Why does GBPVR use so much video card gpu?

[pBS]

With GBPVR x1 set to Overlay Manager in config, I get the same gpu readings as with PVRx2. That's what really threw me off from the beginning. Also, switching Media Player Classic between Overlay and the various VMRs, the gpu stays way down. Strange stuff.

pvrx2 *can't* do overlay, so setting that in config only affects gbpvr.exe
hmm,those cards might not do overlay like normal..i bet it's avivo settings..
try pvrx2.exe -fse and see if that helps..or gbpvr.exe set to 'fullscreen exclusive' mode.

in your video driver, what do you have set for avivo deinterlace settings?
i use vector adaptive with pulldown detection on, looks beautifull with a much lesser card...[x1550] even in HD on agp i use ati mpeg decoder,[avivo] but you'll have to add it yourself to the list..[not 'cyberlink for ATI' one]
add "ATI MPEG Video Decoder" to supported in config...

also, lower the driver's 3d settings as well and you'll see a huge difference as that is now what affects pvrx2 quality most...
if using dscaler, set to nv12 colorspace to use hardware deinterlacing [avivo]
in cyberlink try setting hardware accel. off...you might be surprised..[and leave deinterlacing at auto]

[Deusxmachina]

in your video driver, what do you have set for avivo deinterlace settings?
i use vector adaptive with pulldown detection on, looks beautifull with a much lesser card...[x1550] even in HD on agp i use ati mpeg decoder,[avivo] but you'll have to add it yourself to the list..[not 'cyberlink for ATI' one]
add "ATI MPEG Video Decoder" to supported in config...

I leave config set to "overlay manager" so when I want to test overlay I load up the old x1 GBPVR. Was rather surprising when the gpu usage didn't change from x2 with its VMR.

In Catalyst I generally leave deinterlace on auto, but on the previous install (reformatted recently) it was rare that any decoder let the Catalyst even do anything. I think Cyberlink DTV was one of the few/only decoders that allowed the video card's deinterlacing setting to kick in. Otherwise the deinterlacing was only changed via whatever software decoder I was using. I tested on a 24/7 weather channel with scrolling text; the look of the text made deinterlacing changes very obvious.

Pretty sure some AVSforum guys said the card's deinterlacing only works if it is also accelerating the video, which mine shouldn't be since I didn't add the reg tweak. Well, unless using Bitcontrol or maybe PureVideo decoder which has those extra options, but I don't have those installed this time.

Vector Adaptive? I'd be happy with Bob at 1600x1200.

I previously was using the ATI mux to cure sync issues, but then I traced a different sound problem to that mux -- after a week or two, it apparently refused to fully mux AC3 audio. I had to watch things in a different media player and switch to audio track 2 (generally a 2.0 stereo track) or else the audio would make everything stutter. On the reformat and reinstall, the ATI mux still does that. So now I'm back to Cyberlink mux and iffy sync. *sigh*

On the reinstall, Cyberlink DTV and ATI decoder from the Avivo download play a black screen except on my one SDTV channel, (the 24/7 weather one I mentioned), it broadcasts at 720x480 instead of HD. It's a sub-channel of the local ABC affiliate. I encountered this (apparently common) problem before, and read about it before, and like before it's probably related to the video card not accelerating mpeg2. It did it on the previous install, mainly if watching mpeg2 with PowerDVD (which I don't have installed this time), and doing the reg tweak to enable mpeg2 acceleration on the 2400pro then let the video be seen.

So, due to black screens currently, I've been using Gabest MPV except when testing on the SDTV channel because all decoders work on that channel. MPV was the best decoder I was using on the previous install, so I was going to use it again anyway.

I'm playing with some of the other settings you mentioned but am posting this quick since as of today the power supply on this computer is dying and reboots on a whim. ...which is one of the side benefits of a separate PVR computer that can double as an actual computer when needing to shop for parts.

Stu, not sure what you mean about GBPVR writing to the screen. Writing what? It has to be writing the mpeg2 in order to watch it, so I don't understand what you mean.

[Deusxmachina]

So playing around changing decoders, a few times I started playing a recording, it played fine, but while it played I had no control over GBPVR with the mouse. I could move the cursor fine but couldn't click to stop the video. I had to right-click on the Windows taskbar and close GBPVR from there.

Video card gpu was very low during this for both GBPVRx1 (Overlay Manager) and PVRx2.

Changing decoders again, everything might work how it was before -- high gpu and full mouse control. Whether or not I could use the mouse in GBPVR after switching decoders and then starting to watch a video seems random. Switch decoders, and then sometimes I could play a file with low gpu and then lose mouse control on GBPVR, and other times the file would play with high gpu and full mouse control.

I haven't figured out what it might mean yet. Was interesting to be playing a video and see the gpu low, though.

[sub]

So playing around changing decoders, a few times I started playing a recording, it played fine, but while it played I had no control over GBPVR with the mouse. I could move the cursor fine but couldn't click to stop the video. I had to right-click on the Windows taskbar and close GBPVR from there.

You can get this when you use an older version of the Cyberlink decoder which is incompatible with VMR9. It causes a second render (Overlay) to be added to the graph, which displays the video. When this happens you get no OSD, and often the keyboard/mouse wont respond.

[chrisv]

I just upgraded to an Asus HD3650 with the hopes that my stuttering problems would go away. They remain, but this thread helped me discover similar behavior. I installed RivaTuner to monitor my GPU.

I have a satellite receiver connected via S-Video to my Hauppauge HVR-1600 capture card and the HD3650 connects to my TV via DVI. Only "SD" viewing for now due to my setup. With this setup in XP using either Overlay or VMR9, the GPU is always around 50% and it spikes to 100% at times. The stutters happen at those exact times (100% GPU). I'm also shocked that SD requires this much GPU. Shouldn't it be much lower?

[K.S.]

i have an ati X1050 GPU with no problems during playback (with parallel recording & comskip & connected client playback) your onboard GPU (690G) is more than enough to handle SD playback, it's almost overkill. must be something else. do you have the AMD dual core patch installed? check that out http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=32586 & also check out if you have DXVA enabled

[chrisv]

I applied both hotfixes a while back when trying to get my onboard GPU stuttering problem fixed. Neither worked.

Shouldn't SD playback require a lot less than 50% GPU?

[sub]

I just checked on my ATI HD 2600, which is a pretty similir card. It uses about 31% GPU watching a high definition H.264 recording. It uses about 14% GPU watching a standard definition MPEG2 recording.

[chrisv]

Ouch. My numbers are way too high then. When I press CTRL-O, it says H.264, even though I am watching an SD source. Does this sound right, or should it say MPEG-2?

[sub]

Thats just a bug in the new feature that displays that info. I forgot to finish it for analog cards. It'll be MPEG-2 you're viewing.