DXVA Hardware Acceleration Help needed

[ryboto]

I've just recently added an HD 4650 to my HTPC. I'm having a lot of trouble with GBPVR just grabbing channels, but I thought I'd also try to get help with DXVA. Now, I've got very few codecs installed. I installed the Core AVC codec, with the Haali media splitter. I can play .mkv's with MPC-HC and DXVA works(i've followed tutorials online). In GBPVR, I've enabled EVR, and when i try to play an HD video, I get 70-100% CPU usage(2.1ghz AMD X2).

With MPC-HC, CPU usage is ~15% for the same video. If I don't have the haali media splitter installed, the video just doesn't play in GBPVR, when i double click the video inside GBPVR, it flashed to a black screen, then back to the video selection menu.

Also, no audio is playing in GBPVR, suggesting I probably need audio codecs?

Here's my setup,
Vista32
2gb ram
AMD X2 2.1ghz
CoreAVC w/Haali splitter
HD4650
Hauppagge 1800

Does DXVA work for others?

[sub]

When it comes to .mkv files in GB-PVR, you get whatever the system default decoders are for that file. These default decoders may not be a combination that gives you hardware acceleration.

Try playing one of those video files, then zip and attach the pvrx2.exe.log and pvrx2.exe-native.log and I'll tell you what decoders are being used.

[pBS]

coreavc doesn't do acceleration, get the MPCHC Video Decoder filter that comes separate from that site and use vmr9fse and you should have same results as in mpchc..

also, check which output mode mpchc is using and set gbpvr similarly...
[vmr9,evr,overlay]
i think they have an mkv splittter there also you could use instead of halli...
[those filters are pretty stable,mpeg splitter is nice for bdrom also]
and halli can be a bit strange at times taking over other formats..

[ryboto]

coreavc doesn't do acceleration, get the MPCHC Video Decoder filter that comes separate from that site and use vmr9fse and you should have same results as in mpchc..

also, check which output mode mpchc is using and set gbpvr similarly...
[vmr9,evr,overlay]
i think they have an mkv splittter there also you could use instead of halli...
[those filters are pretty stable,mpeg splitter is nice for bdrom also]
and halli can be a bit strange at times taking over other formats..

Sub, I'll post a log when I can. As for MPCHC video decoder, I have it.....how exactly do I install it? I've thrown it in the system32 folder, i had it in GBPVR's root folder, but there's no option to select it in GBPVR. I've seen posts that said to get the decoder, with links to it...but then no instructions on what to do with it when you have it.

edit: uploaded

[sub]

As for MPCHC video decoder, I have it.....how exactly do I install it? I've thrown it in the system32 folder, i had it in GBPVR's root folder, but there's no option to select it in GBPVR. I've seen posts that said to get the decoder, with links to it...but then no instructions on what to do with it when you have it.

As mentioned above, when you try to play file types that GB-PVR doesnt record, you end up getting whatever decoders Windows chooses for that file type, so there is no GB-PVR settings to choose the decoders that get used. GB-PVR only tries to chose specific decoders when you play .ts or .mpg files (ie, files that GB-PVR records).

In the case of your system, its choosing the following decoders:

2009-03-20 11:24:47.556 VERBOSE Graph contains the following filters:
2009-03-20 11:24:47.556 VERBOSE - Default DirectSound Device
2009-03-20 11:24:47.556 VERBOSE - Video Renderer
2009-03-20 11:24:47.556 VERBOSE - Microsoft MPEG-1/DD Audio Decoder
2009-03-20 11:24:47.556 VERBOSE - CoreAVC Video Decoder
2009-03-20 11:24:47.556 VERBOSE - D:\Downloads\movies\[HD 1080p ITA AC3-ENG DTS] Iron Man [HDitaly]\[HD 1080p ITA AC3-ENG DTS] Iron Man [HDitaly].mkv

In effect, its using the CoreAVC decoder, which doesnt do any hardware acceleration, so it ends up using quite a bit of CPU.

If your system is choosing decoders that you dont want to use, your options are either uninstall the decoders you dont want to use, or try using one of the various directshow filter managers (google for them, I think www.softella.com has one) to change the filter merits of the decoders. Be warned though, changing filter merits is a complicated task, and not something I provide support for...

[pBS]

you got it, good...now run on a cmd prompt: regsvr32 MPCVideoDec.ax
and you're done...
it seems to set a very high merit for itself, so should be default when registered..
if not, get 'gspot' or as Sub said, other such filter managers software and use to adjust..
also, you can add it as a 'supported h264 decoder' in list in config.xml
then you could use config to adjust it's properties...

[Pob]

Someone posted a detailed guide here;
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post276905
When using DXVA, I was getting CPU <5% playing HD videos, as all the work is passed to the GPU.
Using CoreAVC, you can offload some work to the CPU by checking 'hardware deinterlacing'.
For me, CoreAVC gives better results across all H264 media, and the balance between GPU and CPU gives the quietest results on my hardware -too much load on the CPU = noisy fans, too much load on GPU = very noisy fan!

[ryboto]

Someone posted a detailed guide here;
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...post276905
When using DXVA, I was getting CPU <5% playing HD videos, as all the work is passed to the GPU.
Using CoreAVC, you can offload some work to the CPU by checking 'hardware deinterlacing'.
For me, CoreAVC gives better results across all H264 media, and the balance between GPU and CPU gives the quietest results on my hardware -too much load on the CPU = noisy fans, too much load on GPU = very noisy fan!

ok, I registered the MPC decoder, and it seems to be acting as the system default in GBPVR, and for most HD videos it works, but for some, CPU usage jumps from 10-15% to %50-60 and the videos are playing at a really slow framerate. I tried using CoreAVC with hardware deinterlacing, but that still makes CPU usage close to 100%, and some frames are still lost, and framerate drops occur. I don't worry about noisey fans, since I'm using <900rpm CPU/Chasis, and the GPU is fanless. I didn't go through all of my HD movies, but are there certain H264 types that work better with CoreAVC vs DXVA? Also, what audio decoder should I get? System default doesn't provide me with any sound for the HD movies I have.

[Pob]

ok, I registered the MPC decoder, and it seems to be acting as the system default in GBPVR, and for most HD videos it works, but for some, CPU usage jumps from 10-15% to %50-60 and the videos are playing at a really slow framerate. I tried using CoreAVC with hardware deinterlacing, but that still makes CPU usage close to 100%, and some frames are still lost, and framerate drops occur. I don't worry about noisey fans, since I'm using <900rpm CPU/Chasis, and the GPU is fanless. I didn't go through all of my HD movies, but are there certain H264 types that work better with CoreAVC vs DXVA? Also, what audio decoder should I get? System default doesn't provide me with any sound for the HD movies I have.

Not all H264 vids work with DXVA - some info here:
http://www.codecguide.com/faq_dxva.htm and here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=972503
ffdshow would give a comprehensive solution to audio, but some prefer AC3filter.
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_...fdshow.cfm

[ryboto]

Thanks for the reply. Is there a consensus on what the best codec/settings are for all around playback? DXVA is marvelous for most HD movies, and there appear to be things I can do to make others work just as well, but is there a codec that will offer perfect playback on a 2.1ghz X2?