GPU accelerated and enhanced x.264 MKV movie playback [Guru3D] - Page 6

pokwang · 02-13-2009, 02:52 | posts: 1

i configured my media player classic and the result was awesome!!! i been using mpc for a long time and i noticed all the extra configurations but i just don't have the clue of how to set it properly until i read this thread. thanks a lot.

johnnyxp64nd · 02-13-2009, 03:34 | posts: 57 | Location: Greece

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joey

I'm guessing that there were conflicts with the codec pack you installed or ones you've installed in the past. In theory you shouldn't need ANY codecs installed on the machine.. MPC will decode everything with it's internal decoders including WMV. However people like to use ffdshow and coreavc with it because they want a little more control. If WMP is also screwed up then I would say remove the Klite codec pack. Something in there doesn't like your computer.

"here is the filters. (is there any difference also between the h.264 (DXVA) and h.264 (FFmpeg) cause the DXVA alone doesnt play anything, but the FFmpeg works great, they are saying that both are depending on the FFmpeg."

Is your screen shot with the filters right cick menu playing a H264 video? If it is then it's already using the internal MPC decoder, which should use dvxa if possible... it's not using ffdshow. The ffmepg one won't use the GPU.
If you want to use ffdshow for some video decoding in MPC, like xvid/divx, then you'll have remove the block and go into ffdshow's video settings and stop it from decoding the codecs, like x264, in it's codec's panel.

.. .there are so many different places to fiddle with codecs and stuff it can get complicated. Not easy to sort these problems out over the internet where you can't see what the problem is

First of all thank you for your explanations, i tried ot read all the posts you made cause i could learn more about how this video acceleration and codecs shoud properly work and you are very informed on this topic ;-)

now lets answer your questions:
1)yes the video you show in the screenshots was an H.264 actually is a .HDMOV file (quicktime 720p) and videos like those or MKV HD 720 (like The Dark Knight i have), are playing extreamly smooth and the CPU is working arround 4%-13% pick some time when the action is fast etc.
by using the filters you show in this screenshot

so i assume that the acceration in my GPU is working Right?
BUT i try 1080 and my CPU jumps to 35% performs smooth though wtf???? is this now accelarated by the GPU or CPU?

2)i totally unistalled all k-lite codecs as you sugested, i downloaded the MPC HC x64 only edition and configure that. My question is that the MPC x64 has no setup! i just created a folder in my program files and copy-pasted, and configured, works great, but not having a setup makes me wondering if i have the "right" version

3)my WMV is messed up a little, there is No way what ever settings i change in my MPC x64 to render WMV h.264 or not files.-
BUT the are working great thought in my reinstalled MP 11. i have mp11 configured to play not using overlays but HighQuality cause it is somehow render in vmr9 Right?
now if you were me what would you do to enable wmv playback in mpc x64? do you have x64 XP or Vista to try that out!? is there any tool to try search my registry for broken Registered Filter and remove them....?

i am sure its still a little mess with older installed codecs as you said (about wmv), but i need to get a tools that can fix those for sure, reformat is not an option and playing arround with different "Generic" Register tools is something that i wish to avoid, i prefer edit it my self manually, (if i knew where to look) cause softwares many times delete registry entries that they think are broken but they are not and things gets really bad!

p.s the wmv option in Ati Catalyst doesnt not exists anymore for some months now, i remember those a year ago that if you enable it or not you were getting green or normal imaging because it was trying to accelerate the file, but let forget that now.

UZ7 · *Last edited by UZ7; 02-13-2009 at 03:51.*

Sweet, I was watching some Anime that are encoded in 720p and added some shaders, looks much crispier... it was like going from standard to hd quality and hd quality to something else lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksQCMzFFZcA kinda low quality, taking the video from my phone lol... but you can see the brightness enhanced towards the end

sergeywin1 · **Got it working finally -** 02-13-2009, 03:58 | posts: 3

I have Windows Xp SP2 and ATI 4870 512mb video card. Since many people reported the problems getting DXVA on so did I. After following all instructions I would be getting the black screen with DXVA on but video would not play in VMR9 ( renderless ). As I said I tried everything: blocked ffdshow decoder and DirectVobSub. Still no results. Final try was just to download PowerDVD 8 Trial to check it out. What I did not know was if you add CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder to External Filters and mark it preferred it does the trick. MPC-HC plays x.264 formats (mkv, mp4) with minimal cpu stress. Although I have overclocked quad it wasn't a problem for a cpu. So here are few pictures of my configuration. You can always check if DXVA if on by pressing CTRL-J and turn on or off pixel shaders by pressing CTRL-P.
[IMG]

[/IMG]

You can see DXVA is on in this 720p video

[IMG]

[/IMG]

After installing Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 Trial I added its video h.264 and audio decoders in external filters menu. Set them for prefer. Those are my player settings above.

Right now I am able use DXVA on all my mkv and mp4 videos. Hope it helps. Also try downloading DXVA checker which will instantly identify you card's capabilities. Links on the first page of this thread helped a lot too.

johnnyxp64nd · 02-13-2009, 04:21 | posts: 57 | Location: Greece

@sergeywin1 does this work with PowerDVD 7.2 too? cause in my Filters if i choose add expternal i dont find cyberlink.

tnx for the post i hope i get better results with this one now.

i intalled pdvd8 but still i cant find the filter in the list i tried the manuall dll import nothing the list stays empty.....grrrrrrr

i have the same **** all over again.
FINAL conclusion if i select the H.264(FFseg) i play hd from the CPU we dont want that
if i have only the h.264(DXVA) checked i have again the Black screen and no playback!

what tha frack can we do with ATI cards. isit MPC fault what is it?

Joey · *Last edited by Joey; 02-13-2009 at 05:23.*

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyxp64nd

First of all thank you for your explanations, i tried ot read all the posts you made cause i could learn more about how this video acceleration and codecs shoud properly work and you are very informed on this topic ;-)

No problem

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyxp64nd

now lets answer your questions:
1)yes the video you show in the screenshots was an H.264 actually is a .HDMOV file (quicktime 720p) and videos like those or MKV HD 720 (like The Dark Knight i have), are playing extreamly smooth and the CPU is working arround 4%-13% pick some time when the action is fast etc.
by using the filters you show in this screenshot so i assume that the acceration in my GPU is working Right?
BUT i try 1080 and my CPU jumps to 40% and the video isnt smooth is slow motion!!!!! the video is a basketball match i downloaded from a site a friends sujested here and its pure hd MK 1080 but dosnt perform smooth

That one wasn't my screen shot.. but I'll switch my MPC to use the internal decoder (like yourself) rather than the CoreAVC one I usually use. I think Hilbert covered this. You need the "direct show media" (highlighted) unticked.

If your CPU is running 4-15% on 720p movs it's not using the GPU.. for two reasons. 1. that's high CPU usage, it'll be like 0% and blip 1% every now and again. 2. MOVs aren't gpu accelerated unless you are using a Mac. I don't have any 1080p MOVs in my system but the "filters" right click menu isn't even available for MOVs.
I wouldn't worry about this. They don't make MOV trailers which your system can't handle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyxp64nd

2)i totally uninstalled all k-lite codecs as you sugested, i downloaded the MPC HC x64 only edition and configure that. My question is that the MPC x64 has no setup! i just created a folder in my program files and copy-pasted, and configured, works great, but not having a setup makes me wondering if i have the "right" version

Yep, that's right. No installs... no setup. It's just an executable. You have to set windows to use it yourself. You can make MPC save your settings in to a file... some where in the options. You can back them up once you have everywhere how you like it. You can also make multiple MPC setups for different purposes, like blu-ray disc images.. but I won't get into that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyxp64nd

3)my WMV is messed up a little, there is No way what ever settings i change in my MPC x64 to render WMV h.264 or not files.-
BUT the are working great thought in my reinstalled MP 11. i have mp11 configured to play not using overlays but HighQuality cause it is somehow render in vmr9 Right?
now if you were me what would you do to enable wmv playback in mpc x64? do you have x64 XP or Vista to try that out!? is there any tool to try search my registry for broken Registered Filter and remove them....?

I hardly ever need to play a HD WMV. They are still on default with WMP11. (WMP high quality is VMR9, yes) But my MPC internal decoder loads them fine. Not sure why yours wouldn't. It has nothing to do with WMP11, the registry, any codec on the system... there is no install for it to dick with that stuff. The CPU usage is around 20% for most demanding of the the old 1080p WMV9 series trailers. Like MOV, WMP won't GPU offload.
VC-1 is a different beast. That's got a lot in common with H264, and CoreAVC handles it just fine. MPC's internal decoder should do the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyxp64nd

i am sure its still a little mess with older installed codecs as you said (about wmv), but i need to get a tools that can fix those for sure, reformat is not an option and playing arround with different "Generic" Register tools is something that i wish to avoid, i prefer edit it my self manually, (if i knew where to look) cause softwares many times delete registry entries that they think are broken but they are not and things gets really bad!

Yeah... don't start messing with your registry, there is no reason to do that for any problem. It just creates more problems in my experience. As I said, MPC doesn't even touch the OS. It's it's own thing. With all the boxes ticked under the filters tab, you won't get GPU offloading, but it should be the same as any one elses. If anything is popping up in the right click menu to do cause problems, find it in the external filters and block it. Keep going till you are only using the MPC decoder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyxp64nd

p.s the wmv option in Ati Catalyst doesnt not exists anymore for some months now, i remember those a year ago that if you enable it or not you were getting green or normal imaging because it was trying to accelerate the file, but let forget that now.

I didn't know that... haven't updated my ati driver in a while.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyxp64nd

@sergeywin1 does this work with PowerDVD 7.2 too? cause in my Filters if i choose add expternal i dont find cyberlink.

tnx for the post i hope i get better results with this one now.

i intalled pdvd8 but still i cant find the filter in the list i tried the manuall dll import nothing the list stays empty.....grrrrrrr

i have the same **** all over again.
FINAL conclusion if i select the H.264(FFseg) i play hd from the CPU we dont want that
if i have only the h.264(DXVA) checked i have again the Black screen and no playback!

what tha frack can we do with ATI cards. isit MPC fault what is it?

Yep, looks like a driver issue. What's that basketball videos specs? That's high usage for a quadcore.

Also cause XP might not like "bicubic 1.00 (PS2.0)" in the output. Reduce that to bilinear.

johnnyxp64nd · 02-13-2009, 06:00 | posts: 57 | Location: Greece

the basketball specs 1080 60fps thats all i remmber right now....
i tried different drivers, few people on other forums are saying that XP and MPC just would NOT DXVA any video, specially in X64 Windows xp os.

i cant belive it! i have to install vista just for hd playback its really annoing....i wih i could find this CoreAVC cracked or something and try ou.

tnx so much once again for the detailed help man. you rock!

i will update my post if i got lucky cause it seems lots of people are having the same issues..in XP. i am trying the Cyberlink Codec right now and the MPC x86 version.... may God Help me.

UPDATE:
what PROPERTY page was that in your SC? is it from the h.264(DXVA) filter? why mine hasnt got the DXVA checkbox?

Joey · 02-13-2009, 06:18 | posts: 4,183 | Location: Cambridge, England

Okay, yeah XP can be trouble for this. Vista improved windows video support no end... I could never go back to XP.
1080p 60fps is a lot... so that processor usage seems to be what it should be. It's just that it's using (and maxing) 2 cores not using all 4, again, that's normal.
If you can get CoreAVC, it's worth it imo. The picture quality is better also.

Quote:

UPDATE:

Quote:

what PROPERTY page was that in your SC? is it from the h.264(DXVA) filter? why mine hasnt got the DXVA checkbox?

I had an older version of MPC, got the new one when I saw you had it.

No check box... still all works the same though.

johnnyxp64nd · 02-13-2009, 06:48 | posts: 57 | Location: Greece

Installed MPC HC x86 on my X64 XP.

now at least i see the cyberling filters and all WMV files are playing again(but once more the DXVA isnt Enabled!!!grrr

), the MPC x64 version although its faster in loading time its still very young and it playback capabilities is very limited!

i tried the Cyberlink .h264 decoder and the CPU uses droped to 0%-1%, clearly this is playing from the GPU BUT the playback its not smooth and i am always loosing frames!

what the frack is finally going one i have not idea! i made sure all deinterlancing and clearince properties are diselected, even i switched of the shader effects, NOTHING!

as about the internal filter chekboxes i am lost, others say that others say the other one, but this is the last thing right now.

no matter what the MPC interlan h.264 DXVA decoder Doesnt Playback, just black screen! i changed my drivers again, NOthing.......

the best Video Quality i can get is by playing by using the h.264(FFmpeg) internal filter, i know it uses some cpu 7-13 as i said, but i cant format right now. i just remembred i have a Vista sp1 in a friends of mine laptopn (2.6,9600gt) i will try test the MPC HC there, i am Very Disapointed

i know have to find time and if this think works ok in Vista i will have to Move to Vista SP2 RC1.

i am so angre that even Cyberlink could perform!
i want to shoot my self

Final Conclusions:
install vista sp2 x64 ult and mpc hc and the damn H.264 DXVA is working like charm!!!! my laptop did it with no big deal. damn i must start backing up setting and get ready to format

still i dont get it how other play in xp

sergeywin1 · 02-13-2009, 09:31 | posts: 3

Hey johnnyxp64nd. I understand your frustration. I spent like 5 hours to get it working nothing seemed to do the trick. As i said i use windows xp sp2 (ati 4870 512mb + 9.1 driver )and I was getting TOTALLY THE SAME RESULTS YOU HAVE. Black screen when ffmpeg h.264 unclicked. But after installing the newest Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 trial i added its video h.264 decoder see my previous post and it works like a charm now even with ffmpeg unclicked. Not sure why you cant locate it in the filters list. Check if the MCP is the latest. It shows lots of cyberlink filters in players external list. Just add h.264 and set prefer and block ffshow.

See my picture below.

[IMG]

[/IMG]

johnnyxp64nd · 02-13-2009, 09:38 | posts: 57 | Location: Greece

Black Screen Solution Found

WARNING:Catalyst 9.1 for XP x86 or XP x64 have Broken DXVA!!!!!!
vista driver is fine!
confired with the dxva tester tested 8.12 and 9.1 and in 9.1 there is only 1/3 of the support decoders that was in 8.12!!!
damn you ATI you make Perfect Products but stupid drivers!!!

i clean unistall the 9.1 in my XP x64 and reinstall the Catalyst 8.12 and WDM, DXVA magically WORKED in PD and in MPC!!!!!!!!

@sergeywin1 i did that but yet again my Hardware couldn't accelerate normally using even PowerDVD8 filter. the CPU droped to 0-1% but the i was loosing frames!

now there is no need for power dvd filter, after i changed my Drivers back to 8.12 and made a clean install 3 restart and 2 safe modes just to be sure, the H.264 default MPC decoder WORKED! i unCheck to be sure the h.264(ffmpeg) and is working!!!!!

tnx again for the power dvd tip though men! can be very helpfull for low end systems!

Best Setting For All People Using XP x86 or XP x64 OS and ATI Catalyst. (only 8.12) @sergeywin1 i sujest you do those and forget the power dvd ;-)

ENJOY! thanks all of you so far for helping me out!

Athlonite · 02-13-2009, 14:23 | posts: 776 | Location: Hawkes Bay

seems to work fine for me and a couple of HD2600XT's in CF mode

johnnyxp64nd · 02-13-2009, 14:37 | posts: 57 | Location: Greece

oh new Question issue that imerged why some h.264 video the MPC prefer to decode them with H.264 Dvix Decoder??

if i block h.264 dvix and Powerdvd h.264 then those 2 movies that i have (007 and this basketball 1080p 60fps demo video are not even rendered!)

hmmmmmm

as you said guys there are videos that can enable DXVA and some not, depends on how has been converted right?

Zicmu · 02-13-2009, 15:50 | posts: 83 | Location: Japan

i envy you guys who has found the solution. Meanwhile im still struggling with this dxva thing.

I am using onboard card (780G chipset / 3200 ATI radeon). I have tried everything from the solution on the article untill the powerDVD. But i am still getting the same result.

It does enable DXVA but im getting black screen...

now im trying to use 8.12 driver even though im using Vista x64

Neo Cyrus · **Memory**: 6GB DDR3-2000 9-9-9-24-1T

So the 9.1 drivers are broken, I knew something funky was going on.

johnnyxp64nd · 02-13-2009, 17:39 | posts: 57 | Location: Greece

@Zicmu make sure you remove the old drivers from control panel addremove programs, delete the c:\ATI\vga driver directory first, and then restart after the restart install the 8.12, and try out, actually you that have VISTA as the article said you must use video output EVR custom Pref. the rest setting as is in my pictures

Denial · 02-13-2009, 18:09 | posts: 6,349 | Location: Above Earth in a Big Rocket Ship

Quote:

* Updated Media Player Classic Homecinema to version 1.2.991.0
* The internal DXVA decoders of MPC-HC are now enabled by default on Windows Vista/Seven
* The internal subtitle renderer of MPC-HC is now enabled by default on Windows Vista/Seven
* Updated ffdshow to revision 2676

New version of klite turns everything on for you automatically.

http://filehippo.com/download_klite_codec_pack

csendesmark · 02-13-2009, 19:07 | posts: 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neo Cyrus

So the 9.1 drivers are broken, I knew something funky was going on.

I have the same problem!
I hope the next driver will slove this issue

XP 32bit | Catalyst 9.1 | 4870-512MB

sergeywin1 · 02-14-2009, 00:47 | posts: 3

Hey johnnyxp64nd thanks for checking other ati drivers. It seems I am getting the same results. Catalyst 9.1 for XP 32bit would cause all above mentioned problems. The only solution I found under 9.1 drivers was to use cyberlink decoder, but after downgrading to catalyst 8.12 that is no longer necessary though no difference in quality or frames were seen. MCP-HC works seemlessly in Windows Xp SP2 under 8.12 driver using its own h.264 decoder.
Here are some shots of DVXA checker first under 9.12 driver and then under 8.12.
1/3 of capabilities are missing with 9.12

So for those having problems getting DXVA under windows xp i would suggest downgrading to catalyst 8.12.

GaS · 02-14-2009, 11:08 | posts: 9 | Location: Slovenia

Hello!

I did not read all the posts, but I did the article. You guys didn't mention subtitles. Because it is impossible to show subtitles using 780G chipset acceleration. Anyone on this? I am using WMR 7 or 9 renderless.

killmess · **Memory**: DDR2 800 6-6-6-16-21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aura89

Mmkay, i've tried the MPCHC, and i like it, however, i can't seem to get the shaders to work for me, when i enable the shaders or disable them when combine is on with 3 or 4 set shaders, i don't see ANY difference in the movies
I don't get what's going on, i'd think that the shaders would fix that, but it's not at all, all videos i have watched and enabled and disabled shaders i see no difference, as if they arn't working for some reason
i'm stumped

I had the same problem, and I know that what I'm gonna tell you will seem stup1d, but it worked for me. Download and install the last version of DirectX.
Enjoy.

killmess · **Memory**: DDR2 800 6-6-6-16-21

MPEG1 DXVA mode_MPEG-2_A

MPEG1 DXVA mode_MPEG-2_IDCT (the video is mpeg1 and is decoded with the mpeg2 decoder)

HOWTO:

1. FORCE MICROSOFT MPEG-2 VIDEO DECODER:

2. CHOOSE THE OUTPUT:
A. "VMR9" for "MPEG-2_A" or
B. "EVR" for "MPEG-2 IDCT"

DONE!

Now I'm wondering what's the difference in quality between "mpeg-2 a" and "mpeg-2 idct". I can't see any difference at all.

Garak · 02-15-2009, 13:05 | posts: 116 | Location: Canada

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hilbert Hagedoorn

Incorrect, but I'm not explaining it all over again. CoreAVC since yesterday does handle DXVA via CUDA yes, but image quality is still a tad little bit poor really.

Cool I didn't really know about the image quality on coreAVC.

But regarding the filter.. and I hate to argue with you as I love your site.. But I re-read your guide carefully and I see it is missing 1 crucial step for this to work. You need to enable the internal h264 codec under transform filters - H264/AVC (DXVA). This gets MPC to use that instead of ffdshow or whatever external filter you might have installed.
I think on your system that was on by default so thats why you didn't mention it, but on my install (XP32) it was off so thats why it didn't work for me - and likely others.

This screen shot:
http://www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=16378
you show to turn on the matroska filter, and turn off ac3/dts. Add a highlight to the DXVA ones and that should clear this up

As you need both for it to work:
Matroska filter splits decodes the mkv containers so they can be read and the H264/AVC (DXVA) codec does the work.

btw thanks to ppl in this thread for helping me figure that out.

Zicmu · 02-16-2009, 09:02 | posts: 83 | Location: Japan

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnnyxp64nd

@Zicmu make sure you remove the old drivers from control panel addremove programs, delete the c:\ATI\vga driver directory first, and then restart after the restart install the 8.12, and try out, actually you that have VISTA as the article said you must use video output EVR custom Pref. the rest setting as is in my pictures

hey thx for the help, but after i read from the article over here

http://nunnally.ahmygoddess.net/watc...os-using-dxva/

it mentions that 780G users have to use phenom processor in order to get it work.

Well im not sure where did that guy found it, but i've tried many ways but it still doesn't work.

and more over, if i wanna play 1080p using my processor it is lagging (losing frames pretty bad). But when i play it on my friend's PC (2Ghz opteron) it works just fine. I am not sure why this is happening..

Namsu2403 · 02-16-2009, 09:53 | posts: 216 | Location: Scotland

Great article. I've been using these settings for a while now since someone mentioned them in the HDtv part of the forum can't remember the users name

Alternatively you could get one of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi.../dp/B001ILFDCK

they playback 1080p mkv files no problem, Just attach a 1tb external hdd and away you go.