In for a penny

The challenge presenting itself now is twofold. Will Ubuntu rise to the challenge and be able to play 1080p - this is a purely technical question. But the limiting factor could be the poor user who has to install and configure the system. Will Ubuntu work with less effort than I'm willing to spend. Now there is the question. While I've got a compiler I know I can get anything working, and if I don't have a compiler... well there are always 1's and 0's. I'm already in for a penny, I don't think I'm in for a pound.

I could always just use my quad, and a PS3 only costs a couple of hundred quid, both of these might be preferable to Ubuntu.

My problem is that the h264 decode is only using a single core, but really I want to push the workload onto the GPU which can handle the decode easily and provide free image processing, filters, shaders thrown in. There is an alternative, which is to get multicore CPU decode. You don't get any post-processing, but since I'm only using half my cores and decoding more than half of the video

This article says that I can get multiple cores enabled using CoreAVC

http://www.zimbio.com/Ubuntu+Linux/articles/524/1080p+HDTV+H+264+Playback+Linux

It involves PAYING MONEY for the Windows version of AVC, booting into Windows, doing some things, booting back. You know what, I'm already putting this on the list of last resort options - possibly even after that. Multiple Core rendering doesn't really excite me, it'd probably be good enough - but is good enough really good enough? Probably not.

This guide adds multicore CPU too

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1049449&highlight=ffmpeg-mt

Which is an interesting read, and I looked at a few other people talking about the same subject. While this does look like something I should do, I'm really going to try for GPU playback and then this is kind of my fall back option.

Now VDPAU is where its at. This is GPU playback, I read a discussion that the latest drivers nerfed vdpau and thought back to that "install 17x or 18x drivers" question. There is a moment when you realise that you've only been trusted with one actual choice, and did it wrong, but further digging showed that 195.30 has vdpau broken and in the older 190.32 it worked ok. Lets cross our fingers and hope that it worked with 18x too and install VLC.

VLC is pretty good as far as media players go, and I'm comfortable installing and using it. The shocker in this world is.. It worked. Silky smooth 1080p.

So in an odd turn of events, Ubuntu has saved the day. I've still got to get the YouTubes working, and I suspect a range of other apps. Mount a webcam and get Skype going, that sort of thing, but the actual point of it all was to watch a film - and that at least, I can do.