Running NPVR on older hardware with Windows XP, what codecs, etc?

[sub]

In those logs it looks like you're using different video renderers, which will have an impact on performance. NPVR is configured for EVR. It looks like GBPVR was configured for VMR, but failed to hook this up the Cyberlink decoder so fell back to Overlay.

[jboyter14]

I actually have both GBPVR and NPVR set to overlay. Overlay was the only option that would work in GBPVR smoothly. I tried the others in NPVR and VMR9 actually worked, but extremely choppy and unwatchable.

Any other ideas for me?

[sub]

I still dont think you'll get decent HD playback on a those old cards you mentioned, based on feedback from GBPVR users in the past, but are you definitely running the latest NPVR? The overlay renderer option wasnt working in earlier releases, and would result in EVR being used.

[jboyter14]

Yep, definitely using the latest NPVR.

[sub]

Sorry, I dont know then.

[jboyter14]

I got it working! The key is definitely the video card. I went digging around my old hardware drawer and found two different cards that I tried: Geforce FX 5700 and a Radeon 9800 (wow, yes that it quite old now!)

Both worked, but I went with the 9800 because it was quieter and I think takes less power. I'm now using the latest NPVR and SAF 5 filters and all is working. I'm using the EVR renderer. The Athlon 64 3700+ is being pushed really hard during HD video hovering between 60-80% CPU usage. I suspect the filters are not using DXVA, but neverless it is working. I haven't tried H264 yet, just standard MPEG2 TS files recorded through QAM.

MP4 and the like seem to be working (mostly not Hi-DEF), however.

I do have another slight display problem that I will talk about in another post.

So my specs for running NPVR:
Athlon 64 3700+ running at 2ghz
ASUS motherboard (no onboard video)
1gb DDR ram
128mb ATI Radeon 9800 AGP
4gb flash card with IDE adapter (all video stored on server)
Some cheapo DVD drive
Antec 350w PS
Windows XP SP3
LG 42in LCD 720p HDMI connection through DVI adapter

Worth noting:
I used these same specs with GB-PVR, but with a 64mb Geforce4mx; also used a Radeon 9250 without problem.
I think the difference is the renderer that NPVR uses vs GB-PVR. Whatever NPVR is doing doesn't support the older video cards- probably ones that aren't true DX9 compatible. That's my guess, anyways.

I hope this post has helped some poor soul like me that is too cheap to purchase better hardware; or would rather use the better hardware in his gaming computers

[sub]

I'm glad you got it working. I'm still disbelieving you got good HD playback on a GeForce 4MX in GBPVR. Thats just not possible, and goes against every minimum HD spec I've read on the net. This card was way too under powered for HD.

[jcjefferies]

From recent experience 64MB is enough to display a 1080p picture but NPVR needs extra memory for on screen display so items such as the time bar and programme description are missing so I used 128MB display card instead and the functions returned. My 64MB Nvidia Quadro NVS card gave an excellent 1080p picture and it had enough memory when running at 720p to also run the on screen display items.