# How to get hardware accelerated H264 playback (DXVA)



## Mussels (Sep 5, 2009)

General information before we begin:

Comparison screenshots for your own testing, and what to expect.

1080P movie (Blu ray rip i made myself, so yes its a legal backup) using windows 7's codec and DXVA mode (see bottom of MPC-HC for evidence of this)
If it matters to anyone, its a 12.3GB file - so its not low bitrate, or heavily compressed.






You'll notice it has very low CPU usage - FYI, i'm going from 3-5% CPU usage with the show paused, due to background tasks (antivirus and such). so its very, VERY low.

Now we try again with the **same codec** with DXVA disabled.





GPU usage: 10% dropped to 2%
CPU usage: 6% raised to 40% (varying in different scenes, but 35-40% was a clear average - you can see spikes in the usage graph as i seeked back and forth numerous times trying to get a good screenshot)

Here is a screenshot of it working in windows media player. It *NEEDS* to be noted that for me to achieve this, i had to install the "DivX Technology preview" from their website - otherwise, i merely got FFDSHOW playing the files thanks to the CCCP codec pack i have installed, and only got software mode working.


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## Mussels (Sep 5, 2009)

The old post is hidden behind here.



Spoiler



Intended for a step by step guide on setup for ATI cards under windows 7.

Getting it to work with Nvidia:
Easy. Download CoreAVC and set it up to use Cuda. add it as an external filter/codec in MPC-HC and thats it. You can set nvidia up the same way as this, however the coreAVC solution appears to work better, so i suggest it for nvidia users.
Nvidia clearly wins on this one for ease of use, but it took a third party program that costs money to do it properly. (see the ATI guide for how to set this codec up in MPC-HC)

Getting it to work on ATI: here comes the fun 


Step 1:
Uninstall any other packs, reboot. My guide will not cover other setups, and i will not help you with them.
Download the latest version of CCCP
Official (outdated at present)
beta (Up to date - newer versions all the time)

Step 2: some settings to tweak in MPC-HC (not always on by defauly, its been varying between betas)

Keys tab: tick global media keys. Its to let those keys on your keyboard work - unrelated to hardware accel, but its useful.
Misc tab: Tick OSD to show 'play' 'pause' and volume in the corner of the screen when you change them. I find it very handy to have on when using this on a media PC with a remote.
Subtitles: if you have a weak CPU, you can lower the resolution for the subtitles. fast CPU? crank it up (desktop is reccomended by me) - it just makes them clear and crisp, even if the video isnt.

Playback: Make sure "auto load subtitles" is enabled - unsure why, but DXVA will NOT work without it on.

Output as below





External filters:

To add a codec, click "add filter" - merely select the codec and hit OK, and its all good.





How mine looks




Note the "preferred" radio button is ticked, after selecting the codec. if you forget that, you wont have done anything!

Thats it really. Close MPC-HC and restart it, and you should be all good for DXVA mode.



update: the new CCCP beta  2010-04-03.exe includes FFDSHOWs new DXVA support. Unlike 7's codec, this one falls back to software mode on incompatible files - giving you the best of both worlds.

Simply set up the DXVA app in your start menu application as shown in these screenshots:
















Then so long as MPC-HC is using FFDSHOW (default) you're gunna get DXVA running


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## Mussels (Sep 5, 2009)

Placeholder post 3
list of known problems, and workarounds/solutions.

people can post now, but no need - there aint much to see yet 


Nvidia:
CoreAVC with Cuda support enabled doesnt support files with 16 reference frames (which is one method to get better file quality at the expense of encoding time) or greater. It also doesnt like interlaced streams (Such as from a TV tuner) - the current version of CoreAVC is 1.9.5 and it has these issues, they should be fixed in a later version.

ATI:
Some files corrupt/dont play. I dont know why, but i can link to an example file for others to diagnose.
In order to disable DXVA yet use the same codec, all i'm doing is changing the rendering path to VMR9 instead of EVR custom. EVR custom doesnt corrupt when used with FFDSHOW or CoreAVC, so its the windows 7 codec or ATI's drivers at fault here.

Example with DXVA off:




Example with DXVA on:





Pretty easy to tell which ones not working right 

Without an Nvidia card to test with, i cant tell if the problem is with windows 7 or ATI's drivers, but at this stage i beleive it to be ATI's drivers.

edit: the files above turned out to just be DXVA incompatible. Nvidias solution (and now with some update ATI drivers) DXVA just disables and drops to software mode on those files.

*
Edit: this no longer happens on ATI cards, they've updated the drivers so that it now plays corruption free, even on out of spec H264 files.*


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## Zubasa (Sep 5, 2009)

Mussels said:


> not much there yet as i'm getting ready to go to work, but theres enough for you to tell yourself if you're getting DXVA or not, based on CPU usage and GPU activity. (i'd assume your GPU activity numbers would be higher than mine, considering mines a higher end card - i was wrong about it being higher than 20%, however)


You have to consider that both of our card's gpus are clock at 500Mhz in UVD, and that HD decoding is not really memory intensive compare to games. (Explaining that the difference in memory bandwidth is non-existant.)
Decoding HD content is a walk in the park for both of our cards and that I was watching a 720p anime. (So the GPUs are in UVD state 1 which is 500Mhz)

Given that Avivo post-processing only takes around 1~2% of GPU load,
a constant 7% load on my 4850 should be an indication that I got DXVA in WMP, its around the same for MPC-HC.


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## Wile E (Sep 5, 2009)

CCCP needs to update to support this out of the box in WMP and WMC. I tried Sharky's Win7 Codec pack as well at some point, but I didn't like it as much. It didn't work as well with ps3 Media Server.


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## Mussels (Sep 5, 2009)

Zubasa said:


> You have to consider that both of our card's gpus are clock at 500Mhz in UVD, and that HD decoding is not really memory intensive compare to games. (Explaining that the difference in memory bandwidth is non-existant.)
> Decoding HD content is a walk in the park for both of our cards and that I was watching a 720p anime. (So the GPUs are in UVD state 1 which is 500Mhz)
> 
> Given that Avivo post-processing only takes around 1~2% of GPU load,
> a constant 7% load on my 4850 should be an indication that I got DXVA in WMP, its around the same for MPC-HC.



CPU usage is a better indicator than GPU usage, since i get GPU usage even with DXVA disabled - we're talking a 3D OS, and even without acceleration the EVR rendering path is still rendering in 3D (this is clearly labelled in MPC-HC)




Note the "3D surfaces"



Wile E said:


> CCCP needs to update to support this out of the box in WMP and WMC. I tried Sharky's Win7 Codec pack as well at some point, but I didn't like it as much. It didn't work as well with ps3 Media Server.



The latest betas do, once you add 7's codec as a priority. while many people know how to do that, steps will be in post 2 when my pizza finishes being eaten.
edit: done


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## wiak (Sep 5, 2009)

the encoded file must be level 4.1 to get DXVA to work on any card, its pointless to encode to level 5.1 when not even dedicated hardware can decode it, like Popcorn Hour etc

btw reference frames is a limitation of dxva, the higher the ref frames the non complaint dxva encode it will be

just use the built in h264/dxva decoder in mpc-hc


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## Mussels (Sep 5, 2009)

wiak said:


> the encoded file must be level 4.1 to get DXVA to work on any card, its pointless to encode to level 5.1 when not even dedicated hardware can decode it, like Popcorn Hour etc



i dont know the level stuff, but i've heard the 4.1 number bandied about - how can you tell what level a file was encoded with?


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## wiak (Sep 5, 2009)

most of the files says it in the .nfo file, am not sure how to detect level, there is http://www.videohelp.com/tools/tsMuxeR to change level, but its still not recommended

find out what level 4.1 is at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=972503

blu-ray h264 uses level 4.1


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## wiak (Sep 5, 2009)

if your files displays corrupt just use software decode 
btw most 720p x264/h264 encodes are level 4.1 now


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## Mussels (Sep 5, 2009)

wiak said:


> if your files displays corrupt just use software decode
> btw most 720p x264/h264 encodes are level 4.1 now



indeed, the problem is that there is no automated way to do it - so i have to use two different players, or swap back and forth between the settings. (my media PC struggles on 1080P sometimes without DXVA)


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## wiak (Sep 5, 2009)

Mussels said:


> indeed, the problem is that there is no automated way to do it - so i have to use two different players, or swap back and forth between the settings. (my media PC struggles on 1080P sometimes without DXVA)


same here bro, hehe my media pc is a X2 5000+@2ghz, 2GB, Radeon HD 3200
i can play blu-ray at upto 1080p/40mbit, but i cant even play some 1080p files why? the guys that encode are not looking at the big picture, and dont care if it cant be decoded on slower pcs


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## wiak (Sep 5, 2009)

btw have you tried CoreAVC? and check cpu usage?
sometimes CoreAVC will decode realy well


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## Mussels (Sep 5, 2009)

the files that were corrupting on me are encoded to level 5.0, and did not work even when changed back to 4.1 via the tools linked by wiak.

It seems windows media player is smart enough to automatically change codecs for those files, but MPC-HC isnt.

 i mention coreAVC early on  it just doesnt get hardware accel on ATI.

on my media PC, FFDSHOW cant do 1080P smoothly, while CoreAVC can - (60-80% CPU) whereas 7's built in codec (on properly encoded files) gets that to <10% - being borderline for lag free aint good when you have housemates leeching files off the PC over the network, and so on.


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## wiak (Sep 5, 2009)

CoreAVC CUDA is fake, it just uses DXVA hehe, i have heard


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## Wile E (Sep 6, 2009)

Mussels said:


> The latest betas do, once you add 7's codec as a priority. while many people know how to do that, steps will be in post 2 when my pizza finishes being eaten.
> edit: done


I can get it to work in both Zoom and MPC-HC, but I need it to work in Windows Media Player/Media Center, or I need a Media Center replacement that uses the necessary rendering paths. MPC doesn't cut it.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

wiak said:


> CoreAVC CUDA is fake, it just uses DXVA hehe, i have heard



it gets lower CPU usage than DXVA, support varied based on nvidia drivers (you needed a certain driver or up, in which nvidia stated in the release notes they added more CUDA support), and it has a different set of bugs than DXVA mode on nvidia cards.


Just because both modes are hardware accelerated, doesnt mean they're both DXVA.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

Wile E said:


> I can get it to work in both Zoom and MPC-HC, but I need it to work in Windows Media Player/Media Center, or I need a Media Center replacement that uses the necessary rendering paths. MPC doesn't cut it.



then you need the divX thing i linked to, which adds WMF MKV support into WMP.


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## Wile E (Sep 6, 2009)

Mussels said:


> then you need the divX thing i linked to, which adds WMF MKV support into WMP.



Does it screw with Haali subtitle settings? I might have to try it.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

Wile E said:


> Does it screw with Haali subtitle settings? I might have to try it.



dont beleive so. they have a heap of patch notes saying it only works with one audio track and 'doesnt support subtitles' but i watched anime with softsubs and it played fine (albeit, the anime only has one audio and one subtitle track)


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## wolf2009 (Sep 6, 2009)

Mussels said:


> i dont know the level stuff, but i've heard the 4.1 number bandied about - how can you tell what level a file was encoded with?



use mediainfo or Shift+F10 in latest builds of MPC-HC, and click on mediainfo tab. 

also, you don't need to use Core AVC for Nvidia cards, just check the matroska filter and H.264 DXVA in internal filters and DXVA should be good.


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## Wile E (Sep 6, 2009)

Mussels said:


> dont beleive so. they have a heap of patch notes saying it only works with one audio track and 'doesnt support subtitles' but i watched anime with softsubs and it played fine (albeit, the anime only has one audio and one subtitle track)



I hate to be so picky, it's just that while I'm not hooked directly to the TV, I need my subs and audio tracks preconfigured by Haali so that I can stream to the ps3, but then I need this stuff to work in Media Center as well, for when I am hooked to the TV.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

wolf2009 said:


> use mediainfo or Shift+F10 in latest builds of MPC-HC, and click on mediainfo tab.
> 
> also, you don't need to use Core AVC for Nvidia cards, just check the matroska filter and H.264 DXVA in internal filters and DXVA should be good.



indeed you dont need to, but its a lot better.

MPC-HC's internal H264 decoder is terrible, and barely works on most files. If the files encoded with a high bitrate its software decode isnt going to work at all - its higher than FFDSHOW. At least the other codecs have a chance to play in software mode if hardware mode fails.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

Mussels said:


> indeed you dont need to, but its a lot better.
> 
> MPC-HC's internal H264 decoder is terrible, and barely works on most files. If the files encoded with a high bitrate its software decode isnt going to work at all - its higher than FFDSHOW. At least the other codecs have a chance to play in software mode if hardware mode fails.






Wile E said:


> I hate to be so picky, it's just that while I'm not hooked directly to the TV, I need my subs and audio tracks preconfigured by Haali so that I can stream to the ps3, but then I need this stuff to work in Media Center as well, for when I am hooked to the TV.



Go to the link, signup, and post in their forum. They;re on beta 3 atm, and if you voice your concerns it may end up in beta 4. It aint ever gunna work any way except with DivX help, so you really should go nag them about it before its too late and they make it final.


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## Wile E (Sep 6, 2009)

Mussels said:


> indeed you dont need to, but its a lot better.
> 
> MPC-HC's internal H264 decoder is terrible, and barely works on most files. If the files encoded with a high bitrate its software decode isnt going to work at all - its higher than FFDSHOW. At least the other codecs have a chance to play in software mode if hardware mode fails.



Yeah, but their internal DXVA codec does great. You can enable one without the other.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

Wile E said:


> Yeah, but their internal DXVA codec does great. You can enable one without the other.



are we talking about windows 7, or MPC here?


MPC-HC has an inbuilt H264 decoder with DXVA support, but its nasty. it doesnt support deblocking, its mostly incompatible and its software decoding mode sucks.

Windows 7 otoh, has a good built in decoder - except that it doesnt support MKV files. Even if you use haali as a splitter, win7's codec wont kick in since haali works on the directshow filters while windows 7's built in codecs use the new Media Foundation framework.

the entire point of this program is to add MKV support to the new framework, allowing 7's built in codecs to play the files with hardware acceleration. seriously, click the divX link at the start of the thread, and read it.


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## Wile E (Sep 6, 2009)

Mussels said:


> are we talking about windows 7, or MPC here?
> 
> 
> MPC-HC has an inbuilt H264 decoder with DXVA support, but its nasty. it doesnt support deblocking, its mostly incompatible and its software decoding mode sucks.
> ...


Actually, I can get the MS codec to decode with Haali in use, I just don't get any DXVA acceleration.






That's about the amount of cpu I see with ffdshow and/or Core as well on that particular file. I've tried numerous h264 encoded files, even ones I did myself, and know for fact they are encoded properly to allow DXVA, and I still just can't get it going. Must be a bug on my particular system or something.

I'll have to keep messing around with different drivers and filters I suppose.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

Wile E said:


> Actually, I can get the MS codec to decode with Haali in use, I just don't get any DXVA acceleration.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/090905/h264playback.jpg
> 
> ...



win7s codecs only give DXVA for codecs that run on WMF, not DShow. the only codecs supported for hardware decoding is MPEG-2, VC-1 and H264 - and only through the WMF (which lacks MKV support)


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## YinYang.ERROR (Sep 6, 2009)

MUSSELS! I see those whited out files in the first image! 



Also what is the point in doing all this?! (EDIT: never mind, forgot what the topic name was.)

none the less, it is kind of cool.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

YinYang.ERROR said:


> MUSSELS! I see those whited out files in the first image!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



yeah, i turned the desktop off for later images. there was thumbnails of people i know in them 

The point of this is hardware accelerated video - you know, that thing nvidia and ATI both claim they support out of the box but dont. (EG, 1080P off an atom)


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## 7.62 (Sep 6, 2009)

How does one know if they are actually using the UVD in the first place?


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

7.62 said:


> How does one know if they are actually using the UVD in the first place?



you dont. who knows if its even working, or doing anything - theres no software to actually use any of these features from the cards.


DXVA mode showing in the player is one way, for less informative players like WMP or WMC, you can check for low CPU usage on H264 files.


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## 7.62 (Sep 6, 2009)

35%?

Doesnt sound right, at least compared to your pictures.


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## 7.62 (Sep 6, 2009)

Here is the best I can do.

I have followed your instructions, but there is to much CPU usage I think.


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## Mussels (Sep 6, 2009)

7.62 said:


> Here is the best I can do.
> 
> I have followed your instructions, but there is to much CPU usage I think.



that does seem very high, but the player does say DXVA.


maybe you should check if something else is using the CPU? antivirus, F@H/WCG, etc.


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## wiak (Sep 13, 2009)

there is no problem running dxva on ati cars with mpc-hc
just set the render to EVR Custom and let it decode 
the built in mpc-hc decoder works fine


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## Mussels (Sep 13, 2009)

wiak said:


> there is no problem running dxva on ati cars with mpc-hc
> just set the render to EVR Custom and let it decode
> the built in mpc-hc decoder works fine



there are many reasons not to use the default filter.
http://www.cccp-project.net/forums/index.php?topic=2909.0

"Also the other major thing is DXVA requires that there are no intermediate filters between the video decoder and renderer. Which would mean that we would have to enable MPC internal sub rendering and specifically block VSFilter...which is not recommended." (speaking of the internal one, its different using DXVA thorugh 7's renderer)


http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=123537
this thread about MPC-HC links to know issues in DXVA mode with the internal splitter

(which are in this thread)
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=137974


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## Wile E (Sep 13, 2009)

Mussels said:


> there are many reasons not to use the default filter.
> http://www.cccp-project.net/forums/index.php?topic=2909.0
> 
> "Also the other major thing is DXVA requires that there are no intermediate filters between the video decoder and renderer. Which would mean that we would have to enable MPC internal sub rendering and specifically block VSFilter...which is not recommended." (speaking of the internal one, its different using DXVA thorugh 7's renderer)



And I can confirm that MPC's subtitle renderer isn't nearly as accurate as VSfilter and Haali.


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## Patrone (Oct 28, 2009)

*Nvidia not that good in Windows 7*

After installing Windows 7 (coming from Vista-32 with some older but good working nvidiadrivers) i could not get DXVA to work properly. With a 1080p mkv on my 8800gtx (combined with a 2.66 core2) it took to 95% of the cpu usage and very stuttering replay so dxva via the 8800gtx was not working (under vista it worked very good). This was with the new 191.07 drivers. So I installed a clean win7 - with the default driver - same problem - no dxva (on my other PC with a 4850 it worked splended - almost no cpu-usage at all - ati did a great job there with the win7 driver). After trying all the setups I could find via google (also the one described above) still no good setup i decided to install an older 182... nvidia vista driver i found somewhere on my harddisk and guess what? it works with win7 - dxva is being used allthough it takes about 35 to 40 % cpu usage - the 1080p files play without stutter or something - luckely in the end .... NVIDIA has to come up with better drivers for windows 7 !!!

by the way all this core avc and haali and shark codec thing is not needed - just MPC Home and the older Nvidia drivers is needed


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## Mussels (Oct 28, 2009)

8800GTX does not support H264 decoding - the G80 core used within had it as an advertised feature, but it never worked.
Any time it claims its working (and you're getting that 40% CPU usage) its trying to work, and dropping back to software (as for the times it sits at 90+%, its just failing hard/broken completely)

cuda is your only choice with that card.


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## Patrone (Oct 28, 2009)

*sure 8800gtx has hardware decoding*

It defenitely has hardwaredecoding (ask Nvidia about it) - guess you do not know what you are talking about...

I know what I am talking about - under Vista I have CPU-usage below 3% in playing 1080p with that card. Und XP it also works very good. But as I said - with Win7 I had these problem (even Cuda wouldn't get me decent playback). I say problem is with the new Nvidia drivers - an old 182 nvidia driver gets DXVA to work - people with the same problem should do it this way - plain and simple (it took me several days to figure it out). Playback is now satifying with all the files I throw at it.


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## Mussels (Oct 29, 2009)

patrone: i know a lot more about this than you may think.

if you download the PDF from here


http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html








you can see that many features are missing, that the weaker (but NEWER) 8600GT supports - thats the problem you're experiencing. the 8800GTX has broken (partial) H264 decoding.


CAVL/CABAC are high end features used in the H264 high profile, which is a good way to get higher video quality in the same bitrate. Most H264 files on the web are encoded using this to save space - and your video card cannot play these files.


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## Patrone (Oct 29, 2009)

@Mussels: thx for your explanation and the shown information - but you must agree it has H264 decoding (which works well with older drivers on Win7 or XP/Vista) - allthough it does not have all of the modern features.

It took me some days to figure out what was the problem with Windows 7. For all the users of Nvidia-cards - especially the 8800GTX - the could use this workaround. I tested it on a clean install of Windows 7. I just installed MPC Home Cinema and the older Nvidia drivers. I guess Nvidia puts heavy on the newer hardwarefeatures like in the 8600 in their most recent drivers.

Nvidia should clear this.

The HTPC I use the 8800GTX on is watercooled based on an Intel E4400 (2000 Mhz OC @ 2700 Mhz) - the CPU is not the most powerfull but it can handle the extra needed computing power.

1080P takes about 35% CPU usage with my setup - the rest of the computing is done by the 8800GTX - the files play well now (and silent as the 8800GTX is also watercooled).

So for the people with an HTPC who want to use Windows 7 this should be the best setup to make good use of their 8800GTX. The HTPC is also used for playing and there the 8800GTX outperforms the 8600 by far. Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 is a real joy to play - for me - even better as my fifa10 on the PS3 which stand next to the HTPC. The older drivers also work splended there in Windows 7.

The 8800GTX does not have to be changed out (it did cost me 600 euros 3 years ago) - allthough if it breaks up in future i will buy this mainstream ATI 5770 or something like that.

PS: sorry if I sounded a bit rough - as it took me some days of reading and installing before I found out what the problem was


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## Mussels (Oct 29, 2009)

it has PARTIAL decoding. which means it can only decode certain files.

The main flaw with DXVA decoding is that when it fails (incompatible, as is the case with yours and some files) - there is often no fall back - you end up in pure CPU mode (your 40% CPU usage) or you end up with unplayable files.

*if* you are getting hardware acceleration, you get 0% CPU usage - any usage you do have, should only be from subtitles and audio.

the reason coreAVC/CUDA works is that its not using DXVA, its using the shaders on the card - it works better than DXVA in every way, so its definitely a better choice.

sure the 8800GTX is better for gaming, but everything released after it (8800GT, 8800GTS 512MB, and all G9x cards) works fine with DXVA. its a moot point with coreAVC, but its still something to be aware of.

(I know all this because i owned one - and i got rid of it for an 8800GT  )


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## Patrone (Oct 29, 2009)

I also have a 9800GTX - if it really gets difficult to play these files i put that in instead of the 8800GTX - allthough getting it into watercooling is a bit of work (I once used too with the 9800GTX with an altered 7900 watercooler - which I altered again to be used for a 4850 which i use in my gaming PC).

Still I cannot explain why the older setup with Vista gave me less than 5% of cpu-usage (with the same MKV).

By the way the Cuda/CoreAVC setup didn't give any satisfying result on my setup.

I will test the 9800GTX setup


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## wiak (Oct 29, 2009)

Patrone said:


> @Mussels: thx for your explanation and the shown information - but you must agree it has H264 decoding (which works well with older drivers on Win7 or XP/Vista) - allthough it does not have all of the modern features.
> 
> It took me some days to figure out what was the problem with Windows 7. For all the users of Nvidia-cards - especially the 8800GTX - the could use this workaround. I tested it on a clean install of Windows 7. I just installed MPC Home Cinema and the older Nvidia drivers. I guess Nvidia puts heavy on the newer hardwarefeatures like in the 8600 in their most recent drivers.
> 
> ...


get the 5870 or 5850 instead, atleast you get over twice the performace compared to 8800GTX and FULL Dual Steam 1080p DXVA Decoding with Lossless LPCM 7.1 and TrueHD/DTS-HD Bitsteaming

and btw dont buy cards for 600 euro also known as the nvidia tax


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## naoan (Oct 29, 2009)

Just get Kmplayer and set it to use microsoft dt-dvd decoder for h.264 and avc1 and set the renderer to use evr.






Here's the result :


Spoiler


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## Patrone (Oct 29, 2009)

I've put in the 9800 GTX - it now has around 10% and less cpu-usage - so yes less than with the 8800 GTX


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Oct 30, 2009)

im pretty sure the 8800gtx does not support dxva just like my 8800gts 320mb(and 640mb),  the 8800 line up didnt get support till the 8800gt and gts 512mb.  I tried everything with mine.  No coreave cuda support either.  Coreavc only worked on nvidia cards with cuda v2+v3.  the 8800gts 320, 640 and gtx are only cuda v1.  Pretty much the only other thing that those cards can be used for besides rendering is physx and they work great as physx cards.  Ive messing with all the dxva stuff.  Coreavc, powerdvd, mpc-hc, and the new windows 7 codec.  Ive had some movies that would only use dxva with mpc-hc if you used the windows filter.  the standard mpc-hc dxva support is kinda iffy.  Another thing is,  when using the windows 7 codec on some movies I get green scattered boxes and had to revert back to the original evr on mpc-hc.  So what Ive done is the video that arent dxva supportted on the native mpc-hc,  I re-encoded them to have dxva support using XviD4PSP 5.0.


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## Mussels (Oct 30, 2009)

shroom: the green artifacting is when the files are encoded in such a way they arent compatible with DXVA - thats something i was complaining about earlier (the windows 7 codec has no fallback to software when files are incompatible, it artifacts instead)


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Oct 30, 2009)

makes sense thanks man.  ive had great luck re-encoding the files to have dxva support.  seems the best route to me.


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## Patrone (Oct 30, 2009)

*8800 Gtx*

I've put the 8800 GTX in the PC of my daughter (Vista32) - before she had the 9800 GTX+ - she still can watch all her MKV H264 movies with just below 20% of CPU-usage with no stuttering and so on (DXVA is on via the Powerdvd 8 decoder) - so its working without problems there (AMD X2 4400 cpu). My HTPC with the 9800 GTX+ is working fine now.


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Oct 30, 2009)

was the movie 720p or 1080p?

when your playing a dxva video on mpc-hc with the 8800gtx,  right click on the video,  goto filter and click on mpc decoder.  look and see if it says dxva or not using dxva.  Im 99.9% positive that its not using dxva cause that card does not support it.  thats the reason I got rid of my 8800gts 320mb.


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## Boyfriend (Nov 4, 2009)

CoreAVC + mpc-hc are good choice for mkv on NVIDIA cards. After CoreAVC + Haali installation --> Configure CoreAVC --> enable *Prefer CUDA acceleration*. It will then use CUDA for decoding. Go to mpc-hc --> options --> select *Haali Renderer* in output --> then disable the following *Transform filter*: H264/AVC (DXVA), H264/AVC (FFmpeg), VC1 (DXVA), VC1 (FFmpeg), Xvid/MPEG-4, MS MPEG-4, and  *source filters*: Matroska, MP4/MOV.
Restart MPC-HC. It should work fine with every mkv, mp4 and other file with negligible cpu usage. Haali Renderer isn't bad for mkv. It works for me like charm under Windows 7 x64 RTM. I love the quality of mkv with 1/3 size of the original. Subtitles also work fine. In case CoreAVC isn't able to decode the stream, mpc-hc will automatically use internal filters with low priority.


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## Wile E (Nov 4, 2009)

For CUDA, any Directshow player will work. Don't need MPC-HC. I use Zoom. (I personally hate MPC-HC).

And mkv doesn't make anything 1/3 the size. Mkv is just a container, it has nothing to do with the size of the file.


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## Masterblaster (Dec 5, 2009)

Hallo,
my pc:
Athlon X2
2GB memory
AMD 785G with ATI HD 4200 onboard
Windows 7 64bit HP
CAT 9.10
no SW player installed !

Ich want to play GPU accelerated (DXVA) hd videos 720P/1080P in VC-1/ h264 im mkv / mov / mts format that is coming from documentary and my several hd camcorders. 


Windows Media Player only is capable with 720p. VLC Lan client 1.03 stotters particulary (especially with stark moving pictures) when playing 1080p content.

I found this guide:
http://nunnally.ahmygoddess.net/watching-h264-videos-using-dxva/

when using the latest mpc 1.31 the errors came
"d3d.dll not found".

I installed the lastest dx 9.4 package.

Now no error is displayed but no video shows up instead the player in not reacting and has to be forced to close that will take some time.

even your recommendation to add the external filter "MS dtv-dvd.. decoder" does not help.

Does anybody know how to enable DXVA ?


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## LocutusX (Dec 20, 2009)

Not sure how you guys feel about "codec packs" but just an FYI.
Normally I hate codec packs with a passion as they tend to have all sorts of garbage and putting all that together in a single MSI isn't exactly a genius task BUT...

Recently when trying to get some 1280x720 H264 MKV files to work in Windows Media Player 12 (including thumbnails in Explorer) I came across Shark's codec pack. He made one for regular 32-bit Windows and an add-on pack for 64-bit Windows (optional - only if you want to watch videos in 64-bit WMP).

I was quite pleasantly surprised/impressed! He went to the trouble of coding a "configuration front end" in VB or VC++ or something, which gives the user full control over all the codecs which his pack installs. What's really nice for 64-bit users is the single-button flipover from 32-bit WMP to 64-bit WMP. In case you want to see if there's a difference in CPU usage in decoding a 1920x1080 file with DXVA disabled, between 32-bit and 64-bit (which I haven't tested but would be interesting).

But anyways with the default settings of his codec pack I was getting DXVA enabled for all of my files (xvid, divx, and 720p h264 in MKV) in WMP 12. 
Windows 7 64-bit with GTX 275/forceware 191.07 here.

His stuff is at http://shark007.net/


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## Wile E (Dec 20, 2009)

Great codec pack for sure. I can't use it tho. It won't play nice with AVIsynth decoding and PS3MediaServer for me.  I have enough cpu that DXVA doesn't matter, so I just stick with the CCCP, as it has no conflicts for me, and is a hell of a lot less time consuming than installing the individual filters.


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## Mussels (Dec 21, 2009)

sharks stuff is good for performance, but its not quite there for compatibility as Wile E said - last time i tried it conflicted with something on my system and trashed my OS. i had to format to remove it (from what i hear that was fairly unique as i've seen no other reports, but since i dont change what software i use often, i'm not willing to retest yet)


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## TAViX (Dec 28, 2009)

I don't know if it's answered yet, so forgive if it was...

In Media Player Classic HC or standard, I've noticed that if you use Haali Renderer or VRM9 you got to use the Direct X 3D interface for the card, but also high processor usage. On the other hand, if I use EVR custom setting, I've got lower CPU usage, but also a little bit lower quality of HD movies. Personally I like Haali Renderer, since you can adjust the sharpening and also you can use 3rd party codecs, but with EVR I've noticed you cannot...


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## Mussels (Dec 28, 2009)

TAViX said:


> I don't know if it's answered yet, so forgive if it was...
> 
> In Media Player Classic HC or standard, I've noticed that if you use Haali Renderer or VRM9 you got to use the Direct X 3D interface for the card, but also high processor usage. On the other hand, if I use EVR custom setting, I've got lower CPU usage, but also a little bit lower quality of HD movies. Personally I like Haali Renderer, since you can adjust the sharpening and also you can use 3rd party codecs, but with EVR I've noticed you cannot...



this guide was purely about getting hardware accel of MKV files (and other HD material WMP cant run) in windows 7.

 all that fancy stuff, i dont have all the details on (and arent really related to the thread)


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## Steevo (Jan 14, 2010)

I pieced together your guide plus a few extra codecs and got my acceleration to work and the GPU upscalling option to work better.


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## Mussels (Jan 14, 2010)

Steevo said:


> I pieced together your guide plus a few extra codecs and got my acceleration to work and the GPU upscalling option to work better.



awesome. Feel free to post what you did, and what benefits you got.

My guide was deliberately left simple.


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## Steevo (Jan 14, 2010)

I used the CCCP to configure the codecs since shark didn't allow for it, used the codecs from my Adobe software, and Pixela as well as a mixture of others to get low CPU use during DVD, streaming, M2TS and other high def file play. I can use the CCC to adjust the edge sharpening and smoothing, plus the effects in Media Player. WMC uses hardware acceleration for netflicks, but I don't know what format that is.

I can't tell all the steps i used as I tried so many. Just editing the profiles file for ATI didn't do jack.


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## Rob79 (Jan 15, 2010)

Mussels said:


> this guide was purely about getting hardware accel of MKV files (and other HD material WMP cant run) in windows 7.
> 
> all that fancy stuff, i dont have all the details on (and arent really related to the thread)




I have a ATI HD3450, and this is all I did to get DXVA running on windows 7.

Download Sharks007 codec pack
Download Divx tech preview(not avialiable as standalone download anymore but is in Divx Download)

Install Shark007
Install Divx (make sure you install divx tech preivew component)

Turn off subtitles in Shark007 and use the MKV tab and use the default MPC codec not FFDshow

After this ALL my mkv use DXVA other then higher then 4 reference frame material.  For this I just enable FFDshow in Shark007.  I only have a 4300+ 4GB DDR ram and while the cpu usage is high with FFDshow enabled it still is 100% smooth.  Hope this helps some, I have also played with MPC-HC and while it works I need a better interface that is useable with a MCE remote.  Any questions, please feel free to ask.  If anyone does find a way to have >4 reference frames material automatically switch back and forth please let me know!



Something new that I have found just recently is XBMC and Boxee both allow DXVA and subtitles to be turned on and off in the native apps, this is huge for me, now if I could just find a way to turn off fddshow as easily.


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## Mussels (Jan 16, 2010)

Your method doesnt work for me, as i require subtitles.


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## Rob79 (Jan 18, 2010)

Mussels said:


> Your method doesnt work for me, as i require subtitles.



If you require subtitles just turn them on in Shark007.  I just prefer them off by defualt.


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## insane 360 (Feb 24, 2010)

i know its an old thread, but i wanted to say that shark007 and divx preview worked for me too...

ilike getting really old machines do work for madern needs...and i want an all-in-one media player like media center in windows 7...

so i tried this method...also it plays all my hd vid's perfectly on my xbox 360 media extender as well!  

my pc right now is an old work station (dell Precision 650) so it has two single core cpu's with HT, 3.06 ghz but man they feel slow sometimes...and 2gb of ram (although this method even worked for just 1gb of ram) and an agp hd2400pro...it does the job i need it for


i'm getting ready to build my second SFF dell gx280 with a 2.8ghz p4 and a 8400gs video card, plan to use the same method, but at least with this video card i can also decode flash hd video

and i have another old ass pc given to me that has a 2.2ghz celeron and i'll add 2gb of ram to it and get a 8400gs pci card 

but yes, shark007 has subtitles and it works through media center, i hate them but to each their own i guess...

its great that even a hd2400pro can take cpu usage down to 10%


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## Mussels (Feb 25, 2010)

well, with my method (and no DXVA, just coreAVC) i've got a 1.6Ghz atom netbook playing 720p HD files at 50-60% CPU usage  owner is damned pleased - it doesnt take all that much to play HD content these days.


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## insane 360 (Feb 25, 2010)

well that is impressive, guess i've been too hung up on hardware decoding


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Feb 25, 2010)

Mussels said:


> well, with my method (and no DXVA, just coreAVC) i've got a 1.6Ghz atom netbook playing 720p HD files at 50-60% CPU usage  owner is damned pleased - it doesnt take all that much to play HD content these days.



coreavc w/cuda is my new favorite hd decoder.  

I got an aspire revo 1600,  its an intel atom 230 (single core 1.6ghz) and nvidia ION Le(crippled 9400gt) and this thing plays all my hd content.  1080p or 720p mkv's.  I all did is install mpc-hc and coreavc 2.0.  Its such a beautiful thing that I put a 9400gt in the bedroom media server thats hooked up to my standard tv and one in my wifes workstation.  Coreavc is installed on all them now.  before I had hd stuff that wouldnt run in dxva mode with my on board hd4200 and I would have to re-encode them to have dxva support.  I dont think they make a h264/x264 movie that isnt supported by coreavc using cuda of course.


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## Mussels (Feb 25, 2010)

coreAVC is great now, but its limited to nvidia 8 series and above cards - so its not perfect. for example, you can use DXVA with a Geforce 6100 onboard - well below cudas requirements.


coreAVC did have lots of incompatibilities, but most of them are ironed out in the new 2.0 version


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## Mussels (Apr 5, 2010)

see post 2, CCCP has been updated and now you can get DXVA easily on any windows OS, with far less compatibility issues.


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## RejZoR (Apr 5, 2010)

I prefer FFdShow compiled on Free Codecs: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
Seems to work the best and they also constantly update it. Unlike CCCP which seems quite outdated already...


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## Mussels (Apr 5, 2010)

RejZoR said:


> I prefer FFdShow compiled on Free Codecs: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
> Seems to work the best and they also constantly update it. Unlike CCCP which seems quite outdated already...



the betas get updated rather frequently, actually. hence the bump/edit.

The point of the package is not just to include the codec, but also include a lightweight problem free player guaranteed to work with the bundled codecs.


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## Wile E (Apr 7, 2010)

Mussels said:


> the betas get updated rather frequently, actually. hence the bump/edit.
> 
> The point of the package is not just to include the codec, but also include a lightweight problem free player guaranteed to work with the bundled codecs.



And an easy to use interface to tweak the codecs, with all filter control panels in the same start menu folder.

Oh, not to mention, all necessary tweaks to eliminate filter conflicts.


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## Mussels (Apr 7, 2010)

Wile E said:


> And an easy to use interface to tweak the codecs, with all filter control panels in the same start menu folder.
> 
> Oh, not to mention, all necessary tweaks to eliminate filter conflicts.



^ and what he said


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## inferKNOX (Jun 23, 2010)

IMHO K-Lite Mega Codec pack is far better than any of the competition.
I'm also having trouble playing stuff, mainly anime with DXVA on, at least I was. I haven't tried with Catalyst 10.6.
(Using KLM 6.0 with MPC-HC 1.3.1959.0)


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## Mussels (Jun 23, 2010)

inferKNOX said:


> IMHO K-Lite Mega Codec pack is far better than any of the competition.
> I'm also having trouble playing stuff, mainly anime with DXVA on, at least I was. I haven't tried with Catalyst 10.6.
> (Using KLM 6.0 with MPC-HC 1.3.1959.0)



K lite is one of the worst, and likely the cause of your problems. this thread really isnt about how to fix everyones playback issues, but more of a "if you do it THIS way, it WILL work" guide. changing codec packs and doing it your own way, you do so at your own risk.


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## Wile E (Jun 23, 2010)

inferKNOX said:


> IMHO K-Lite Mega Codec pack is far better than any of the competition.
> I'm also having trouble playing stuff, mainly anime with DXVA on, at least I was. I haven't tried with Catalyst 10.6.
> (Using KLM 6.0 with MPC-HC 1.3.1959.0)



You're probably having trouble with DXVA because you are using K-Lite. K-Lite is not the best for anime watchers. It's actually kinda crappy, tbh. They throw a bunch of codecs together, and don't spend all the time needed to minimize conflicts.

CCCP is the best pack for anime watchers, hands down. It simply has less conflicts, requires less codec knowledge, and requires the least tweaking. And on the rare occasion a filter does needs tweaked, it's easy to find.

If you insist on using something else, Shark's codec packs are the next best for anime watchers.

Do what Mussels says in the OP and DXVA WILL work on compatible players and files.

K-Lite is crap.


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## Mussels (Jun 23, 2010)

Hive mind Wile E, hive mind...


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## Wile E (Jun 23, 2010)

The great ones always think alike. We are Borg!


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## inferKNOX (Jun 23, 2010)

... fair enough... I'll retry CCCP, but I wasn't too impressed that it had gaps in the past. I much prefer something comprehensive, not searching for different codecs (/packs) to cover all the filetypes I go through, that's how I found KLM.
I wasn't led to it, I felt my way to it, independently.


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## Mussels (Jun 23, 2010)

inferKNOX said:


> ... fair enough... I'll retry CCCP, but I wasn't too impressed that it had gaps in the past. I much prefer something comprehensive, not searching for different codecs (/packs) to cover all the filetypes I go through, that's how I found KLM.
> I wasn't led to it, I felt my way to it, independently.



the only ones it doesnt include is quicktime (google quick alt) and realmedia (google real alt)


comprehensive doesnt mean squat, if its those extra codecs breaking things...


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## inferKNOX (Jun 23, 2010)

Yeah, ok, I get where you're coming from.
It must have been quite early on when I tried CCCP, coz I found it missing this and that, don't remember when that was now....
You guys say it's the best for anime watchers, but can I assume that it will perform well with the rest (I am a total n00b when it comes to encoding, so to me it's a valid question, as silly as it may be)? And is it worth getting the last final version (2009-09-09) or getting the new betas as they come?

I've been looking for a fix for this corruption problem for quite a while now, I'm glad I found this thread. 
Another issue is no subs showing up when using EVR Custom Pres + Haali. When using EVR Custom Pres + Gabest, there's no such issue, could you point me anywhere for that?


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## Mussels (Jun 23, 2010)

inferKNOX said:


> Yeah, ok, I get where you're coming from.
> It must have been quite early on when I tried CCCP, coz I found it missing this and that, don't remember when that was now....
> You guys say it's the best for anime watchers, but can I assume that it will perform well with the rest (I am a total n00b when it comes to encoding, so to me it's a valid question, as silly as it may be)? And is it worth getting the last final version (2009-09-09) or getting the new betas as they come?
> 
> ...



grab the betas, the finals are way too old.

the problems with subs dont happen in CCCP unless you've installed another program to F the codecs up.

uninstall your current codec packs, reboot, install CCCP, and everything just works. its nice like that.


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## temp02 (Jun 23, 2010)

Mussels said:


> the only ones it doesnt include is quicktime (google quick alt) and realmedia (google real alt)
> 
> 
> comprehensive doesnt mean squat, if its those extra codecs breaking things...



Actually it does support QuickTime (.mov) and RealVideo (.rv) (at least it has played all the files in those format that I've tried), you just need to activate it on the Video Decoder Configuration (and audio decoder too):


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## Mussels (Jun 23, 2010)

temp02 said:


> Actually it does support QuickTime (.mov) and RealVideo (.rv) (at least it has played all the files in those format that I've tried), you just need to activate it on the Video Decoder Configuration (and audio decoder too):
> http://i48.tinypic.com/33tqi3p.jpg



last time i had any files of those formats, it didnt have them.


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## inferKNOX (Jun 23, 2010)

Mussels said:


> the only ones it doesnt include is quicktime (google quick alt) and realmedia (google real alt)



Actually I'd say the best options are QT Lite and Real Alternative Lite, since MPC is already in CCCP and there's no need to download it multiple times.


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## entropy13 (Jun 23, 2010)

temp02 said:


> Actually it does support QuickTime (.mov) and RealVideo (.rv) (at least it has played all the files in those format that I've tried), you just need to activate it on the Video Decoder Configuration (and audio decoder too):
> http://i48.tinypic.com/33tqi3p.jpg



I only have RV10 and RV20 though, with an "incomplete" included as well. Is there an update already?


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## inferKNOX (Jun 25, 2010)

Where can I download a standalone installer for the DivX Plus MKV Tech Preview?
My PC at home is net-less, so I gotta d/l it at work.

EDIT: I think I found it here:
http://labs.divx.com/files/DivXTechPreviewMKVOnWin7R3_no-reg.exe


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## inferKNOX (Jun 29, 2010)

What do you guys think of KMPlayer?
I was looking at it over the weekend and I must say, it's simply incredible. It's customisability is unrivaled by anything I've come across before, responsiveness is excellent, footprint smaller than MPC-HC, interface is stylish + customisable, etc.
To top it all off, it's internal codecs (which you can use if you want, or set the priority to external codecs) play with hardware acceleration + does the auto-switch that stops corruption (and plays properly) of the files that don't support DXVA.

Thoughts?
(I felt it's relevant here because using it solves the corruption issue)


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## Mussels (Jun 29, 2010)

i have nothing against KMplayer, its just that MPC-HC is the least resource intensive one i know of, so its the best for use on weaker machines.


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## inferKNOX (Jun 29, 2010)

KMPlayer used 180MB vs MPC-HC using 190+MB of RAM for the same H.264 MKV file in my sys.
That trend continued in all videos I tried it with, unless you're talking about the 18MB or so it uses when not playing anything, which is nothing really.
My CPU usage remained at ~2 to 5% during playback of all files, H.264, Xvid, mov, rm, etc, which made me understand it to be using the GPU. Even without payback my CPU stays in that range, so there you have it.

Give it some tweaking and see, it just might be the one to take the MPC crown.
I think that unless a deal-breaker comes along, I'm switching to it.


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## entropy13 (Jun 29, 2010)

What video are you using? I only reach using 180MB RAM for MPC if I use 3 instances of it (50-60MB each).


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## Mussels (Jun 29, 2010)

120MB ram here for a 1080P 15GB file *shrug* (software)


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## inferKNOX (Jun 29, 2010)

Here's the one that gave me that high RAM use (I hope I'm not breaking any rules):
http://www.anirena.com/viewtracker.php?action=download&id=36215

EDIT: I'm leaving work for home now, will take some screens for you guys and post tomorrow.


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## entropy13 (Jun 29, 2010)

720p? I wonder why you use so much RAM then. Just checked it out (using a similar "file", Gundam 00, H.264 MKV file @720p), 80MB RAM for MPC.


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## Wile E (Jun 30, 2010)

inferKNOX said:


> What do you guys think of KMPlayer?
> I was looking at it over the weekend and I must say, it's simply incredible. It's customisability is unrivaled by anything I've come across before, responsiveness is excellent, footprint smaller than MPC-HC, interface is stylish + customisable, etc.
> To top it all off, it's internal codecs (which you can use if you want, or set the priority to external codecs) play with hardware acceleration + does the auto-switch that stops corruption (and plays properly) of the files that don't support DXVA.
> 
> ...



I like KM, but I like Zoom the best. I don't need hardware accel tho. Zoom 6 didn't play nice with hardware accel. Haven't tested it on Zoom 7 yet tho.

VLC is another I use from time to time. It has come a LOOOOOONG way in proper anime rendering. I don't think it does accel either tho.


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## Mussels (Jun 30, 2010)

VLC tends to work well, but using more CPU than the others.

it also doesnt like digital audio over SPDIF


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## inferKNOX (Jun 30, 2010)

What are you guys using to measure RAM use? Don't tell me it's Task Manager! Look carefully at the screens and you'll see what I use. 
(PS, I hate iTunes, just use it to sync the pod)
Well here are the screens (note: all the players are playing simultaneously in each shot):






I took it with 2 KMPlayers open to show how some settings like using an external subtitle renderer in real-time make KMPlayer work at it's optimum.
Notice the positioning, etc of the subs that are not using the external renderer (bottom player), which is the default setting, compared to the player above.
It takes some tweaking to get everything just right. (I had resized all the players to make them fit.)





Here I let them play at full size simultaneously. Notice the lower RAM use by KMP. I noticed it used about 3% more CPU on average though (more if using the {not good} internal sub renderer). In KMP here, I set the internal video renderer to have priority, but noticed if I set the external to have priority, KMP uses more RAM, but less CPU (little change though, ~20MB extra RAM and ~5% CPU use like MPC-HC).

Another thing to notice in both screens is the GPU temps on the right.
They're typically in the mid to high 30s, meaning the GPU is in use, since the CPU just (above right) is virtually unused.

As for VLC, check this funny video that the Bleach fansub made after many complaints that the Bleach isn't working right with it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHhUcabwkuw
(Mussels, you need to get W1zzard to add youtube video BBCode to TPU )

@ Wile E
In the face of losing H/W accel, what made Zoom the better choice for you?
EDIT: from what I see ZOOM isn't even free??


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## Wile E (Jun 30, 2010)

inferKNOX said:


> What are you guys using to measure RAM use? Don't tell me it's Task Manager! Look carefully at the screens and you'll see what I use.
> (PS, I hate iTunes, just use it to sync the pod)
> Well here are the screens (note: all the players are playing simultaneously in each shot):
> 
> ...



Interface. Since my computer is powerful enough to play anything, interface is the only thing I really look for in a player. I really like Zoom's. I've been with them since version 4, back when CCCP actually included it as an install option. 

I'm big on having a nice interface that's easy to use and productive. it's the whole reason I also like OS X, unlike many other PC enthusiasts.


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## inferKNOX (Jul 8, 2010)

Anywho, Mussels, could you (and anyone else) please evaluate the internal video renderers (and audio if you like) *in KMPlayer* for us that are not too into scrutinising those sorta things?


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## Mussels (Jul 8, 2010)

inferKNOX said:


> Anywho, Mussels, could you (and anyone else) please evaluate the internal video renderers (and audio if you like) *in KMPlayer* for us that are not too into scrutinising those sorta things?



i'm not that into it. all i cared about was getting hardware accel - even at a loss of quality - for Ion/IGP users out there without sufficient CPU power to run it normally.


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## Wile E (Jul 11, 2010)

inferKNOX said:


> Anywho, Mussels, could you (and anyone else) please evaluate the internal video renderers (and audio if you like) *in KMPlayer* for us that are not too into scrutinising those sorta things?



KM's internal filters are as good as VLC, the last time I checked. Accurate for most tasks. Only a handful of videos .ass subs threw it off, and that was only minor render errors that didn't effect readability.

It has been a while since I tried it tho, so can't comment on newer versions.


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## Mussels (Oct 5, 2010)

bump/update to this thread: with catalyst 10.9 drivers i no longer receive visual corruption in any files using DXVA playback in the latest CCCP beta (BETA-2010-09-25)


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## entropy13 (Oct 8, 2010)

Finally grabbed the new beta and got hardware accelerated playback.


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## sixor (Oct 9, 2010)

there is no need to install codecs or codec packs, just get latest mpchc, in output options put 3d surfaces, that's it, use vrm9 or evr


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## Mussels (Oct 10, 2010)

sixor said:


> there is no need to install codecs or codec packs, just get latest mpchc, in output options put 3d surfaces, that's it, use vrm9 or evr



that only allows MPC-HC's internal renderer (or the default windows 7 one) which are incompatible with lots of H264 content out on the web. you also dont get things like oh, subtitles - and if you think they arent important, try watching movies like iron man 2 without them, when they start speaking russian.


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## inferKNOX (Oct 11, 2010)

Mussels said:


> that only allows MPC-HC's internal renderer (or the default windows 7 one) which are incompatible with lots of H264 content out on the web. you also dont get things like oh, subtitles - and if you think they arent important, *try watching movies like iron man 2 without them, when they start speaking russian*.



Oh that wasn't Russian that guy was speaking, it may have perhaps been some twisted retro-dialect imitating Russian, LOL! I was stunned by how much that guy's accent sounded more-or-less exactly Russian when he spoke English, but his actual Russian was catastrophically terrible!:shadedshu
So I agree, subtitles are absolutely essential for scenes like that, even for people that natively speak the language, ha ha ha.

Anyway, I'm finding Shark007's Win7Codec pack w/ x64 components + KMPlayer absolutely perfect.


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## heky (Oct 11, 2010)

In MPC-HC you dont need codecs to watch movies with subtitles. The internal ones work perfectly fine. I have yet to find a movie that doesnt work.


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## sixor (Oct 11, 2010)

yep, mpc has subtitles, even you can put them them in (this increases cpu use)

in my case i stopped using klite codec after many years, since mpchc included in klite is different than normal mpchc

with latest ati drivers i don't have problems with mp4 dxva files


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## Mussels (Oct 11, 2010)

sixor said:


> yep, mpc has subtitles, even you can put them them in (this increases cpu use)
> 
> in my case i stopped using klite codec after many years, since mpchc included in klite is different than normal mpchc
> 
> with latest ati drivers i don't have problems with mp4 dxva files



if you're using MP4, then you've already restricted yourself to a very small subset of features. no stylised subs, for one - which is why yours are working with the internal renderer.


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## sixor (Oct 11, 2010)

hmmm well, they are just letters and words, actually i can put subs in 2560x1600 res, and it also plays animated subs and other stuff i really don't care

i just want great dxva and that is what i get with mpchc, also shaders are awesome, sharpen complex 2 and 16-255


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## Wile E (Oct 13, 2010)

heky said:


> In MPC-HC you dont need codecs to watch movies with subtitles. The internal ones work perfectly fine. I have yet to find a movie that doesnt work.



Gray Phantom's encode of Eureka 7, episode 1, 4:07-4:10 with .ass English subs. The Garage Thurston sign.

I use this to test most codec packs and players. The English text on the sign should stay on the sign and pan smoothly, as if it was always there. It doesn't do this with MPC-HC. Instead of smoothly panning, it makes jumps across the screen.


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## Batou1986 (Oct 13, 2010)

new non beta version of cccp was released 10-10-10


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## Mussels (Oct 13, 2010)

Batou1986 said:


> new non beta version of cccp was released 10-10-10



thanks man, right after i last checked


edit: this one works with subtitles again, good news


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## Batou1986 (Oct 13, 2010)

That they do but the labeling is strange


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## Mussels (Oct 13, 2010)

that labelling is dependent on the files themselves, i think.


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

Recently I managed to bring my aging but modern laptop back to life (new screen+dvd-rw drive -- new HDD on the way)

and i took it around to my friends house and decided to load up a 1080p blueray rip of Transporter 2/3. Unfortunately the video was too stuttery to watch.

the X1600 in my laptop DOES support MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, WMV9, VC-1 Acceleration.

However, I couldnt get Home cinema to run with hardware acceleration. I downloaded the lastest version and the problem was still the same. in the end we ended up watching some other crappy dvd instead because I couldnt iron out the stuttering.

I have read this thread over and over again and I got CoreAV and everything runs smooth again as it uses the CPU to accelerate the video instead and cpu usage rises to 80-100%.

I have read in other forums that people have used their X1600mobility to decode/accelerate 1080p movies without a hitch.

so my question is, what must i do to pull decoding back to the GPu instead of the CPU?

AMD stopped driver support for the X1600M a long long time ago. But with Mobility Modder I have managed to mod desktop drivers into mobility drivers, so I am running with 10.2 Legacy drivers.

my CPU is an old Intel T2300 (I could be upgrading this to something else soon)


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

if you use coreAVC thats software, did you try using the FFDSHOW decoder and enabling it in its setup program? (its in the start menu)


even if you enable it, its not going to work unless FFDSHOW is the default codec in MPC-HC


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

Hang on, I'l give it ago and get back to you


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

Just uninstalled all codecs and installed just FDDshow from the CCCP pack. got it to decode in VC-1 but playback was stuttery and CPU usage was less but still more or less the same. and I did set FDD show to be the preferd decoder


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Just uninstalled all codecs and installed just FDDshow from the CCCP pack. got it to decode in VC-1 but playback was stuttery and CPU usage was less but still more or less the same. and I did set FDD show to be the preferd decoder



PM me your MSN details, i can remote desktop your system and check if its set up right


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

nah, I stopped using MSN when they started messing with it. not got it installed. 

Is it not possible to just walk me through the steps?


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

FreedomEclipse said:


> nah, I stopped using MSN when they started messing with it. not got it installed.
> 
> Is it not possible to just walk me through the steps?



quicker for me to check it via remote. i already gave you the steps in the first post of this thread  doesnt seem to be workin for you


you could run (no need to install) teamviewer 6 and just send me the code + password. hide any pron windowz first, ofc.


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

for whatever reason, we found out his mobility card isnt compatible with the FFDSHOW DXVA decoder. its possible its driver related, not something i can mess around with remotely.


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

well... thanks for the help  

I suppose I'l just stick to coreav then.

I have no idea why i thinks its incompatible. maybe its something to do with the drivers im using being originally for the desktop variant of the X1600 but modded for mobility. but the X1600 /Pro/XT all support vivo and h264. so if the drivers are a problem then I have no idea. they stopped supporting the X1600mobility a long time ago and i dont think there are any drivers out for it that support vista/W7.


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

did windows update have any genericy drivers for it? also remember that vista drivers work in win 7


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

I dont remember about genericy drivers. there is no proper driver support for this GPU. the only thing i can think of is using 3rd party drivers (like omega drivers) but even they havent made drivers for Vista/W7 OS and with the way it looks i dont think they will be making one anytime soon.

So ive hit a brick wall with this. but there are choices....

#1 buy a new laptop (cant afford one at the moment)

#2 go back to using XP so i can make use of 'old' drivers which just might work (uhhh...dont think so)

#3 just stick with the current set up and carry on.


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

if you use coreAVC and disable all the fancy features (deblocking etc) it can run pretty well.


i also heard that the next coreAVC will support DXVA on ATI cards... but its long delayed, and if you got driver problems it wont work either.


720p files should work fine in software on that CPU, low clocked it not its still got decent performance when multithreaded.


edit: coreAVC 2.5.1 is now out actually, and claims to have DXVA support. give it a shot!


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

Ive been using CoreAVC 2.5.1 already -- no luck even with the DXVA option selected


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

i was still on 2.0, didnt know newer was out.









it still shows DXVA in MPC-HC, when its working. did you make sure to tick the box in its config page? (top right)


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

Yep. I did all that.

lets face it...theres no hope for such an old laptop 

Its a dead end.


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

sadface.jpg


oh well, go for software, you can dooooo it!


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

AMD have released NO drivers for the X1600 for Windows 7/vista everyone who has been looking for on has been recommended to use Mobility Modder & 3rd party drivers. Im gonna give some 3rd party drivers a go later. hopefully that might fix the problem


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## Mussels (Apr 9, 2011)

FreedomEclipse said:


> AMD have released NO drivers for the X1600 for Windows 7/vista everyone who has been looking for on has been recommended to use Mobility Modder & 3rd party drivers. Im gonna give some 3rd party drivers a go later. hopefully that might fix the problem



dont forget to try older ones as well, you may get lucky and find an old one with all the features still enabled.


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

the only 'older' drivers are on XP 

Just giving these 3rd party drivers a go


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

Ugh, Just found out they even stopped supporting X1600 with tweakforce (XG) drivers. *sigh* back to mobility modder


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## DRDNA (Apr 9, 2011)

Wow a good read.
The last time I messed with this stuff the CPU render gave me a MUCH better quality picture than rendering ton my ATI card.... Mostly noticed it in flash tho.
Well any way Mussels nice job and very informative! Thnx!


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## puma99dk| (Apr 9, 2011)

Mussels said:


> i was still on 2.0, didnt know newer was out.
> 
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/110409/.jpg
> ...



i even installed it on my dad's Q6600 pc with a ATi Radeon HD4550 (Gigabyte) at 1080p it's only using max 24% @ gpu and 10% @ cpu 

i dunno if that's DXVA, but i dunno but i hope it bcs the CoreAVC icon gets red ^^;


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 9, 2011)

I wonder if its worth picking up a Broadcom Crystal HD mini PCi-E card for my laptop to decode video

It does cost about £35 though


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## Mussels (Apr 10, 2011)

puma99dk| said:


> i even installed it on my dad's Q6600 pc with a ATi Radeon HD4550 (Gigabyte) at 1080p it's only using max 24% @ gpu and 10% @ cpu
> 
> i dunno if that's DXVA, but i dunno but i hope it bcs the CoreAVC icon gets red ^^;



red means DXVA is working, so yes its helping.


FreedomEclipse: i have never used one of those add on cards for DXVA. if you do get one, please let me know how it works (does it work by default. does it need you to choose its codec in players, etc)


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 10, 2011)

Mussels said:


> FreedomEclipse: i have never used one of those add on cards for DXVA. if you do get one, please let me know how it works (does it work by default. does it need you to choose its codec in players, etc)



Im just toying with the idea at the moment. From what ive read, reviews are very positive about the crystal HD. but the only real problem is software support. the drivers are opensource but there are only a few select players that can use it. I dont think VLC or WMP-HC will get around to supporting it for a while.

the card costs £35 (maybe £40 with P&P) I could pick up a second hand T7600 to replace my POS T2300 CPU for a little more money and just run coreAV all the way


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## Mussels (Apr 10, 2011)

yeah personally i'd say the CPU upgrade is the better way to spend the money there.


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## FreedomEclipse (Apr 11, 2011)

Actually... Ive been giving a lot of thought on it.... I can get th Crystal HD card for about £37. a secondhand T7200 costs about £50-60+

In the interests of keeping costs low I will get the Crystal HD card as i found out that Flash 10.1 and Home Mediaplayer Classic supports it.

Bit strapped for cash this week, but if it all goes according to plan i shall put in an order next monday. and do a mini review of some sort for you when it arrives later in the week


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## ShRoOmAlIsTiC (Apr 11, 2011)

I tried the coreavc with ati and in dxva mode I getthe red Icon but its horribly blocky and looks nasty.  the cpu decoding still looks amazing and cuda works awesome too.


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## Mussels (Apr 12, 2011)

ShRoOmAlIsTiC said:


> I tried the coreavc with ati and in dxva mode I getthe red Icon but its horribly blocky and looks nasty.  the cpu decoding still looks amazing and cuda works awesome too.



the blocking/nasty issues means the files you're watching weren't encoded properly, and dont meet the DXVA requirements. i'm guessing that like FFDSHOW, core will work out a way to automatically detect such files and run in software mode on them.


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## silkstone (Apr 13, 2011)

Nice Guide Mussels, i vote for this to be turned into a sticky. Very useful thread


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## Mussels (Apr 14, 2011)

i've also noted that coreAVC doesnt seem to work in DXVA on any files with subtitles... so FFDSHOW (as in the guide) is still preferred there.


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## Funtoss (Apr 14, 2011)

i shall try this on my comp and post results 
lets hope i can get this to work as i m a noob when it comes to video formats and stuff


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## Mussels (Apr 14, 2011)

Funtoss said:


> i shall try this on my comp and post results
> lets hope i can get this to work as i m a noob when it comes to video formats and stuff



with a GTX 460, go for CoreAVC with CUDA.


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## puma99dk| (Apr 14, 2011)

i lost the red ball at my dad's pc atm, even it's x264 codec but it says ccv1 at codec and at my pc at home i got a green circle


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## Mussels (Apr 14, 2011)

puma99dk| said:


> i lost the red ball at my dad's pc atm, even it's x264 codec but it says ccv1 at codec and at my pc at home i got a green circle



green is CUDA, red is DXVA.

remember that the files have to meet certain criteria for either of them to work.


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## puma99dk| (Apr 14, 2011)

Mussels said:


> green is CUDA, red is DXVA.
> 
> remember that the files have to meet certain criteria for either of them to work.



yeah, ino the colours, but still it's a wierd, that Cuda is better to coding all the x264's codecs like ccv1 and that ^^;


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## Mussels (Apr 14, 2011)

puma99dk| said:


> yeah, ino the colours, but still it's a wierd, that Cuda is better to coding all the x264's codecs like ccv1 and that ^^;



DXVA uses a very set specific standard made for BD and HD-DVD disks, so it can only decode files made compatible with those standards (read: about half of the stuff people download)



CUDA skips DXVA completely and decodes using the shaders on the card, so it uses brute force and a more flexible engine to decode the files, even if they're not made properly.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jul 11, 2011)

Just to let you know. Ive finally relented and put in an order for one of them Broadcom Crystal HD cards for my laptop. It was a toss up between an 8Gb mini pci-e SSD for Windows ready boost or the Crystal HD. should be here by Tuesday or Wednesday. It was a case of OCD i guess. I couldnt get over the fact that my laptop stutters on when watching 1080p and 1080/720p hogging CPU processing power when watching HD videos. made my laptop fan very noisey when trying to watch any hardware accelerated video at all.

should be interesting to see the results


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## Mussels (Jul 11, 2011)

yep, i am interested in those results so keep us posted.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jul 13, 2011)

All i have to say is WOW. What a difference this card makes! It works for MPC-HC without the need to set any options up at all. just put the card in, install the drivers and off you go!! Im down from 90-99%CPU usage. while watching a HD-BD rip of Expendables to 20-35%. Sometimes it would spike to 60% depending what the scene is. 1080p is completely stutter free. It might not completely offload the decoding from the CPU but it makes a huge difference.

Heres the scene in Expendables where the guys have just pressed the detonator and blown the building







Forgot to include that i have shaders combined:

16-235 -> 0-255 [SD][HD]
Sharpen complex
Sharpen


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## entropy13 (Jul 13, 2011)

In my case, no point in using the shaders since it's anime.


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## FreedomEclipse (Jul 13, 2011)

I run with shaders by default


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