ffdshow upscale + TV + DVD @ 1366x768

[skare]

Would also like this. Looking forward to it

[FlipGer]

Hi,

ok, as promised, here is the first version of the how-to:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/Postprocessing

Any suggestions, hints and critics are welcome in this thread.
Perhaps we can collect your working settings here as addition.

Have a nice Sunday,
Flip.

[kiesow]

Why do I need to use ffdshow raw video filter? Actually I'm using ffdshow video filter (without the raw) and postprocessing is working fine. Is there any difference?

[FlipGer]

Hi,

because you are building an illegal direct show graph, if you are using "ffdshow video decoder". As the name says this filter "decodes" the media stream. It replaces your original mpeg decoder, which you have chosen in MP settings.

See attached screenshots. I am using the nVidia mpeg2 decoder for TV and DVD. If I add "ffdshow video decoder" it is not used as postprocessor, instead it replaces the nVidia decoder. The "ffdshow raw filter" is really a postprocessor. It is added after nVidia has decoded the media stream.

You can use the "ffdshow video decoder" as mpeg2 decoder within the MP setting. This way you do not need to add the raw filter as postprocessor.

HTH,
Flip.

[dekkers]

Yo FlipGer,

Thanks for your Wiki HowTo. I didn't have the time for testing yet

How do you make an directshow graph? Did you learn that from a website?

Thanx

[Arn01805]

Getting good picture quality now.. except for cpu load. It's 100% and i get stuttering video and audio.

My MPEG-2 decoder is Cyberlink, I tried NVIDIA too, but it's the same stuttering result.

There seems to be even a difference between live TV without timeshift (it's stuttering a lot) and timeshifted enabled TV (which is stuttering less)

Can it be that my AMD Athlon 64 3000+ with NVIDIA 6600 AGP isn't enough to do the upscaling for 720x568 to 1360x768? Can it be my former playing around with codecs to get better results?

Or can it be the Directshow settings for the MPEG decoder (NVIDIA/Cyberlink). What is advisable for Deinterlacing mode (at the codec settings page) and PowerDVD settings at the Directshow Filter Control(now I have all selected to Hardware Accelerator).

Another question (off thread..) Is it possible with FFDShow for audio to make audio available in origional format as SPDIV out(for my dolby 5.1 receiver) and same time as stereo out(for my LCD TV)?

[dekkers]

Try to disable most of the filters within ffdshow, then put the filters back on, one at the time.
For most PC's all filters (Resize/Sharpen/DeNoise) is way too heavy. It also can make a difference in wich order the filters do their job.

[ThaClown]

Great gide, it helped me alot thx!

[FlipGer]

Hoi,

Originally Posted by dekkers

How do you make an directshow graph? Did you learn that from a website?

If you are referring to the screenshots, those graphs are build by MP. They are captured with a tool called Graphedit. This is a very useful tool. You can:

1) Check which codecs or filters windows uses for media playback by using the command "File->Render Media File".
2) Check which codecs or filters a specific program uses by connecting to the graph while playback using "File->Connect to Remote Graph". This function was used to get the above screenshots. You even can save these graphs and....
3) Build your own graphs and test them. Just insert DirectShow-Filters and try to connect them. Not much magic here. Most filters "know" by their self if they can connect or not.

If you want to know how to build graphs with C#, I would recommend to take a look into the directshow examples. Currently I have no link at the hand. But I may take a look at home.

HTH,
Flip.

[FlipGer]

Hi,

Originally Posted by Arn01805

Can it be that my AMD Athlon 64 3000+ with NVIDIA 6600 AGP isn't enough to do the upscaling for 720x568 to 1360x768?

Well, as dekkers recommends, try adding one filter after the other to see which one has the most impact. I have a CPU load of 70% using the settings in the guide with an Core2Duo E6300. So yes, your CPU might not be strong enough. But there are much places to tweak these settings to your needs....

What you can try is switching through the different upscaling methods. I see that there is a screenshot missing in my guide.
If I remember correct, you can use methods like "bilinear, bicubic, lancos". Lancos is the best, but also the slowest. You should try bilinear or bicubic.

HTH,
Flip.