support for better video renderers (haali, madVR)

[Dave_M]

I've noticed that using VMR9 the video looks a little washed out. Is it possible to add support for better video renderers. In particular I'm thinking of madVR http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=146228. But haali video renderer is nice too since you can at least set the luminance range 16-235 for video input so that blacks are really black and whites are white.

[fuchstractor]

I've just tried madVR with NPVR (2.2.6). As expected, the picture looks A LOT better - crisp, vivid, and has only minimal artifacts

Unfortunately NPVR has issues when using madVR:

- (major issue) the OSD won't scaled DOWN in NPVR's windowed mode (only a part of the OSD is visible)
- (major issue) when NPVR is started in fullscreen mode (setting), the picture won't scale UP to fullscreen (unless it's changed back to windowed mode, then back to full again)
- (minor issue) unlike decoders, there's no way to adjust madVR (or any other) renderer settings

The above applies to Windows XP with a Radeon HD2400XT graphics card running NPVR 2.2.6 (will try on 7 later).

[whurlston]

It's been years since I used VMR9, not since GBPVR supported EVR. I don't get washed out colors with EVR and you shouldn't with VMR9 either if your graphics drivers are properly configured for your display:

NVidia: NVIDIA Control Panel -> Video & Television -> Adjust video color settings -> Select "With the NVIDIA settings" -> Advanced tab -> Set Dynamic Range

ATI: Avivo Video -> Advanced Color -> Dynamic Range

With my ATI, I get perfect levels with Dynamic Range = 0-255, Pixel Format = Ycbcr 4.4.4 or RGB Full. Adjust according to your display. Make sure that you also uncheck "Use Application Settings" in the video presets.

I have high respect for madshi, but I don't see much benefit with madVR. But then 99.9% of my viewing is HD content and madVR is really for SD content.

[BigMoose]

I've never known which pixel format or dynamic range to use for TV/films. Is the above the optimum for a pvr?? I'm using EVR on win7 and dont have washed out colours, so maybe whatever I have it set to is ok

[whurlston]

The above is the optimal settings. It gives consistent levels for both desktop and videos. Ycbcr is the most optimal but ati has a slight green push with it (this may have been fixed by now, I haven't checked). My panels support rgb so that's what I use. Some people have reported inconsistencies when using rgb but I don't have that problem.

[fuchstractor]

It's been years since I used VMR9, not since GBPVR supported EVR. I don't get washed out colors with EVR and you shouldn't with VMR9 either if your graphics drivers are properly configured for your display:

ATI: Avivo Video -> Advanced Color -> Dynamic Range

With my ATI, I get perfect levels with Dynamic Range = 0-255, Pixel Format = Ycbcr 4.4.4 or RGB Full. Adjust according to your display. Make sure that you also uncheck "Use Application Settings" in the video presets.

I have high respect for madshi, but I don't see much benefit with madVR. But then 99.9% of my viewing is HD content and madVR is really for SD content.

It's not only about colors but scaling, too. EVR is okay, bur requires Windows Media & .NET 3.5. (I know Win7 has them as default, at least in normal versions - but I have 'N') That means hundreds of megabytes good-for-nothing bloatware.

As for Catalyst Control Center (or whatever it's called now) - same applies, it's three times the driver's size. Takes HDD space, RAM, and CPU time.

Not to mention truckload of registry entries.

HTPCs are meant to be lightweight, so resources are also low...

So if I can get awesome features in 10 megs (madVR), I wouldn't want to install ~1000 to get something like that just because I have the space (which I don't)

[jcjefferies]

I had washed out colours on my Samsung TV using the PC input from NextPVR and was unable to improve things using the TV settings. I recently bought a GeForce 210 card and using HDMI the picture was greatly improved without touching the settings.

[whurlston]

It's not only about colors but scaling, too. EVR is okay, bur requires Windows Media & .NET 3.5. (I know Win7 has them as default, at least in normal versions - but I have 'N') That means hundreds of megabytes good-for-nothing bloatware.

EVR comes with .Net 3.5 but does not require it. It's actually the other way around: .Net 3.5 requires the evr.dll (and dxva2.dll although it's of no real use on an XP machine). You can simply copy evr.dll from a vista/win7 machine and register it in XP. You do not get the benefit of hardware accellerated decoding (DXVA2) with XP/EVR but you lose that if you use madVR anyway.

As for Catalyst Control Center (or whatever it's called now) - same applies, it's three times the driver's size. Takes HDD space, RAM, and CPU time.

Not to mention truckload of registry entries.

You need, at the most, 5 registry entries for the settings I mentioned above. Catalyst Control Center is only needed if you want a GUI for setting those entries. The registry entries are read and applied by the driver which you are already using.

HTPCs are meant to be lightweight, so resources are also low...

So if I can get awesome features in 10 megs (madVR), I wouldn't want to install ~1000 to get something like that just because I have the space (which I don't)

See above. The comparison is more like 10 megs (madvr) vs 600k (evr.dll + dxva2.dll). Both require a few registry entries.

[whurlston]

I can try to create a small utility that will allow you to change those settings without the need for running full blown CCC. I already made one for setting overscan/underscan. I've got a couple of other projects to finish up first though.