Transcoding DivX -- how to configure / what to install?

[sub]

It is shown in the trans2mvp log file.

As some other users have pointed out, you may need to run the GB-PVR MVP Server manually (using the icon) if you want it to use FFDShow. This because normally the MVP runs under a different user account, and the FFDShow settings are not present for that user.

[Gunr]

This is true.

In order to get FFDShow to work on MVP in my setup. I had to set the GBPVR service to run under the Admin account. Then go to that account and set up the config for FFDShow. It now starts automatically as a service assigned to the administrator account. I used this account because the service requires an account with a valid password. None of the other accounts on my XP box use passwords we all log in via the welcome screen.

The GBPVR servce was running as a system service before that.

After that it did indeed effect my MVP display. Still not Full screen on my Big Screen TV but definately much larger.

Hope that helps!

Gunr

[TrevorW]

OK, following both the instructions above, I have now set my services using the Administrator profile and log-in and I can now get most of my stuff, DIVX included on FULL SCREEN PAL!

Marvelous!

[mvpaaagh]

Firstly, my apologies for the long post. I have hauled a TV and my MVP up into my attic and put them side by side with my PC. Reason? I wanted to test different settings and different codecs for watching AVI files on the MVP and didn’t fancy running up and down stairs each time I changed something. Below are the results of testing As you’ll see some setups are better than others. Most notable is the CPU difference when watching an AVI file through GBPVR rather than through the native Hauppauge software. This is in no way intended as a slight on GBPVR. None of us would be using GBPVR if we didn’t believe it was light years ahead of the Hauppauge software in most respects. The purpose of this exercise was simply to contribute to the discussions and analysis of AVI playback through GBPVR. I hope this helps.

PC Spec:
2.66GHz Pentium 4
512MB RAM
Too much disc space to count.
GBPVR Version 0.91.11
MVP TRANSCODE PRE-PLAY DELAY 10500

Test 1: Using GBPVR and FFDSHOW with “Use FFDSHOW with Transcode” enabled.

Trans2MVP.exe-native.LOG
13:57:21.250 INFO Log started
13:57:21.250 VERBOSE Will try to use ffdshow...
13:57:21.250 INFO TRANSCODING: K:\ENTERP~1\THEAUG~1.AVI
13:57:21.250 INFO TARGET: D:\MVP000DFE00748D.mpg
13:57:21.312 VERBOSE AVI file type.
13:57:21.328 VERBOSE About to check for Async Reader
13:57:21.359 VERBOSE ...found, about to query for IFileSourceFilter interface
13:57:21.359 VERBOSE About to render graph
13:57:21.359 VERBOSE Rendering pin
13:57:21.453 VERBOSE About to list graph filters
13:57:21.453 INFO Graph contains the following filters:
13:57:21.453 INFO - MainConcept (Hauppauge) MPEG Encoder
13:57:21.453 INFO - ffdshow Audio Decoder
13:57:21.453 INFO - ffdshow raw video filter
13:57:21.453 INFO - ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder
13:57:21.453 INFO - AVI Splitter
13:57:21.453 INFO - K:\ENTERP~1\THEAUG~1.AVI
13:57:21.625 VERBOSE About to start graph
13:57:21.640 VERBOSE transcode processing started

Results:
CPU Usage 100%
Trans2MVP 98%
Crashed after <1 minute
ffdshow raw video filter used to resize image and apply some image enhancements through post processing.


Test 2: Using GBPVR and FFDSHOW with “Use FFDSHOW with Transcode” disabled.

Trans2MVP.exe-native.LOG
13:49:49.171 INFO Log started
13:49:49.171 INFO TRANSCODING: K:\ENTERP~1\THEAUG~1.AVI
13:49:49.171 INFO TARGET: D:\MVP000DFE00748D.mpg
13:49:49.437 VERBOSE AVI file type.
13:49:49.437 VERBOSE About to check for Async Reader
13:49:49.453 VERBOSE ...found, about to query for IFileSourceFilter interface
13:49:49.468 VERBOSE About to render graph
13:49:49.468 VERBOSE Rendering pin
13:49:49.890 VERBOSE About to list graph filters
13:49:49.890 INFO Graph contains the following filters:
13:49:49.890 INFO - MainConcept (Hauppauge) MPEG Encoder
13:49:49.890 INFO - ffdshow Audio Decoder
13:49:49.890 INFO - ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder
13:49:49.890 INFO - AVI Splitter
13:49:49.890 INFO - K:\ENTERP~1\THEAUG~1.AVI
13:49:50.093 VERBOSE About to start graph
13:49:50.140 VERBOSE transcode processing started

Results:
CPU Usage 100%
Trans2MVP 98%
Crashed after 5 minutes
Changes to filters in raw filter config are applied despite “use ffdshow with transcode” being disabled. E.g. resize still works.



Test 3: Using GBPVR and FFDSHOW with “Use FFDSHOW for Transcode” disabled; No post processing or resizing applied.

Trans2MVP.exe-native.LOG
14:06:35.281 INFO Log started
14:06:35.281 INFO TRANSCODING: K:\ENTERP~1\THEAUG~1.AVI
14:06:35.281 INFO TARGET: D:\MVP000DFE00748D.mpg
14:06:35.343 VERBOSE AVI file type.
14:06:35.343 VERBOSE About to check for Async Reader
14:06:35.375 VERBOSE ...found, about to query for IFileSourceFilter interface
14:06:35.375 VERBOSE About to render graph
14:06:35.375 VERBOSE Rendering pin
14:06:35.515 VERBOSE About to list graph filters
14:06:35.515 INFO Graph contains the following filters:
14:06:35.515 INFO - MainConcept (Hauppauge) MPEG Encoder
14:06:35.515 INFO - ffdshow Audio Decoder
14:06:35.515 INFO - ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder
14:06:35.515 INFO - AVI Splitter
14:06:35.515 INFO - K:\ENTERP~1\THEAUG~1.AVI
14:06:35.625 VERBOSE About to start graph
14:06:35.640 VERBOSE transcode processing started

Results:
CPU Usage 100%
Trans2MVP 98%
No Crash after 15 minutes


Test 4: Using GBPVR and DIVX codec (FFDSHOW uninstalled)

Trans2MVP.exe-native.LOG
14:29:49.984 INFO Log started
14:29:49.984 INFO TRANSCODING: K:\ENTERP~1\THEAUG~1.AVI
14:29:49.984 INFO TARGET: D:\MVP000DFE00748D.mpg
14:29:50.062 VERBOSE AVI file type.
14:29:50.062 VERBOSE About to check for Async Reader
14:29:50.078 VERBOSE ...found, about to query for IFileSourceFilter interface
14:29:50.093 VERBOSE About to render graph
14:29:50.093 VERBOSE Rendering pin
14:29:50.484 VERBOSE About to list graph filters
14:29:50.484 INFO Graph contains the following filters:
14:29:50.484 INFO - MainConcept (Hauppauge) MPEG Encoder
14:29:50.484 INFO - MPEG Layer-3 Decoder
14:29:50.484 INFO - DivX Decoder Filter
14:29:50.484 INFO - AVI Splitter
14:29:50.484 INFO - K:\ENTERP~1\THEAUG~1.AVI
14:29:50.578 VERBOSE About to start graph
14:29:50.625 VERBOSE transcode processing started

Results:
CPU Usage 100%
Trans2MVP 98%
Audio and Video out of Sync.
Video choppy
Crashed after 10 minutes

Test 5: Using Hauppauge MVP software and DIVX codec (FFDSHOW uninstalled)

Stopped GBPVR Recording service and started Hauppauge services.
Played back the same AVI file.

Results:
CPU Usage 75%
HcwSMS.EXE averaging 65% MIN 40% MAX 99%
No crash. No sync issues.

Test 6: Using Hauppauge MVP software and FFDSHOW codec (DIVX uninstalled)
Stopped GBPVR Recording service and started Hauppauge services.
Installed ffdshow uninstalled divx codec
Played back the same AVI file.

Results:
CPU Usage 60%
HcwSMS.EXE AVERAGING 55% MIN 50% MAX 75%
No crash. No sync issues.
Image not resized despite raw filter changes to post process and resize filters.


Test 7: As per test 2 plus pause playback immediately for 5 minutes.

Results:
CPU Usage 100%
Trans2MVP 98%
No crash after 15 minutes
Changes to filters in raw filter config are applied despite “use ffdshow with transcode” being disabled. E.g. resize works.

[sub]

Apart from the crash, this is pretty much as I'd expect. Even though I reuse some of the Hauppauge components, we use a different approach to transcoding.

GB-PVR sets the priority of Trans2MVP to 'below normal', and then sets it transcoding the AVI file into an MPEG file. This is going to transcode the file as fast as it can, and use all the CPU it can usually 100%. Remember, because it is 'below normal' priority, it all other things you try to do on your PC will take priority over it, so even though its using 100% of the CPU when it can, it'll use less if you start doing other things on your PC.

Hauppauge use a different approach while only transcodes the area of the file near where the playback position is. I cant do this because I'm not privy to some of the internal interfaces of these components.

The crash is probably just caused by the playback position of the file catching up to the transcoding position of the file. It looks like your machine cant keep up when you're applying image enhancements.

[Gunr]

I wonder would it make a difference if you set the size in FFDShow to 320x240 or something like that. Would it be able to transcode any faster? Or does this have no effect at all is a resize still just a resize?

Gunr

[sub]

Yes, it still use 100% of the idle time of the CPU, but in my tests resizing to 320x240 or similar resulted in the transcode occurring faster (so less likelihood of play position catching up to transcoding position).

[mvpaaagh]

For me personally pausing playback for 5 minutes at the begining of playback seems to be the best compromise as once resumed playback is flawless plus I get the resizing I require. I will try resizing to 320x240 but I assume the playback will be noticeably degraded. Sub I know it wouldn't be a pretty solution but could you have GBPVR automatically pause playback to the MVP if the transcoded mpg file falls below a certain size threshold thereby allowing trans2mvp.exe to build up sufficient transcoded content before resuming playback. Perhaps you have something more slick in mind for future releases. For the moment at least I am happy I have a working solution.

[sub]

I will try resizing to 320x240 but I assume the playback will be noticeably degraded.

Its actually not as bad as you might think. FFDShow does a reasonably good job with the resize.

Sub I know it wouldn't be a pretty solution but could you have GBPVR automatically pause playback to the MVP if the transcoded mpg file falls below a certain size threshold thereby allowing trans2mvp.exe to build up sufficient transcoded content before resuming playback.

I can look into this for a future release.

[mvpaaagh]

Cheers Sub. Thanks for the reply. Good luck with the new job by the way.