I know that a few of you 3610 Ion users are not getting fluid playback of Flash or DX in a browser or in Boxee even with the updates and all. I’m stumped. I really am. As I’ve had great, smooth playback with my unit since day one. Though, it seems to be random that a few are having a poor experience. And the symptoms are very similar to 1600 ION LE users and this just should not happen on the 3610. So, here is a listing of my exact set up. It should be mostly complete.
My Personal Revo 3610 Set Up that works well
Revo Specs & Setup:
- Revo 3610 Ion 330 2 gb ram With Windows-7 64 bit preinstalled.
- Connected via Cat-5 wire via a 100 mb network. (wifi sucks
) Wifi uses a lot of CPU and may hinder playback. Especially Revo 1600 users with the single core and ION LE chip. - Windows Aero is still activated. For some, there may be gains by disabling it. Especially Revo 1600 users with the single core and ION LE chip.
- Turn off UAC This should be the first thing you do for annoyance factor alone
- Uninstalled all Bloatware to free up ram after boot.
- Kept Acer Keyboard and back up programs
- Configure Acer Backup not to run or prompt at start up
- Can run MSCONFIG to toggle off anything else you want to at start up. Be careful!!!
- Currently, ram after boot is 1.1 gb!
- Updates- ALL MSOFT updates except Windows Live junk
- Uninstalled factory Flash 10.0.22
- Installed-
- DX 11 update for DX 11
- Installed Flash 10.1 1p Beta add-in & activeX for Flash Player (see mega zip pack below)
- Silverlight 3 via the MSOFT update center
- Installed Nvidia 195.62 WHQL dated 11-27-09 (see mega zip pack below)
- Installed Nvidia Chipset 15.51 (see mega zip pack below)
- Installed MPC-HC 64 for DX (HD) movies outside of Boxee
- Installed FireFox To install the Move network plug-in for Boxee use
- Installed Move Networks Player For Boxee use
- Installed the Nvidia HDMI audio update (cant remember version 8/2009)
- No other codec packs or other junk installed.
- Did not touch video card memory settings in Bios. Left it stock
- Installed Microsoft Security Essentials
- Boxee Beta-every version that has been available
- Factory sleep and screen saver options-changed to 1 hr delay.
- This is strictly a HTPC for Boxee and to surf the net on a 40″ 1080P HDTV. No other software or programs or anything is installed!!!!
- Connections and settings
- Directly to the HDTV via a 6ft HDMI cable with the audio.
- Have Revo set to 720P 60 Hz
- I feel that with Hulu and other streamed shows streamed in about 480P resolution anyway, the picture clarity is better at 720P rather than magnifying it further at 1080p and reducing picture clarity. When I do want true 1080P playback using the Revo, I change it back. The TV auto detects the feed. Video playback with the Revo set to 1080P is the same and fluid as 720P is.
- Video playback
- Flash-Smooth as can be in Hulu Desktop and IE. In Boxee there can be juuuuust a hair of a stutter every once in a while. Heck, this varies depending on each Boxee Beta build.
- DX/HD MKV Full 1080p file-Flawless in MPC-HC 64! Boxee does not yet support HD playback with DX, so it is way laggy. Soon to be updated.
- Move Networks- Flawless and fluid in IE 8. Pretty good in Boxee, but this is due to Boxee and not the Revo. Again, can vary depending on the current build of boxee
- Netflix- Flawless via IE. Flawless via Boxee. I watch this DAILY! I’m addicted….
Files to Download:
- Many users have had smoother playback with the older Flash 1p Beta version vs. the 2p version. It’s no longer available, but I made a Mega Zip Pack below.
- Beta 3 is now available and I am testing it now with good results so far…. More later.
- Flash Beta 10.1 1p Add-in & ActiveX, matching Nvidia vid driver 195.62 and Chipset 15.51. Mega Zip Pack
- Flash Player If your system does not have Flash Player installed first, the Add-in and ActiveX above won’t work. Get the Flash Player HERE
- DirectX Update-Here Just do it!
- Silverlight- Via Windows Update There was just another update too!
- Install–FireFox 3.6 or Higher – Here (FFox will help Boxee Beta view NBC, ABC and Fox shows with Move Network plug in)
- Install–Move Networks Plug-in – Here (need this for IE or FFox or Boxee Beta to show NBC, ABC and Fox TV shows)
- Media Player Classic HV 64 – Here
- Microsoft Security Essentials AV – Here
- Boxee Beta – Optional, but I’m biased
Here
- Test File MKV 1080P 24 fps- Here
- Should play flawlessly in MPC-HC 64 or WMP! Boxee will be laggy until the DX acceleration is enabled in future builds.
- There are a few scenes in it that have some slight distortion, but that’s due to the quality of those shots not the Revo. The point here is that the file is full 1080P @ 24 fps and to test fluidity of playback.
- Test File hd720p 30fps h264.mp4- HERE
- Revision3 HD Nation Episode #30
- This will play flawlessly in MPC and Boxee at under 15% CPU
- My Revo review is mentioned at about 20 minute mark.
- My Revo review is mentioned at about 20 minute mark.
If you really want to run or test the newer Flash 10.1 2p and matching Nvidia drivers on your ION Revo, see below links.
- Flash 10.1 2p – Here
- Nvidia Driver Download page – Pick your Ion and OS to see all drivers -Here
- Update-Nvidia just updated their vid driver again to 196.21 WHQL.
UPDATED-Installed Programs, Free/Available Ram info
People have been asking for a complete list of the programs I have installed after removing the bloatware on my Revo 3610. Plus, how much Free/Available ram do I have left. Well, here goes:
Installed Programs:
Revo 3610 Installed Programs
You’ll notice I have an MCE TV and WHS Connector program. That’s just for my usage, so most will not need them . I left out all the MS updates. That’s pretty straight forward as you should install all security, drivers etc. I left out all the Windows Live crap.I have a total of 37 programs installed. I could stand to kill off the Acer Screen saver and the Nero 9, but I’m not in a hurry to do so.
TaskManager:
Revo 3610 Taskmanger
This is after boot and the machine has had a few minutes to settle down. Now, don’t freak out when you see Free 149 as that’s not all that is available after boot. With Win-7 combines and lists memory differently than XP.
- Total is the amount of RAM installed on your computer, listed in megabytes (-the 256mb ram for the video card).
- Cached refers to the amount of physical memory used recently for system resources.
- Available is the total of standby and free memory from the Resource Monitor. Set aside for instant use by programs, drivers, etc. (this is what you want to look at!!)
- Free is the amount of memory that is currently unused or doesn’t contain useful information (unlike cached files, which do contain useful information).
So Revo has the following:
- Total 1791 mb or 1.79 gb total ram after the video card takes it’s 256 mb
- Cached 1000 mb or 1 gb
- Available (+free) 1134 mb or 1.1 gb
- Free 149 mb or ….149 mb.
As you can see, I have 1.134 gb of ram remaining after boot to run all my programs and processes. Not bad.
If you want a better breakdown of the total-cached-Avail-free, click the Resource Monitor button and mouse over the same words in the Memory section. You’ll get balloons with the a little bit more info on what each means.
Similar Posts:
- Flash Beta 10.1 1P Files for Revo ION
- Flash 10.1 Beta on Acer Revo 3610 Updated Version
- Flash 10.1 Beta on Acer Revo 3610 testing Results
- Acer Aspire Revo 3610 Atom ION 330 Review
- Get Better Boxee Beta TV Show Player Support on Revo Atom ION
Tags: Acer Revo 3610 Set up, boxee beta, flash 10.1 1p beta, Windows 7 64 bit
Ron,
I really have to be honest here by saying I’ve not tested a Revo an lots of HDTV’s. So, I don’t really have a definitive answer for you or many with TV resolution quirks.
I will say this again, that many TV’s (even brand new ones but mostly older than 2 yrs) and some recievers take the HDMI feed and “mis-interpret” it in such a way that it becomes distorted. Sometimes tinkering with the resolution settings on a pc and the TV will net a tolerable solution. I’m not an HDTV expert by any means, though I know enough to know there can be some issues like you and a few others have experienced.
I wish I had a rapid answer, but I do not. I really don’t believe this is a Revo issue as I’ve seen it before with other PC’s over the years. And I’ve seen this confirmed by some HDTV forums and web sites I’ve traveled over the years. I’d suggest you hit up a few HDTV media forums and maybe HD Nation (Revision3 site) and see if you can dig up some possible causes and cures.
Wish I had more to offer, as I’m sure it’s frustrating.
Steve,
The simplest way is to open the task manager and look at the CPU %. If flash, silverlight, or H264 is not being accelerated, the CPU will be pegged at 70%-100%. With acceleration working, depending upon the media type and player (all flash players are not equal!!) the CPU should be 13%-35%.
Also, the full screen will use more CPU. So stretching the video window bigger will hit the CPU more than a small window. This is because the CPU still has to run the player itself and produce the final image on the screen. The GPU will handle the decoding and rendering of the video itself.
Look at my Revo review page. Look at the pictures of my task manager. That will show you how Flash 10.1 1p worked back in December. Check my crappy video’s too with running operations. It’ll give you some ideas.
Paul,
I’ve been busy the last several nights testing and googling. I keep feeling drawn to try a Mac Mini as an alternative because some things seem to work better on the Mac, but one thing that is pulling me back to Revo is the live TV and DVR capabilities. There isn’t a clean solution for Plex or Boxee that works well on Mac, but WMC on Windows 7 does a really nice job of that which brings me to my question.
I bought an HDHomerun which seems to work pretty well. Its a network attached dual tuner box that streams the media on your network. I tested it with EyeTV on the Mac and in Media Center on the Revo. This is a really good test of what that little Revo can do. I tried the following scenarios and they all resulted in flawless HD recordings.
- Recording HD channel while watching other HD/Non-HD channels… heavy use of DVR functions. The live show via DVR got mixed up and out of sync a few times, but a simple stop and start fixed that. The recording on the other channel was perfect… played back with no problems.
- Recording HD channel while also watching a Netflix movie… all via MC…. again, recording was fine.
- Recording HD channel while watching TV shows via Hulu… launched from MC and returned back to MC… recording was flawless.
- Recording two HD channels at the same time… again, it worked fine.
This is pretty impressive since these HD streams are coming in at about 30mbps I think… times 2… and then the processing to launch and stream Hulu or Netflix. WMC seems to know that the recording must be handled because even when I got the Revo into slowing down by constantly switching things, the recording was clean.
Now my problem. I can go into the HDHomerun viewer that lets you test the channels and I get about 14 channels. I can watch them from my Mac and they work equally well. For some reason , WMC only sees about half the channels… on the others I get a “No Signal or Off the Air” message. I know the channel is there and solid because I checked it with the viewer and it looks perfect. I’m thinking its a timing thing or something… it takes a second or two for the tuner to get the signal flowing and by then I think WMC may have given up. Have you run into this?
One other thing… I know you are using Boxee a lot… my experience has not been as good with Boxee as with other viewing. The Hulu player seems to give very clean HD playback. YouTube HD trailers are perfection. The things that still give me poor playback are some shows in Boxee, and MLB.TV continues to be bad more often than not. MLB.TV is definitely better on my Mac which is very strange since while playing it (via Internet Explorer) on my Revo it is only at 35% CPU, but on my Mac I”m at 110% CPU.
Quick note for those using Boxee w/ the 3610. Make sure you have Aero enabled. I disabled Aero on my system for a while and began to notice some pretty serious tearing/judder on video playback — even on non-HD videos. Once I reenabled Aero, the tearing problems were gone…
Wow… that is surprising Bobby. I have Aero turned off because I thought it would give better performance. I think Paul has it turned on. I’ll give that a try.
By the way, I got my HDHomerun thing working better. On their forum they said to turn off background scan in the HDHR Setup. I did that and then went into WMC channels setup and it shows the strength of all the signals. I turned off the ones that were weak and it seems to be working better now. Not sure why I had a different set of channels between HDHR and WMC.
The other question I meant to ask Paul and forgot. I’m using a Harmony One remote exclusively to control the Revo (or trying). One problem I have when turning things on is that for some reason the Revo keeps going to sleep. It has a flashing power light. I have gone into Control Panel and turned every power saving option OFF, and don’t see any place where it is setup to go to sleep, yet it keeps doing it. This forces me to pull out the keyboard and hit the space bar to get it back on, and usually prevents the Harmony One from starting WMC if its not already running. Any ideas?