FR: Add support for Broadcom's Crystal HD Media Accelerator

[el_duderino]

Broadcom recently released a hardware media accelerator PCIe card (BCM70010/BCM70012), which is shipping with HP's Mini 110XP but is also available for resale. It basically adds the ability to playback HD media on underpowered (read Atom based) netbooks and laptops, however currently the only software offering support for said hardware is a custom cut of ArcSoft's TotalMedia Player, which to be frank does not provide the best interface for media playback and also doesn't offer x64 support. It would be great if VLC could offer support for the Broadcom Media Accerator as it starts to proliferate the marketplace, and also for my personal usage . Here's the press release and an article on the product. http://www.broadcom.com/press/release.php?id=s387278 http://www.slashgear.com/acer-netbook-g ... d-2750341/

Cheers

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

And there is a free API to use it?

[el_duderino]

That's a good point. I forgot about there being any sort of licensing issues. I am not a developer, so I guess it just didn't readily come to mind. How would you find something like that out? Just ping Broadcom legal?

[VLC_help]

Just ping Broadcom legal?

Or technical support.

[kurkosdr]

Just ping Broadcom legal?

A good start would be to search for any other open source programs compatible with the hardware, if any.

If not, first search the net for a relevant driver/API/spec sheet/whatever, then ping hp (they say they support opensource), then Broadcom.

[alib]

Hi

Some fresh code using this broadcom chip just pointed out on xbmc svn:

CrystalHD.cpp: http://xbmc.org/trac/browser/branches/x ... ?rev=22914
CrystalHD.h: http://xbmc.org/trac/browser/branches/x ... ?rev=22914
DVDVideoCodecCtrystalHD.cpp: http://xbmc.org/trac/browser/branches/x ... ?rev=22914
DVDVideoCodecCtrystalHD.h: http://xbmc.org/trac/browser/branches/x ... ?rev=22914

http://xbmc.org/trac/changeset/22878

New things to come on the incoming days i think. Follow this thread: http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55042


Cheers

[tssva]

Broadcom has released Linux drivers (http://www.broadcom.com/support/crystal_hd/). Included with these is a LGPL licensed library for using the card. A third party has already ported the driver and library to OSX (http://code.google.com/p/crystalhd-for-osx/).

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Time and money is required for that.

[bogg]

Can't see how it would require that much time when the XBMC crew were able to add it quite quickly as far as I understand.

Any interest out there to start a bounty collection for this? I'm personally willing to donate atleast $22 to get CrystalHD support in VLC (That is, enough for you to buy one).

[VLC_help]

You should post bounty to vlc-devel and/or IRC if you are willing to donate.

[robinhook]

I think the ultimate solution for MS Windows users is that our dear Videolan developer team fine-tuner their engine, allowing user switch to Directshow codec filters instead of VLC's built-in codecs. Directshow filters might not be more CPU efficient than VLC's own built-in couterpart, but they are more flexible.

I remember seeing some threads discussing such option on Videolan forums. Actually people have long for this to happen, because VLC rocks with so many transcoding/network streaming options, but does lack some of Directshow flexibilities. Broadcom case is a typical example. Broadcom's HW decoder driver actually fit into dshow framework nicely, so those free/commercial dshow based player engines out almost all can use this card's function without extra line of software/configuration.

Just my desired feature request, ultimately it's VideoLAN guys call to decide whether they want to modify their engine to allow such flexibility,although it might not be cheap/easy doing so.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I think the ultimate solution for MS Windows users is that our dear Videolan developer team fine-tuner their engine, allowing user switch to Directshow codec filters instead of VLC's built-in codecs. Directshow filters might not be more CPU efficient than VLC's own built-in couterpart, but they are more flexible.

Never going to happen... You realise that VLC isn't a Windows solution, right?

About Broadcom, it will happen, when we have time.

[ivoire]

Do not seems difficult to do but need hardware and time for it.

[robinhook]

I think the ultimate solution for MS Windows users is that our dear Videolan developer team fine-tuner their engine, allowing user switch to Directshow codec filters instead of VLC's built-in codecs. Directshow filters might not be more CPU efficient than VLC's own built-in couterpart, but they are more flexible.

Never going to happen... You realise that VLC isn't a Windows solution, right?

About Broadcom, it will happen, when we have time.

In my understanding, vlc for windows does differ from vlc for Linux. A typical example is the dshow engine. And there are always some other functions that linux version can do while windows version cannot, e.g., full Huappuage PVR card support.

But I do understand vlc's video engine interface might be a design targeting shared code for both Windows and Linux, which may have led it to deviate from directshow codec support

[robinhook]

Do not seems difficult to do but need hardware and time for it.

time, yes; hardware, may or may not be the case.
If you guys dun have this piece of hardware, one best way I can think of to test
is trying to work on directshow based engine using the K-lite codec pack instead of the vlc codecs...

I actually hate the stupid MS WMP/wmplayer app, which only support mms: kind of streaming,
which doesn't easily accept vlc server's and some IPtv streaming outputs, especially udp/multicast...

Really hope our VideoLAN heroes can soon beat Microsoft WMP hard with
this 3rd party directshow feature requested...

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

If you guys dun have this piece of hardware, one best way I can think of to test
is trying to work on directshow based engine using the K-lite codec pack instead of the vlc codecs...

No. Seriously, no.

[dogz]

Hello,

Is there support for BroadCom Crystal HD (BCM70015) in VLC for Windows (x64) in nightly builds or maybe already in 1.1.11 version?
So that I know if it's worth buying it now, or waiting till support.

Thank you.

[VLC_help]

IIRC BroadCom Crystal support in VLC is only for Linux.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Nope, works fine on Win32 too...

But I'm not sure it's worth buying...

[Cellular-Decay]

Nope, works fine on Win32 too...

But I'm not sure it's worth buying...

Then can you PLEASE tell me how to make it work. I've had this card for nearly a year now, and never gotten it to work. Googled for days and tried tons of stuff, but always get crappy, choppy video and high CPU usage.

Acer AO532h (Atom N450 with 2GB RAM)
Win-7 Home Premium 32-bit
Latest Direct-X
Latest Broadcom driver (Crystal HD 3.6.9)
Latest stable VLC (1.1.11)

I would really appreciate some help with this.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

OK, use VLC 1.2.0.
Check that you have your Broadcom plugin in.
Force crystalhd decoder in preferences...

[Cellular-Decay]

Okay, I've downloaded the latest build vlc-1.20-rc1-20120113-203-win32.exe, installed it, but under preferences, video output I see no crystalhd option. Also, under Input & Codecs I can't find any settings for the crystalhd. I even tried advanced settings, and searching for crystalhd, but found nothing.

Forgive my ignorance, but where do I "Force crystalhd decoder in preferences"

[DGMurdockIII]

Broadcom CrystalHD Decoder support for FFmpeg and MPlayer - http://intr.overt.org/blog/?p=117

CrystalHD code for ffmpeg and mplayer - https://github.com/philipl/ffmpeg-crystalhd https://github.com/philipl/mplayer-crystalhd

http://git.wilsonet.com/crystalhd.git/

[Cellular-Decay]

Thank you for your response, DGM3, but I was asking about the Windows version of VLC. I have the CrystalHD in my Netbook, which runs Windows-7 Home Premium (32 bit).

OK, use VLC 1.2.0.
Check that you have your Broadcom plugin in.
Force crystalhd decoder in preferences...

So does anyone have a more instructive response? I have the CrystalHD installed with the latest drivers. Windows device manager shows the device and says it's working properly. I have tried both Windows Media Player and Media Player Classic Home Cinema, which are "supported" players, and even though the little tray app shows the device is being used, my video playback is choppy and CPU utilization is high.

In fact, it's WORSE with the decoder than it is with plain software decoding. With the CrystalHD disabled I can play up to 720p, but with it active I can't even play 480p. I beat on it for weeks, then just gave up. Tried lots of "solutions" I found on google, but nothing worked for me.

When I read here that VLC has support now I got excited to try it again, but I need more specific instructions than the quoted post provided. I do not see any option in preferences to force CrystalHD decoding in VLC 1.2, and the tray applet does not show it in use with any combination of settings that I have tried.

Thanks, Tim

[jockyw2001]

I am actually interested in hw accelerated *encoding* support. Is this possible or feasible ?