Decode H.264 (HDTV) with HD2600

[aladdin0]

Hi folks,

my Hardware:

TV-Server Version: tvengine3-03-05-2008--12-15h--Rev17749
MediaPortal Version: MediaPortal-svn--03-05-2008--12-12-Rev17749
MediaPortal Skin: default
Windows Version: Vista Business
CPU Type: Pentium D 4, 3.04GHz
Memory: 2 GB
Video Card: ATI HD2600 Pro AGP
Video Card Driver: newest Catalyst
1. TV Card: KNC One DVB-C+
1. TV Card Type: PCI
1. TV Card Driver: news BND
MPEG2 Video Codec:
MPEG2 Audio Codec:
Satelite/CableTV Provider: KabelBW

my Problem:
I want to use HD2600 for decoding HDTV (H.264?) not with CPU ressources but with GPU power.

CPU decoding is with my CPU at the limit and I tried Cyberlink's decoder, KNC or ATI's. In normal non HD broadcasts GPU seems to decode because GPU usage goes to almost 20%, CPU stay at almost 30%. As soon as I switch to a HD broadcast GPU will go to 1% and CPU wil jump to 100%.

How can I ensure that ATI GPU will decode and not the CPU?

Thanks

[Eabin]

the search function is your friend

you will need to enable EVR and use the codec from Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra 7.x to get HW-Accel. for H.264 content.

[aladdin0]

first of all thanks for info. I bought today the powerdvd ultimate and installed it. Had some problems with running mp but I think it was because of mismach of lot of codecs I had installed. So uninstall all codecs and reinstall powerdvd ultimate.

I tried also to find somthing out about this EVR but I was not realy success full. If it is that checkbox in media portal config, OK. If not, could you please tell me what this EVR realy means and do and where can I enable it for my issue.

Sorry for my nubie questions...but I realy read a lot of threads and everything and all I want is to get MP running. It is realy a hard job to get all threads true one by one and to read a lot of "sorry" nonsense until you get just one usefull info.

I hope you execuse me! ;-)

thanks



P.S.: as I mentioned, I activated that checkbox (EVR) in MP and set cyberlink decoder of "Hardware accerated". For "normal" broadcasts it works better... that means GPU is more used, for HD stuff CPU goes still to 100% and GPU is working arround 25%. Is that all or can I get better solution?

[aladdin0]

Hi again,

I've tested my system with DVB Viewer for the same problem. surprize surprize...

Just with DVB Viewer I can watch HD broadcasts without ANY problems because of the CPU performance. CPU is working at approx. 10% and the GPU goes to 28-42%. No skiped frames and realy nice quatlity.

The most important thing was, that it had nothing to do with the codec. I could use both, ATI' H.262 or CyperLink's. Also the render Engine did make any differences. I tried with Overscan, VMR9 and EVR. All had almost the same result. GPU was working "hard" and CPU relaxing :-)

So now that I know that my system works is my question to your lovely experts, how can I get all this working with Media Portal?

I hope there is a way!

Thanks in advance
cu

[Eabin]

you were testing DVBViewer GE, right? last i checked, DVBViewer did not support EVR (which stands for Enhanced Video Renderer). you would need to use GraphEdit to check what it _really_ does, because it is _definitely_ the case that without EVR (read with VMR9 and the likes) there is no hardware acceleration under Vista. period

But you should be ok with MP too, if you select the EVR-checkbox (which you already did) and select the Cyberlink decoder as H.264 decoder in the TV-configuration section.

if this doesn't work, can you pelase attach your mediaportal.xml (should be either under "C:\ProgramData\Team Mediaportal\Mediaportal" or under "c:\Program Files\Team Mediaportal\Mediaportal")

and your Mediaportal.log file would be interesting too.

[aladdin0]

Hi Eabin,

I will be away for a week...will come back to your point then...thanks for support.

cu in a week.

[sand]

1. clean install latest ati drivers (hope they will work for you)
2. install powerdvd latest version
3. use this: ATI HD2x00 Registry Tweaks

EVR doesn't work for me (windows xp) cause i get blank screen but WMR9 works fine

[pcspets]

Hello

I have almost the same problem that H.264 works fine with ProgDVB but MediaPortal plays only sound and no video.

I'm trying to watch H.264 DVB-T channels in Estonia. I have NVidia GeForce 7025 Integrated video. Cyberlink H.264 Decoder. I have everything correctly set but the damn MP still shows me blank screen with correct audio on the backround. With ProgDVB I have no problems.

I have also played around with VMR9 and EVR settings.... nothing helps.

What could be the problem?

[pcspets]

I found out what is the problem.... ServiceType for DVB-T is always MPEG2 - but we have H.264 DVB-T in Estonia.

-/
DVBGraphBase:514 if (_currentTuningObject.ServiceType == Mpeg4VideoServiceType)
/-

[Dann]

Hi all!

I will use this thread, cause i got almost same issues... today i did a clean install of Winxp sp2, installed also all the latest drivers for my hardware, applied the dvb fix and the vmr9 fix, and everything needed for MP. I also installed powerdvd 7 and k-lite codec pack full - so i got no broken codecs. MP (V0.2.3.0) does decode mpeg2 stream right, but with mpeg4 (h.264) there is no video, only audio. When i record the stream in MP i got a .dvr-ms file that i can playback but there is also no video - only audio. If i use the software included with the tuner (terratec home cinema) i have no problems at all (it records in .ts files). I can't use the MP's EVR function - if i do, MP's TV section simply doesn't work. I'm also suspicious about the "MPEG2 instead of MPEG4" thing, so i wonder where exactly can i change this setting - which xml file? (choosin' the standard of another country does not make any difference). Is this a common issue, or maybe does everybody else use the TVE3? Will it help if i install it? I'm just asking for a quick hint that will point me in the rihgt direction. So what could be the cause for such a behavior?

My hardware:

AMD ATHLON 64 X2 4800
RAM 1x 512MB (...will be 2x512 soon)
GA-M565-S3
ATI HD 2600 pro (from Gigabyte - passive)
Terratec 2400i DT (dual dvbt)

THX ALL!

Dann