Mini-Itx HTPC

[anders@dac.se]

I'm going to build a HTPC for DIVX and DVD playback on a projector. I'm having problem matching the quilty with a stand alone player with my PC today so im going for a ITX with onboard mpeg2 decoder. I've tried to make out of the Webshops online if the card im intressted in has mpeg2 hardware. Havent found any straight on answers though.
One of the cards im intressted in, is

VIA EPIA Nehemiah M10000 1Ghz All In One Motherboard

or a cheaper one

VIA EPIA ME6000 Fanless Motherboard

The M in the M1000 and ME6000 in the artnumber stand for "Multimedia", but i havent found out if it means its onboard mpeg2 hardware or not...

And one more thing can you safely play a divx, xvid and DVD on a 600Mhz Mini-Itx?

/Anders

[Sastraxi]

On my old 533 mhz celeron, I could play a 712x288 rip I did of Braveheart... so yeah, I'd say a 600mhz would be fine. This is in Linux, by the way.

[anders@dac.se]

Ok, but you dont know if its onboard mpeg2 hardware support?

[Sastraxi]

Hmm, don't know about that one, sorry mate. I did some sleuthing around for you, it looks like the answer is YES for the ME6000 at least...
The EPIA M-Series' VIA Apollo CLE266 chipset features an embedded MPEG-2 decoder for silky smooth DVD playback
http://linitx.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=12&products_id=132

My guess is that if the M10000 has the same chip it'll do this as well.

[Sastraxi]

A bit more... just read a review on this stuff mate, and it looks like a Celly 1.4ghz is a better bet for anything and costs only a tenner more. If you need mini-ITX then I'm sure you'll be happy with the 1ghz if you get it (the same review stated that they read any DVD or MPEG-4 video at highest quality without any loss in frames/quality).

[anders@dac.se]

Yea, thanks i found that on a review site too... :)