Need help with HTPC video performance

[Deleted member 17547]

All,

Right now my PC has following configuration -

Intel Pentium D 2.8Ghz
2 GB DDR2 RAM
Nvidia Geforce GT 520 graphic card
Asus Xonar STX

I have connected video out thru HDMI from graphic card to TV.. Using STX for stereo out.. So questions here are -

1. How to maximize the utilization of graphic card for a better/smoother video playback? Whenever i play 1080p ripped movies, CPU utilization goes UP even after m using a dedicated graphics card..

2. Any better media player than Pot Player (i am using it right now with Madvr) ?

3. Is this configuration enuf for making it HTPC ?

4. Does older motherboard supports DDR3 RAM ? I may get 4GB RAM if it supports DDR3... BTW, how to know the motherboard model ? It has Intel(R) 945G family chipset..

Thanks in advance..

 

[ruenigma]

The Pentium D is the biggest bottleneck here. Lets build oven-fresh i3 rig shall we?

 

[manniraj]

All,

Right now my PC has following configuration -

Intel Pentium D 2.8Ghz
2 GB DDR2 RAM
Nvidia Geforce GT 520 graphic card
Asus Xonar STX

I have connected video out thru HDMI from graphic card to TV.. Using STX for stereo out.. So questions here are -

1. How to maximize the utilization of graphic card for a better/smoother video playback? Whenever i play 1080p ripped movies, CPU utilization goes UP even after m using a dedicated graphics card..

2. Any better media player than Pot Player (i am using it right now with Madvr) ?

3. Is this configuration enuf for making it HTPC ?

4. Does older motherboard supports DDR3 RAM ? I may get 4GB RAM if it supports DDR3... BTW, how to know the motherboard model ? It has Intel(R) 945G family chipset..

Thanks in advance..

The video looks good with the potplayer+madvr but the down side is the higher utilization of the cpu. I was using this combination till xbmc released the HD audio patch. Now I have completely shifted to the xbmc+hd audion patch and enabled the DXVA2 in the XBMC settings to utilize the hardware acceleration. This way my cpu utilization is less than 6% even for a 25gb 1080p movie rip.
I think your gpu is sufficient so why not use this combo and see the result. Also you can try out the mpc-hc player with the hardware acceleration. Using Madvr uses the cpu for running its algorithms to arrive at the color/contrast optimizations, hence cpu dependence.

Thanks

 

[reignofchaos]

^^Madvr does not use cpu if you set it up right. Make sure you are using the CUVID decoder in LAV video configuration. MadVR without LAV codecs is useless.

 

[manniraj]

^^Madvr does not use cpu if you set it up right. Make sure you are using the CUVID decoder in LAV video configuration. MadVR without LAV codecs is useless.

I think I have done the same settings but as discussed in detail at the avsforum.com site it still uses the cpu to perform the algorithms. I have the mpc-hc+madvr+LAVCUVID settings and still the cpu usage is close to 75 to 80%. I tried the same with potplayer+madvr+LAVCUVID and it is the same case. Not sure what is that I am missing. But after I shifted to XBMC+HD audio patch I am not going to look back to the other players. It is all in one superb player can play any format with ease. I was using the other players only for the HD audio decode which XBMC was missing. But that has been resolved with the HD audio patch.

Thanks

 

[reignofchaos]

I think I have done the same settings but as discussed in detail at the avsforum.com site it still uses the cpu to perform the algorithms. I have the mpc-hc+madvr+LAVCUVID settings and still the cpu usage is close to 75 to 80%. I tried the same with potplayer+madvr+LAVCUVID and it is the same case. Not sure what is that I am missing. But after I shifted to XBMC+HD audio patch I am not going to look back to the other players. It is all in one superb player can play any format with ease. I was using the other players only for the HD audio decode which XBMC was missing. But that has been resolved with the HD audio patch.

Thanks

Image quality in madVR is far superior. XMBC image quality is pretty pathetic in comparison since it uses vanilla DXVA. In comparison you can setup madVR to upsample luma/chroma using far better sampling algorithms such as lanczos or michell-netravali than plain vanilla bilinear used by DXVA + EVR.

 

[corElement]

SmoothVideo Project (SVP) - motion estimated frame interpolation with any video player and frame doubling in real-time

Can't have an htpc without this baby

 

[reignofchaos]

SmoothVideo Project (SVP) - motion estimated frame interpolation with any video player and frame doubling in real-time

Can't have an htpc without this baby

Tried it a while ago and not impressed. I like my 24p judder :lol:

 

[Deleted member 17547]

Problem here is that it's not a dedicated HTPC.. Me and my brother surf internet also so cant run xbmc whole time.. and use xbmc just for watchin movies is a lil bit pain... atleast for my brother..
So i needed a simple solution.. I tried LAV filters but could not see a major difference.. infact i did not like the colors at all..

 

[Deleted member 17547]

Tried it a while ago and not impressed. I like my 24p judder :lol:

Me too did not like it @Core... I saw this in one of your posts so tried it few weeks back..

 

[reignofchaos]

Problem here is that it's not a dedicated HTPC.. Me and my brother surf internet also so cant run xbmc whole time.. and use xbmc just for watchin movies is a lil bit pain... atleast for my brother..
So i needed a simple solution.. I tried LAV filters but could not see a major difference.. infact i did not like the colors at all..

Just set RGB output as untouched and it'll do no processing. LAV filters should not affect any colors at all. It'll just be used for decoding. The chroma processing will be done by madVR.

 

[Deleted member 17547]

Just set RGB output as untouched and it'll do no processing. LAV filters should not affect any colors at all. It'll just be used for decoding. The chroma processing will be done by madVR.

There are two things.. one is LAV filter and other is LAV Video Decoder.. which one i should use or should i use both ??

 

[corElement]

Problem here is that it's not a dedicated HTPC.. Me and my brother surf internet also so cant run xbmc whole time.. and use xbmc just for watchin movies is a lil bit pain... atleast for my brother..
So i needed a simple solution.. I tried LAV filters but could not see a major difference.. infact i did not like the colors at all..

Me too did not like it @Core... I saw this in one of your posts so tried it few weeks back..

Hmmmmmm, so I'm guessing you guys dont use higher hz panel tv's?
Because I compared side by side with my hx800 240hz tv and it's pretty much the same thing, only ones done by hardware, other by software. After watching higher hz for almost a year, normal framerates seem just weird now.

 

[reignofchaos]

I have a 100Hz Philips. All motion interpolation does is get rid of the natural judder that exists in movies. It simply does not work for me. I like 24p content to be output at 24p.

 

[reignofchaos]

There are two things.. one is LAV filter and other is LAV Video Decoder.. which one i should use or should i use both ??

I meant LAV video configuration utility.

Also make sure you have set the hardware decoder as CUVID.

 

[haisaikat]

any possibility of these decoders to be used with Raedon Cards? I have HD6670 wondering if some tweaks can even improve the default performance

 

[reignofchaos]

Yep works with radeons as well. You need to use the DXVA copy back option in LAV video options.

 

[haisaikat]

Yep works with radeons as well. You need to use the DXVA copy back option in LAV video options.

can you get a me any link to get started?

 

[spirovious]

Hi all,config of MPCHC is very easy.I have HD5570.
Install latest MPCHC,install LAV filter(audio),ffdshow video decoder,madflac for flac(even 5.1),LAV splitter.
not using madvr as it increases CPU load.
Now config like this-

Internal filter-


Ext filters-


LAV setting-




LAV splitter-

 

[reignofchaos]

can you get a me any link to get started?

Just download madVR

http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rc...9vy3Dg&usg=AFQjCNGSKHMFPk8Yd9_DlUre7louD5fenw

Lav Codecs

LAV Filters - DirectShow Media Splitter and Decoders - Doom9's Forum

Once you have installed both, setup media player classic to use lav splitter, lav video decoder and lav audio decoder as external filters. In lav video configuration, setup DXVA copyback as hardware decoder.

Uses madvr as the renderer in output settings of media player classic. Once this is done, close mpc and reopen. Now play some file. When you do that, you should see a madvr icon in the taskbar.

Open this up, Select edit madvr settings, go to scaling algorithms and set chroma upscaling to either mitchell netravali or catmull rom. Set luma upscaling and downscaling to lanczos 4taps.

If you are using windows 7, go to rendering->general settings and enable use D3D11 for presentation. Then go to devices and setup your display settings based on what your tv supports.

Thats it and you are good to go!