Brand new Media Centre setup - software advice appreciated

[Freakitchen]

Hey folks,

Want to start by saying I've used GBPVR before, up to the second most recent release. I've finally got round to setting up a 'proper' HTPC connected to an LCD TV, so I'd like some advice to help me get the best playback quality possible. In the past, I've had playback problems ranging from tearing to a slightly stuttery image on horizontal camera pans, particularly noticeable on news tickers or the football. What I'm wanting is a smooth picture that compares with standard freeview boxes.

This machine is an Athlon 64 3200+ with 1GB of RAM, and a newly purchased ATi HD3450 PCI-E video card. I've built the system, installed the latest system & video drivers, and done all 300+ MB of Windows XP updates.

I'd appreciate suggestions on the best combination of codecs and video settings from here. In the past I've just installed everything with the K-Lite codec pack, but I wondered if there was a better alternative (installing the codecs individually perhaps?). My knowledge in this area is a bit sketchy I must admit!

Then I'll go and install my Hauppauge Nova T-500 tuner card and GBPVR - at which point I'd appreciate advice on the best MUX, the best Video Renderer and the best Audio/Video decoders to use - in the past I've just tried combinations of whatever appears in the list and it's got a bit frustrating!

Cheers for reading this, just wanted to ask before I started anything - particularly codec installation.

FK

[Deusxmachina]

You'll want to put your country in your poster info to make future communication easier.

I play a lot of different file types, so I just install CCCP and call it a day. Unlike K-lite, there are no redundant things in it. It does have a hacked FFdshow, but that shouldn't matter unless you plan on encoding with it.

The camera panning and news ticker stuff is most likely just the deinterlacing setting.

Sounds like you're in the UK or thereabouts, so you can probably use the Cyberlink mux fine. Or just use the built-in DVR-MS. Or I think .ts is built-in now, too. May as well use Cyberlink as long it works fine and then you have mpegs. Probably the only other one worth a mention is ATI mux, although it has a habit of destroying the audio track on my recordings.

Video decoder, CCCP comes with Gabest MPV, which I think is great. It doesn't have hardware acceleration that I know of, but it seems to never have a problem with anything. PDVD7 is in PowerDVD and can hardware accelerate (if you can get it to work), but it can do some funky DRM copy protection stuff depending on your setup. Dscaler5 is good, too. I don't think too much else is worth much bother, but other people have their favorites. PureVideo works for some people, but it costs, and the last time I tried it it screwed over ALL of my players, even when using other decoders. I'm still baffled at what the heck it did. Plus, it doesn't like .ts files with Haali Splitter.

PDVD7 is basically a current PureVideo now anyway.

For h.264, there's basically two free choices, and both should be built in. If FFDshow's isn't built-in, it will be with CCCP. Both are good.

Audio most likely FFDshow or AC3filter. Probably just depends what interface you prefer. I've read of more people going out of sync with FFDshow, but maybe just more people use it.

Audio Renderer I think most everyone leaves on system default. That's the only thing you want on default.

[Freakitchen]

Thanks for the response - good point about location, I've added that in.

Haven't come across CCCP before, I'll give that a go. Generally, the only file types I'll need GBPVR to play are obviously the recorded MPEGs and live digital TV, xVid files I've encoded myself, and .mkv HD files - presumably CCCP will handle all those types?

I'll need to get mpegs for storage purposes, so I'll use a Cyberlink Mux that I've used before.

Thanks for the other advice too - I'll come to that once I've got everything else installed.

[Freakitchen]

Okay - CCCP installed along with GBPVR, and both tuners added. Have been working with the video settings to get the best picture this morning. Using VRM9 with ffdshow for both Video AND audio decoder the picture is good, EXCEPT with slight tearing on the video about two-thirds of the way up the screen. This seems to be an ffdshow thing - it doesnt change regardless of renderer.

Any ideas what settings to alter to try and fix this? Clicking the options button next to ffdshow video within the Config gives me LOTS of options, but I'm clueless how to proceed at this point.

Cheers

EDIT: Wanted to add that I just created a short recording and played it back through media player classic - installed as part of CCCP and using entirely default seettings. No tearing here, perfect picture quality. Struggling to work out what GBPVR is doing differently.

[sub]

MPC is probably using the Overlay video renderer, which is less prone to tearing. You can try other video renderers in GBPVR on the Playback tab of the config app.

[Satori]

Freakitchen, what CPU % are you running with your setup when watching HD livetv? It is substantially the same as the PC I am slowly building. Do you have everything on 1 HDD or more?

[Freakitchen]

@Sub - thanks for pointing that out, MPC DOES use Overlay. Am I right in thinking that's video card acceleration, where VMR9 / EVR are CPU based? Switching to Overlay in GBPVR seems to have fixed the tearing, am now going to try various decoders to get the best picture. Incidentally, the first time I loaded Live TV using Overlay, the Signal Strength notification stayed on screen until I changed channel. I remember a similar issue with an older release that required a patch, is there one for the latest version?

@Satori - I'm not viewing High Definition Live TV, just standard definition digital (freeview) here in the UK. I do have some HD .mkv files, though, would it help you if I had a look at CPU usage whilst playing one of these?

[sub]

Am I right in thinking that's video card acceleration, where VMR9 / EVR are CPU based? Switching to Overlay in GBPVR seems to have fixed the tearing, am now going to try various decoders to get the best picture

No. All support hardware acceleration. (some exceptions relating to EVR on XP)

Incidentally, the first time I loaded Live TV using Overlay, the Signal Strength notification stayed on screen until I changed channel. I remember a similar issue with an older release that required a patch, is there one for the latest version?

Try increasing the <NoSignalPopupDelay> setting in config.xml.

[Satori]

would it help you if I had a look at CPU usage whilst playing one of these

Somewhat. I am trying to determine if my P4 2.66ghz CPU is sufficient for playing live TV ATSC and Blueray if I get a 3450. I will have 2gb of memory and a SATA drive.

Please play your .mkv and post the % if it is not too much trouble.

[Deusxmachina]

Using VRM9 with ffdshow for both Video AND audio decoder the picture is good, EXCEPT with slight tearing on the video about two-thirds of the way up the screen. This seems to be an ffdshow thing - it doesnt change regardless of renderer.

Any ideas what settings to alter to try and fix this?

Yes, don't use FFDshow for an mpeg video decoder.

It's ok, just not as good as some others.

Satori, I'd caution against the 3450 for ATSC since it's only a slightly faster 2400pro. It's just not powerful enough for 1080i unless you jump through some hoops, and even after jumping through those hoops mine didn't like working with GBPVR for some reason. I don't know about the 3450, but ATI has downgraded the 2400pro to "720p" from its former "1080i".