The Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator is a media coprocessor that lets you watch 1080p HD video even on netbooks with small screens and slow processors. The upside is that you can watch high quality videos without transcoding them. The downside is that not a lot of computers actually ship with the HD video decoder preinstalled. We’ve already seen plenty of people open up Intel Atom-based netbooks and pop an off-the-shelf Broadcom chip inside. Now SammyNetbook forum member La Shred has posted details on how to do the same thing with a Samsung NC20 notebook with a VIA Nano processor.
In order to make room for the Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator, he had to remove the integrated PCI-E wireless card. But he hacked a USB WiFi adpater onto one of the internal USB ports instead.
The end result is a Samsung NC20 12.1″ notebook that can handle 720p video playback with ease — although La Shred says he’s seeing some frame skipping when he tries 1080p HD video.
Unfortunately, while you could pick up a Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator for about $25 on eBay a few months ago, they’re no going for closer to $100.
You can find more photos and details at the SammyNetbook forums.
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- TypeNetbook
- Screen size12.1 inches
- Screen resolution1280 x 800
- Processor speed1.3 GHz
- System RAM1 GB
- Maximum battery lifeUp to 6 hours
- Dimensions1.2 x 11.5 x 8.5 in
- Weight3.3 lb
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