re: H264 support

[DanielP]

I've reposted this query re: lack of H264 acceleration in PVR2-

Originally Posted by DanielP
Also- I noticed HD was working better (no tearing), but still choppy and still doesn't seem to be using hardware accel (this is on my ATI system). When I looked at the option to select H264 decoder, I only had the option of "use system default"- my Cyberlink H264 decoder wasn't listed. Is this right or is there something I need to do in order register it manually??
There hasnt really been anything change about playback, so it should be the about the same as previous releases.

Sub-
It'll only list H.264 decoders if their names are exactly "CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7.x)" or "CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (AzureWave)". What name is yours?

Mine is CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7)- I have Power DVD 7 Max, which doesn't seem to have had any upgrade patches for it yet, though I will check! Is the lack of the sub version of any significance??

Daniel

[sub]

You can manually add "CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD7)" to the <SupportedH264Decoders> setting in config.xml to get it to show up.

[DanielP]

Thanks for this. Now I look into it, my powerdvd has got in a muddle and I can neither install nor unstall it! I had forgotten it had gone pear shaped- if I look into this, I guess everything should be registered properly!

Daniel

[sbiddle]

Does your version of PowerDVD even support H.264? If it does on the main screen you will see a H.264 logo appear.

I've spent a weekend playing with various combinations of Vista, XP and Catalyst drivers using PowerDVD Ultra and have virtually given up. DXVA2 support under Vista just doesn't seem to work as claimed and I've got no idea if ATI, Cyberlink or maybe even Microsoft are to blame. I can get 5% CPU utilisation under XP using PowerDVD yet can't get anywhere near that under Vista - I'm averaging around 20% - 50% for the same clips.

I'm off to buy an NVidia card today to test that.

[sub]

I've spent a weekend playing with various combinations of Vista, XP and Catalyst drivers using PowerDVD Ultra and have virtually given up. DXVA2 support under Vista just doesn't seem to work as claimed and I've got no idea if ATI, Cyberlink or maybe even Microsoft are to blame. I can get 5% CPU utilisation under XP using PowerDVD yet can't get anywhere near that under Vista - I'm averaging around 20% - 50% for the same clips.

I get about 5% CPU usage under Vista on my setup, so there must be other variables that come into the reason you're not getting full acceleration.

[sbiddle]

I get about 5% CPU usage under Vista on my setup, so there must be other variables that come into the reason you're not getting full acceleration.

It's something that has certainly got me stumped. I got identical results with 2 different fresh Vista installs with only the Catalyst 8.2 drivers, PowerDVD and GBPVR installed. I installed SP1 on my main machine last night but haven't had a chance to test that yet.

I wonder whether different brands of video card really could cause an issue?

[sub]

Maybe. I've got two ATI HD 2600 Pro's. One is a Visiontek AGP. The other is a Gigabyte branded PCI Express one.

The Gigabyte one is in my Vista machine. The AGP one has become a hand-me-down to the lounge PC, but that machine does havnt DVB-T setup (dont have a high def TV, so not much point). Instead, this PC has DVB-S and DVB-C capture devices.

[DanielP]

Hi,

I have PowerDVD Max (which includes H264 support)....something odd has happened to it- I've managed to reinstall it, but it won't allow me to install patches etc. Can't be bothered to sort it out right now as the system works without it.

If I use PowerDVD to play a recording from BBCHD, I get an AMAZING picture (but no sound)....in GBPVR I get choppy image and sound- as all the fans on my Shuttle spin up, I am presuming that it has decided not to do hardware acel.

Daniel

[sub]

On thing you can do to check if your device is using hardware H.264 decoding is to:

1) download and run GraphEdit
2) select 'insert filter' from the menu
3) expand the 'directshow' category
4) insert the 'GB-PVR TS Reader' filter. It'll popup a box asking for a file name - select one of your H.264 channel recordings (a .ts file, so you might need
set the file filter to *.*).
5) insert the 'MPEG2 Demultiplexer' filter
6) insert the 'Enhanced Video Renderer' filter.
7) drag output pin of the reader to the input pin of the demux.
8) right click on the demux pins and select the 'render' pin. You should now have a complete graph.
9) right click on the input pin on the EVR filter and view the properties. It'll tell you if the connection to the renderer is using DXVA or not.

[sbiddle]

I've just picked up an 8500GT so it will be interesting to test that.