Via EPIA SP13000 based mini-media center
Posted by Deliverator on January 17th, 2006
My new Via Epia SP13000 arrived today. This is the 5th EPIA motherboard I have owned over the years and it is the fastest to date. The MII 12000 that powers the carputer comes close, but this new board edges it out in several ways. The SP 13000 has Via’s latest generation EDEN processor clocked at 1.33 ghz and is the first Via Mini-ITX system to support DDR 400 memory. All previous systems ran on slower PC133 or DDR 266. The SP 13000 also features 2 SATA ports (in addition to 2 eide ports). Given the small places people try to cram mini-itx boards, the nice thin cables used by SATA is a very welcome change from trying to deal with big fat eide ribbon cabling. The SP13000 also features USB 2.0 and Firewire, although the board only has two backplane mounted USB ports and all other ports are offered as pin headers only. Given the increasingly universal use of USB for connecting to virtually all peripherals, it would have been nice if they had included a few more USB ports on the backplane.
I installed my new SP13000 motherboard along with 512 MB of Kingston DDR 400 into my existing media center case and did a fresh install of XP and all the fixings. Along the way I updated the bios to 1.07, which I am happy to note adds support for 1280*768 resolution. The picture looks fabulous on the Hitachi 32″ now. I broke in the new system by playing some high resolution + high bitrate XVID encoded videos. The system handled playback like a champ and didn’t come close to pegging the CPU. I need to perform some additional upgrades, though before I am ready to call this project done. Here is what I have in mind:
– The existing single platter hard drive is lacking in capacity and voom. Will probably replace with 250 GB SATA drive from my main desktop and upgrade the desktop drive to a 400-500 GB SATA drive, likely one of the Seagate 7200.9 series drives.
– Replace existing case with a mini-itx case that can support a PCI card or two via a riser.
– Get a PCI 802.11g card with a decent external antenna to replace the Orinoco USB 802.11b client adapter I am currently using. I recently installed a Linksys WAP54G in G only mode upstairs and I just need a good G client adapter to go with it. I have pretty much decided trying to do streaming on a .11b link is a pain in the ass. NO, I CAN’T/WON’T RUN CABLE.
– Install recently purchase slimline DVD-RW
– Mount all gear out of sight.
– Set up software on minimedia to automatically download all Tivo content and de-drm it. Get .11G client adapter for Tivo to improve transfer rates (currently still on a WET11 bridge).
Dude, I’m thinking on building my own EPIA HTPC but I was thinking on going 800MHz and fanless. Any advice?
If you are planning on doing any sort of video playback, I would highly recommend you get a MII 12000 or SP 13000 board at the very least. The 800mhz boards just aren’t fast enough to handle modern video codecs.
Thanks for the tip. I’m all for a SP13000 then. Are the C3 and case funs too noisy?
I find the single fan to be very quiet. The system’s hard drive is louder, and I went for a very quiet drive. Given that you will be using it while watching TV/Movies and the like, you won’t even come close to hearing it.
How is the DVD playback? Is the CPU pegged when playing DVDs? I have heard that there are probelms with XP not using the onboard mpeg-2 decoder.
I have been using the latest version of PowerDVD for DVD playback and it seems to do a good job. I haven’t noticed any stuttering, dropped frames, artifacts, etc. It seems to have enough processing power to do everything it needs in software, alone. To my knowledge, the only way to take advantage of the mpeg-2 acceleration is to use a special distro of Linux tailored for the EPIA boards.
Great reading!
I am looking into building a small, elegant and compact pc, primarily used for DVD/DivX playback and tv.
How about a remote control?
Can the board do video encoding say in xvid?
If you mean can it encode XVID in realtime, I would say no. XVID is significantly more processor intensive on the encoding end than on decoding. You could always encode to something fairly lossless like mjpeg first, and then encode to XVID at a later time. I take it you are wanting to use the board for PVR functionality?
Exacty so. What I usually do on my big system rig is record some fav show in mpeg2 then encode to xvid or divx sometimes for play back later just curious if the SP board can handle it also are there
drivers out yet to address mpeg 4 acceration? Other than Linux thanks btw for your reply
-Eric
My rig so far Casetronic 2699R and Compro Winmate TV card 100 uses phillips tv decoder and has on board mpeg2 I believe. Just tring to see if the sp board will meet my needs
It can certainly encode video. If you had enough time, you could do it with a pocket calculator. The question is really can it do it with any great speed. It certainly can’t transcode video to XVID in anything close to realtime. My guess is that for high resolution video, it can probably transcode to XVID at between 1/3 and 1/2 realtime. If what you are looking to do is capture video with a tv tuner with onboard hardware compression, and occasionally transcode to XVID for longterm archival, then yes, it will probably meet your needs. If you are looking for realtime capture to XVID, then you are probably out of luck. You might be able to do it with a Pentium-M based mini-itx board, if you can afford it.
To my knowledge, the onboard hardware acceleration is only supported in the special Via Linux distro.
Thanks I only want it to be able to record to mpeg2 the video I can reencode it on my main desktop thanks for all the good info I think I’m going to pull the trigger on this board
-Eric
How did you connect the SP13000 to your TV? What connector did you use? I plugged my SP13000 in to my Sony HD TV using the s-video port and it looks like crap. Can you describe your connections? Thanks
VGA connector
Your TV doesn’t have a vga connector. What kind of adapter do you have betweeen the vga connector on the SP13000 and the TV? Is it a vga to DVI? Thanks>
You are telling me what connectors my TV has? Thats rich. My Hitachi 32″ has both an analog 15 pin DSUB (VGA) connector, as well as a DVI connector. I am using the VGA connector, as the SP13000 doesn’t have DVI output and I don’t want to devote its sole PCI card to a VGA card that does. The analog VGA is pretty good quality, though I did have to flash the EPIA’s bios to get access to the odd widescreen resolution that the Hitachi wants (1280*768, I believe).
No shit! Is it a professional class monitor, as I’ve never seen a tv with a vga connector. Cool. My new Sony 35, which I thought would, doesn’t, or at least I wasn’t going to pay for that feature.
On the other hand, the SP13000 DOES have DVI output, if you know where to look. On the mobo there is a LVDS connector, for $40 you can buy a LVDS to DVI adapter…that’s why I was asking how you were connected :-) I wanted know what the quality is like. Look here: http://www.logicsupply.com/advanced_search_result.php?osCsid=3697b94e69d9e6948362f6e8e7d7a0e0&keywords=dvi-02&osCsid=3697b94e69d9e6948362f6e8e7d7a0e0
See, the SP13000 claims it can do HDTV quality and I could never figure out how ’cause mine looks like shitola. I just happend across this little nugget recently. DVI output!!
Hope this helps. At least now you can get true DVI output to your big 32.
Guys – can anyone confirm if MEDIA Center 2005 will indeed operate on this board with the embedded Video Controller? I know MCE is super picky and saw issues posted with the 12000.
I am desperate for input on this with both the 12000 and/or 13000 and MCE2005.
Thx much
Chris
No clue. I run XP Pro on mine.
Hi, I’m considering building a mini ITX system based on the SP1300 to use as a media centre with a HDTV. Ideally what i’d like to do is use a mini LCD touchscreen to control the PC, avoiding the need for keyboards/mouse etc. Does anyone know if it is possible to generate output to 2 display devices at one? (eg DVI (using LVDS connector) and VGA at the same time?)
Thanks
Great page and good discussion. I have what I believe is a really dumb question… How do I get the video into the machine? My Understanding is that the com-video port [(RCA/SPDIF?)the round yellow port] should accept video? Audio would come via the standard sound input? Does this make any sense?
I assume that I can go that way since my sat-tv box is the “tuner” and it is just pushing bits via s-video or comp-video. I can “change channels for this PVR via the Low Speed Data Port (Serial connection). Basically I am trying to save $$$ on a Hauppauge 500 card…
Am I completely off base??
I haven’t used the RCA port for anything but video output. The reviews I read and spec sheets indicate that it is used only for TV out or SPDIF (digital audio) out. I couldn’t find any info to the contrary, although I just did a quick google search. If you want to have video in, I would suggest a $60 Hauppauge card or generic brooktree chipset card. Of course, if you don’t want to give up your sole PCI slot, you could get a USB video capture card with onboard MPEG2/4 encoding.
hmm interresting. still i wonder if i can get mce running on this system. I wan’t build my own case for this type of machine and place it near my tv. anyone test mce on the epia?
I’ve got Media Center running on my EPIA SP13000 / CN400, with 1GB RAM, 500GB SATA HDD and a Hauppauge Nova-T 500 dual tuner.
As for results, I can playback DivX videos and DVDs, record TV and watch recorded TV or live TV (sometimes a little jerky, not often). The only real problem I have is that my AAC encoded music files won’t payback properly. And it crashes now and again, but I think that might because I’ve made it fanless.
Sits under my telly, low profile silver case, slot-load DVD, wifi network for tv schedules. I’m quite pleased with it, if I could sort out the music playback. And I’d prefer to use MediaPortal, that hangs when I watch live tv.
Hi all,
Well I’ve gotten the SP 13000 a while back. played around with it but didn’t get live TV working. like it should.
I’ve got a Hauppauge MCE 400 Dualtuner. But some how it is jerky. Playing DVD’s works like a charm however. I just want to be able to do timeshifting etc.
Any one has suggestions for a good codec that uses the hardware on the MB. I’m afraid that is fails on this point.
Mail me: leendert.biemans
of course at the biggggg gmail ;)
Leendert –
I use the PowerDVD codec with the Hauppauge Nota-T 500 dual tuner and it works a treat. Got a new SP13000 and made sure that the heatsink was strapped to the CPU properly and it runs at 60 degrees, very few hangs these days.
I got Media Player working with the AAC files but the music browsing really lets it down. I’ve gone for a Sonos system instead for the music.
Chris –
I’m running MCE 2005 with the SP13000 / CN400 chipset, using PowerDVD as the decoder. Rip off the fan and it makes a great system.