x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

Adaemox · 2009-03-23 18:42:04

Hello, I'm about to leave Xubuntu for Arch and, normally, I would automatically default to 32bit simply as I've had bad luck with media decoding in the 64bit realm. However, I've read lots about how refined the x64 variant of Arch is so I'm wanting to find out if I would be safe if I took the dive and gave x64 another shot.

I've searched around here and browsed the x64 section and read a few other 64 vs. 32 bit threads, but my question is fairly specific and I haven't seen the answer anywhere yet.

Primarily I'm concerned about ATI's driver being the same on 32bit and 64bit as I've been waiting for 9.3 in hope that it will fixe some problems I currently have with it (no hardware decoding for HD content, and a problem with underscanning on my HDTV). I've also had problems with there simply not being some 64bit codecs for some media, or that if they exist they are generally behind their 32bit equivalents.

So that sums up my main concerns, also though, I've been reading through the install guide and wiki entries and haven't seen mention of x64 or x686 specific instructions. Is everything the same for both, or did I just miss something?

Cheers

MazurMe · 2009-03-23 20:09:03

Hello, nice to see somebody with AMD =]. You should give a try for x86_64 because from that what I know if there is no package compiled for 64 bit you cannot find it in main repository, example is skype or wine. I don't know what about Catalyst because I am using radeonhd driver. Good Luck .

Wintervenom · 2009-03-23 20:45:58

Don't worry, AMD/ATi's driver sucks the same on thirty-two- and sixty-four-bit.

Last edited by Wintervenom (2009-03-23 20:54:13)

skottish · 2009-03-23 21:32:24

Adaemox wrote:

I've also had problems with there simply not being some 64bit codecs for some media, or that if they exist they are generally behind their 32bit equivalents.

Which codecs have you had problems with in the past?

mcmillan · 2009-03-23 22:41:53

While I don't have any experience with HD, just for more generic use my laptop I haven't had any issues since I switched to 64bit about 2 months ago. Though like skottish asked, if you can say what exactly gave you problems we can probably be more specific.

As for the ATI driver, in case you haven't already seen there's been some recent changes in how Arch is dealing with the catalyst driver, see here. I can't tell you more than what's there since I use an intel card

Adaemox · 2009-03-24 00:00:15

Thanks for the replies. I just got Vista installed (for bluray playback). Following your suggestions, I will now be downloading Arch x86_64 and getting prepared for my first install.

I'm not sure what codecs I've had problems with in the past, it's probably more related to Windows 64bit, and I've been on 32bit almost exclusively, so I cannot answer that with anything specific.

Thanks for the ATI link, I just saw that when I hopped on to check the responses here. If the newest ATI driver doesn't resolve my problems I may just grab an entry level Nvidia card as I'm currently just using an integrated HD3200 (or just stick with the open source drivers).

Thanks again!

skottish · 2009-03-24 00:06:22

I asked about the codecs because most exist natively for 64 bit now. There are a few stragglers that are popular, but they're being handled. For instance, the earlier Indeo codecs (former Intel) are being factored into FFmpeg right now, which means that every project will have them shortly after.

kensai · 2009-03-24 00:10:41

FFmpeg is adding blueray support, so you may not need that horrible OS called Windows.

Ranguvar · 2009-03-24 00:32:53

I suggest this thread be moved to Threads Going Nowhere. Sorry, but this topic has been discussed over nine thousand times Search the forums, you'll see. I've _never_ had problems because of 64-bit Arch (except me being very stupid once and installing 32-bit packages straight from the i686 repos.....), but search for more testimonies both ways.

Adaemox · 2009-03-25 06:25:08

Ranguvar wrote:

I suggest this thread be moved to Threads Going Nowhere. Sorry, but this topic has been discussed over nine thousand times Search the forums, you'll see. I've _never_ had problems because of 64-bit Arch (except me being very stupid once and installing 32-bit packages straight from the i686 repos.....), but search for more testimonies both ways.

Shoot, nine thousand times? I guess I should of searched a bit harder!

But yeah, move it wherever's fitting, but I needed answers to my specific questions and got some good information I had not yet found (especially about the upcoming FFmpeg bluray support!).

Anyway, I'm up and running with Arch and wanted to do a post install run-down. I did a rough install by the seat of my pants and manage to get it booting just fine. I installed links along with the base packages. Once I got it up and running I tried to jump straight to xfce4 (kinda thinking I was probably missing something) and then when it failed to start because X was not installed I took a step back and loaded the beginners guide in links. I read it front to back and then formatted and reinstalled.

My first attempt would have been solid had I not messed up and installed grub to my /boot. I was unclear from the beginners guide as it was following a partition scheme that didn't have a separate /boot partition. I rebooted and I was presented with a grub terminal and unable to rectify it with commands after reading a bit on the forum and wiki. I blitz through a second install and got everything right, after rebooting grub loaded up and I booted sucessfully into my shiny new Arch install.

From there I went through getting everything setup as per the guide, only ran into a problem when I was doing the baseline test with xterm. I was completely unable to get it to load dvorak during the test. I tried and tried but failed. Eventually I just gave up and moved on to installing xfce. Once that was installed I loaded it up and changed the settings in xfce and dvorak is now working.

I'm not sure why one way failed and this other way worked. Whether or not xfce is superseeding the config from hal much in the same way that x superseeds the terminal settings.

Anyway, just wanted to get this down somewhere.

Thanks again for your guy's feedback.

Edit: Oh, and my clock is two hours off, but that's for another day.

Last edited by Adaemox (2009-03-25 06:26:06)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-23 18:42:04

x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#2 2009-03-23 20:09:03

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#3 2009-03-23 20:45:58

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#4 2009-03-23 21:32:24

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#5 2009-03-23 22:41:53

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#6 2009-03-24 00:00:15

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#7 2009-03-24 00:06:22

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#8 2009-03-24 00:10:41

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#9 2009-03-24 00:32:53

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

#10 2009-03-25 06:25:08

Re: x686 or x64 for HD Media Playback on an AMD/ATI based system?

Board footer