struggling with ffdshow and HD configuration

[bonzo206]

TV-Server Version: RC1 SVN 05-16-2008 23-38h - Revision:19158
MediaPortal Version: RC1 SVN 05-16-2008 23-38h - Revision:19158
MediaPortal Skin: Original
Windows Version: Server WHS SP1; Client Vista 32 SP1
CPU Type: Server Sempron 32 LE-1150; Client Athlon X2 3800 ee sff
HDD: Server 2,5" System 120 GB Seagate + 2x1TB Data WD ; Client 250 GB 3,5" Samsung SATA 2
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Motherboard: Server ASRock ALive NF7-HD720p; Client Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H
Video Card: Server onboard ATI; Client ASUS HD3650 passive
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Sound Card AC3: onboard Realtek
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1. TV Card: TT S2-3200 HD + CI
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1. TV Card Driver: TT BDA 5.0.0.15
2. TV Card: Satelco DVB-S2 HD
2. TV Card Type: PCI DVB-S2
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MPEG2 Video Codec: PowerDVD 8 DeLuxe
MPEG2 Audio Codec: ffdshow
h.264 Video Codec: PowerDVD 7.3 Ultra
Satelite/CableTV Provider: Astra 19.2°E
HTPC Case: individual (incl. 7" Monitor)
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Remote: Logitec Harmony 885
TV: Samsung 40" LCD (HD Ready)
TV - HTPC Connection: Sub-D


I'm currently setting up my Codecs to be used for movies, DVD and TV. I'd love to use ffdshow for some post-processing like resize and sharpening. As Codecs, I use PowerDVD for .h264 and MP2 and ffdshow / Xvid for the rest (avi, etc.).

Now here my problem:

If I add ffdshow raw decoder for post-processing in MP, it is used in every case. normal SD material is not the problem, but once I have HDTV, my cpu load rises up extremly. E.g. in TV mode.

using MP without ffdshow is approx. 10% load in SD and HD channels (using PowerDVD HW acceleration)

MP with PowerDVD and ffdshow for post-processing is: 50% load with SD and 85% load with HD channels.

I have no processing configured in ffdhow - just OSD (no resizing, no sharpening, nothing else than OSD).

What the hell is ffdshow doing?

Is there a way I could MP configure, that it uses ffdshow-pp for SD material and no ffdshow-pp for HD?

I have tested so many alternatives, but I have no more ideas

Thanks for your support

cheers bonzo206

[vuego]

You say that you use ffdshow for resize and sharpening yet you have no processing configured (no resize and sharpening)??

Anyway what I think happens is that when adding any filter after PowerDVD you disable its HW acceleration (same thing would happen if you add Vobsub).

The solution for different settings in ffdshow is profiles. You should make MP load ffdshow every time but configure ffdshow to use different profiles depending on the material played. In ffdshow Video decoder configuration/Profiles /Preset settings create a new profile. You can configure different ffdshow settings for the two cases. Next you need to enable Automatic preset loading and then open Preset autoload conditions with the new profile selected (use the Default profile for HD and the new profile for SD for example). Now you need to find some differences between the two video materials.

I for example use my Default profile with deinterlacing disabled for HD material. My "Deinterlace" profile loads only when ffdshow FOURCC match "NV12" which only happens for SD MPEG2 material for me. This might not be applicable in your case.

You can see which profile is loaded by simply right click ffdshow's notification area icon.
Good luck

[bonzo206]

@vuego, thanks for your input.

You say that you use ffdshow for resize and sharpening yet you have no processing configured (no resize and sharpening)??

wrong wording from my side: I'd like to you ffdshow for ... if it would work smoothly

All the stuff with profiles in ffdshow was also in my testing already. I have different profiles defined and they also work (I can see this in ffdshow OSD or in the taskbar as you mentioned), but for testing purposes, I defined them all to do nothing.

The critical point seems to be, that ffdshow disables PowerDVD HWA without processing anything. As my HD channels in TV are stuttering once I have ffdshow enabled, I have to deactivate it as postprocessor

I hoped, there is a way to disable ffdshow for HDTV and to enable it for SD channels.

[ThaClown]

I'd like to know more of this too...when I use resize my HWA is goon as well, profiles did not seem to work yet.
Anybody got a setup with FFDShow RAW doing it thing and PowerDVD with HWA working?