InterVideo Codec and MPEG Playback Quality

[beaverm]

I've been looking to improve my mpeg playback quality for sometime. something I discovered is that even if you set the "relevant" registry settings in the registry the MPEG Quality with the InterVideo Decoder is still never as good as it is within Intervideo.

Here's what I did to resolve this:

I set it so I was getting everything peak in Intervideo WinDVD (I'd imagine it'd be the same in Any App)

I then exported the registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\InterVideo\DVD7

used a text editor to replace the following line:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\InterVideo\DVD7]

with:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\InterVideo\Common\VideoDec
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InterVideo\Common\VideoDec
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InterVideo\Common\VideoDec\GBPVR

Personally I tweaked this even a little further manually before exporting it to make sure that the following was set prior to export:

"HWMC"=dword:00000001
"DXVA"=dword:00000001
"VMR"=dword:00000002
"HwColor"=dword:00000001

(each one at a time, I did all of them to be safe)

I then imported the reg file into these areas.

and now without changing anything my video quality is identical to that of InterVideo WinDVD, but my processor load on all mpeg2 based applications went from between 20-30% to 8-17%.

Now, I had already tried each of the above settings individually within the registry at each of the above registry keys, it improved processor load and improved the quality a good bit, but never as good as it was in WinDVD.

The export/import of that entire Key is what finally made the two identical.

This worked on both my PVR using dedicated TV output and on my regular computer using both the primary and secondary displays.

As an example here is the entire file as I imported it:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\InterVideo\DVD7]
"Version"="7.00.27"
"OS"=dword:00000006
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\InterVideo\\DVD7"
"LANGUAGE"="RCENU"
"AppCaption"="InterVideo WinDVD 7"
"SKIN"="WinDVD 7"
"CUSTID"=dword:00003030
"SERIALCODE"=""
"AutoPlay"=dword:00000001
"DVDAudio"=dword:00000001
"HDFastMode"=dword:00000001
"FileSecMax"=dword:00001388
"Expand"=dword:00000003
"WebSite"=""
@=""
"AUDIOCHAN"=dword:00000001
"BOBWEAVE"=dword:00000000
"BRIGHTNESS"=dword:00000008
"COLORCONTROL"=dword:0000000a
"DDBOB"=dword:00000000
"DMACHECK"=dword:00000001
"DRIVE"=""
"FASTMODE"=dword:00000000
"FULLSCREEN"=dword:00000000
"HEADPHONE"=dword:00000000
"HUE"=dword:00000008
"HWMC"=dword:00000001
"INTELBUILD"=dword:000004c9
"INTELHWALPHA"=dword:00000001
"KARAOKE"=dword:00000003
"KARAOKEMELODY"=dword:00000001
"LOCKRATIO"=dword:00000001
"MACHINEID"=dword:00000000
"MENU"=dword:00000000
"MESSAGE"=dword:00000001
"MIXER"=dword:00000001
"NAVIGATION"=dword:00000000
"NVMCP"=dword:00000002
"OSD"=dword:00000001
"PCS"="03VVTV8"
"PASSWORD"=""
"PERFMETER"=dword:00000000
"PLAYER"=dword:00000001
"PMBATTERYPERCENT1"=dword:00000014
"PMBATTERYPERCENT2"=dword:0000000f
"PMDENY"=dword:0007003f
"PMPOLICY"=dword:04082803
"PMTIMERINTERVAL"=dword:0000001e
"PROLOGIC"=dword:00000061
"QUALITY"=dword:00000077
"QUALITYOFF"=dword:00000000
"QUALITYLEVEL"=dword:00000001
"SATURATION"=dword:00000008
"SPPOSITION"=dword:00000000
"STATUSBAR"=dword:00000001
"TOOLBAR"=dword:00000001
"TVOVERSCAN"=dword:00000000
"VOLUME"=dword:0000000c
"MULTIMON"=dword:00000000
"UEF"=dword:00000000
"TSFWDMAXSpeed"="2"
"TSFWDMINSpeed"="0.5"
"CapturePath"=""
"DXVA"=dword:00000001
"VMR"=dword:00000002
"DSRENDERER"=dword:00000002
"AUTOHIDEINTERVAL"=dword:00000005
"AUDIOLANGUAGE"=dword:00000000
"AUDIOOUTPUT"=dword:00000000
"UEFTI"=dword:00000001
"AUTORESUME"=dword:00000001
"EXTERNALPROLOGIC"=dword:00000000
"FULLSCRNSTYLE"=dword:00000000
"INSTRPLYINTERVAL"=dword:00000005
"ShowPlayer"=dword:00000002
"SKIPFRMINTERVAL"=dword:0000001e
"SUBTITLELANGUAGE"=dword:00000000
"SUBTITLESTYLE"="Normal"
"SUBWOOFER"=dword:00000000
"TVOUTRESOLUTION"=dword:00000000
"AUTOBOOKMARKBROWSER"=dword:00000001
"AUTOCAPTUREBROWSER"=dword:00000001
"DirectSound"=dword:00000002
"HwColor"=dword:00000001
"ENVIRONMENT"=dword:00000000
"SRSFOCUS"=dword:00000064
"SRSBASS"=dword:00000064
"SPEAKERSIZE"=dword:00000000
"ROOMSIZE"=dword:00000000
"SURROUND"=dword:00000000
"PROLOGIC2"=dword:00000000
"MELODYOFF"=dword:00000000
"VR_CHRS"=dword:00000001
"DDRGB"=dword:00000001
"SurroundMode"=dword:00000000
"AudioMaxBit"=dword:00000010
"AudioMaxRate"=dword:00000030
"TitleSkip"=dword:00000001
"IOCtlFirst"=dword:00000001
"MovieEnc"=dword:00000001
"EnableIADVD"=dword:00000000
"ChapterTimeOut"=dword:00001b58
"MOTION_LIMITTIME"=dword:00007530
"MOTION_INSERTADV"=dword:00000000
"visualization"=dword:000003e8
"CCDefaultBrightness"=dword:000002ee
"VgaVendorID"=dword:00001002
"VgaDeviceID"=dword:00004150
"VgaQuery"=dword:00000001
"VgaDriverName"=""
"IASDKPATH"="C:\\Program Files\\Common Files\\InterVideo\\DVD7"
"Reboot"=""

[csy]

I have also been working on this topic. The following registry keys are what I've found to work and anyone is welcome to try these keys in isolation or in combination with the ones mentioned above, or ignore my post alltogether:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InterVideo\Common\VIDEODEC\GBPVR]
"BOBWEAVE"=dword:00000000
"DsContinuousRate"=dword:00000001
"DXVA"=dword:00000001
"HWMC"=dword:00000001
"NVMCP"=dword:00000001
"VMR"=dword:00000002
"HwColor"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\InterVideo\Common\AUDIODEC\GBPVR]
"DsContinuousRate"=dword:00000001
"AUDIO"=dword:00000005
"AUDIOCHAN"=dword:00000004
"SUBWOOFER"=dword:00000001

One of the most important keys is "DsContinuousRate" because it performs proprietary Intervideo timing which provides smooth video.

The "AUDIO" and "AUDIOCHAN" configure the audio decoder to DD 5.1
The "SUBWOOFER" redirects the LFE channel to the front speakers for those who do not have a subwoofer

With respect to DVD playback, you MUST configure gbpvr to use the Intervideo DVD Navigator, because it provides a proprietary timing reference to the Intervideo decoders for smooth DVD video

I downloaded and installed the trial version of Intervideo winDVD6 to get the Intervideo DVD navigator, however the decoders become locked after the trial period and renders the decoders useless. Therefore I sourced unlocked decoders from http://www.cole2k.net/
The Cole2K codec pack allows you to only install the codecs you want, and uninstall those later if you wish.

Happy playing

Edit:
Corrected DXVA key.

[GoodGuys]

Why is there a difference between your settings for DXVA?
csy - you have it set to "0", while beaverm has it set to "1". I suspect the "1" setting is what is reducing a major part of the workload on the CPU...

Also, would you guys consider working together to produce a .reg file for us?

Thanks,
GGF

[beaverm]

CSY,
I'm not questioning you, I played around with the settings you were referring to, until I got tired of looking through the DVD7 Settings. (though I'm sure I only needed them to go into the one key and not all 3 of them).

I could never get the exact quality that WinDVD had though if I had to guess it'd have something to do with the following:

"HDFastMode"=dword:00000001
"BOBWEAVE"=dword:00000000
"DDBOB"=dword:00000000
"DMACHECK"=dword:00000001
"FASTMODE"=dword:00000000
"HWMC"=dword:00000001
"INTELBUILD"=dword:000004c9
"INTELHWALPHA"=dword:00000001
"LOCKRATIO"=dword:00000001
"QUALITY"=dword:00000077
"QUALITYOFF"=dword:00000000
"QUALITYLEVEL"=dword:00000001
"DXVA"=dword:00000001
"VMR"=dword:00000002
"DSRENDERER"=dword:00000002
"HwColor"=dword:00000001
"DDRGB"=dword:00000001
"MovieEnc"=dword:00000001
"VgaVendorID"=dword:00001002
"VgaDeviceID"=dword:00004150
"VgaQuery"=dword:00000001
"VgaDriverName"=""

DXVA is DirectX Video Acceleration, allows the hardware to do more using the directX drivers.

[csy]

GoodGuys - I've corrected my above post for DXVA=1 (the zero was a typo)

Beaverm - my posting was supposed to be additional information to yours (not challenging your recomendation). I have edited my wording to hopefully make that point clearer.

[csy]

I've experimented with Beaverm's registery recommendation and compared it to my own recommendation (tested independantly of each other) and both appear to give identical results on my machine.

I now also remember why I initially had DXVA disabled, because when it is enabled and you are using VMR9 then the DVD menu does not display the highlight (or pointer). By disabling DXVA then the DVD menu works correctly on VMR9, however the video quality is not as good (ie the video quality is significantly better with DXVA enabled). VMR7 works well with DXVA enabled, however LiveTV preview mode (with encoder pass-thru) does not work on VMR7 on my machine, so that is not an option for me. Overlay mode also works correctly with DXVA enabled and also with LiveTV preview mode, but i don't like the solid OSD in this mode so i don't use it.

Anyway, that is the results of my comparasion.