Alternative H.264 codec for NZ DVB-T users

[sbiddle]

Ever since I started playing with DVB-T in NZ I've used the Cyberlink PowerDVD codec as it's been one of the few to take advantage of hardware acceleration. Tday however I took a look at Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre and have to say I am really impressed.

Many of the issues I had experienced with audio/video sync and issues after skipping forward or back numerous times have all gone and GB-PVR is working better than ever. There does still seem to be a random issue with file lengths being misreported (even with the 1.2.13 patch) however things are working far better than they ever were with the PowerDVD codec.

The software is available as a free download from http://www.arcsoft.com with a 14 day trial so there is no harm in having a look if you want to try an alternative to PowerDVD.

[scobb]

Thanks for the pointer. I'll give it a go. Do you think it's worth US$90? That's more than I paid for my HVR-3000 card

Simon

[sbiddle]

Thanks for the pointer. I'll give it a go. Do you think it's worth US$90? That's more than I paid for my HVR-3000 card

Simon

It has a 14 day trial so there is no need to register it if you don't like it.

[drain]

Thanks for the pointer. I'll give it a go. Do you think it's worth US$90? That's more than I paid for my HVR-3000 card

Simon

How did it go? Is it worth changing from PDVD?

[StephenW]

I have been trying it out for a few days now, and I have seen nothing different from using the Cyberlink codec. I still have all the usual problems jumping around in recordings and things getting out of sync.

[andydixon]

I have the same issue with Arcsoft that I have with PowerDVD: I can't get DXVA to work in GBPVR. With both pieces of software I can playback GBPVR recordings directly in the software with DXVA working nicely and using 3 or 4% CPU. But using the decoders in GBPVR I get around 75% CPU usage.

Andy

[sub]

It probably comes down to the renderer you using in GB-PVR. From memory H.264 acceleration requires EVR renderer on Vista, or VMR renderer on XP.

[andydixon]

I'm using VMR in XP already.

Andy

[sub]

Sorry, I dont know then. Whether H.264 acceleration is used or not is decided between the video decoder + video renderer + video card drivers, so it'll be one those components causing it not to be used.