything is working great except for Flash. However, if I use the browser, it works great.
ReplyDeleteJust curious if you did something special. Searching around it seems that a lot of people are having trouble with Flash hardware acceleration inside of Boxee.
Thanks!
I did a clean install of windows7 on mine that had xp out the box.I have upgrade my ram to 2gig and installed all driver but when I use Hulu Desktop the lag and choppy playback is terrible.Is the a particuler windows that works better? any suggestions
ReplyDeleteHi Josh, I am getting smooth flash playback in the browser, but if you're using an external flash player like FLVplayer, it will not get accelerated because FLVplayer doesn't use Adobe Flash 10.1.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous I'm not familiar with Hulu Desktop yet, but I don't believe another version of Windows will help. Have you tried upgrading to Flash 10.1 Beta?
There is a new beta version of Flash 10.2.. it really helped with the flash playback. There is just a download for the 32bit version on Adobe Labs' website, but its working fine on my Windows 7 Ultimate x64 through IE.. it didn't want to work in Chrome... it just uses the 10.1, since Chrome has Flash built in and updates itself.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that helps a lot is to run the Revo at 720p and not 1080p... it made Hulu watchable now for me and overall computer speeds much more acceptable. BTW.. mine has 2gigs of ram.
Hi Jesse,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the excellent tips! I didn't know there was a new flash beta out. Will try it out tonight.
Cheers,
-Tri