Hardware acceleration with ATi x1250

[kszabo]

A lot of people are struggling with the AMD 690G / ATi x1250 integrated graphics hardware. Me too (Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 7.12, Asus Pundit AM2-690G).

Known issues:
- MP GUI freezes with skins with reflections after Catalyst 7.2
- black level problem of videos (color range expansion TV 16-235 to PC 0-255) after Catalyst 7.6
- in MP small preview flickers/black before Catalyst 7.12
- no overscan correction for HDMI before Catalyst 7.10 for 60 Hz, for 50 Hz not at all

I would like to discuss Avivo HW acceleration (DxVA) experiences here with this setup. If we can believe the tests Avivo can do MPG2 and h.264 decoding with superb quality (much better than software decoder). But I´ve read also that the x1250 can´t reduce CPU usage as other Avivo capable ATi products (maybe can´t accelerate as much steps of decoding?)

My experience is with Cyberlink PowerDVD codec (mpg2 and h.264) and MP:
- mpg2 - I have much better deinterlace with DxVA as without, but Avivo color correction options does not have any effect at all! (I can't compensate the false color range expansion resulting of grey blacks)
- HDTV - with DxVA activated with automatic deinterlacing strong interlace artifacts (with deactivated deinterlacing no artifacts - maybe 1080p is not detected as progressive and wrongly deinterlaced?)
- 1080i or p decoded only with ca. 18-20 fps, not with 25 - too slow GPU?

This means to me that this GPU is not suitabe for HTPC (can´t get good black levels with good deinterlacing and not capable decoding HDTV 1080 material). Then why the HDMI output????

Or I just have to wait for a better Bios or better Catalyst driver or just overclock my system?
BIOS: for my Asus Pundit barebone there is no good alpha Bios
Catalyst: wait... wait... wait...
Overclock: not possible in my Bios, software solutions does not recognize the setup (Systool, ATItool, AMD Overdrive does not get the clock generator correctly)

I will upgrade to Vista, maybe I have more luck...

[Paranoid Delusion]

I will upgrade to Vista, maybe I have more luck

Vista has even higher expectations of what the hardware can do, but i remember someone saying they were running a x1250 with none of the problems we have seen reported here.

Personally a X2600 silent a lot cheaper than Vista.

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by kszabo

Avivo can do MPG2 and h.264 decoding with superb quality (much better than software decoder).

As I understand it, the x1250 doesn't support hardware decoding of H.264 - it only has hardware decoding for MPEG2. You need an ATI 2400 or 2600 to get H.264 hardware decoding.

Originally Posted by kszabo

black level problem of videos (color range expansion TV 16-235 to PC 0-255) after Catalyst 7.6

I am using 7.3 and the black level is correct, but later versions revert to the 16-235 range. I am guessing that there is a registry setting that controls this parameter, but so far I have been unable to find it (I have the registry settings for Nvidia, but not AT). If anyone knows what those settings might be, I would love to know them ....

[kszabo]

AFAIK the x1250 should support h.264 acceleration. Only it does not do it in tests. Everyone is talking about Bios updates, which will help but there is none untill now. So I am considering buying a new case (where I can put µATX inside and GFX is upgradeable, my Pundit sucks), a new mainboard with nVidia chipset/graphics (like a Geforce 7050PV, which cost the same and support h264 HWAcc).

[Spragleknas]

I have read test showing that an updated BIOS does in fact reduce CPU load when playing HD material.

I agree on what you write, and can also add that 1080p50 is impossible to do (goes for all ATi without using PowerStrip oor perhaps ATI Tray Tools).

I find PQ to be good when using DXVA (using Cyberlink or just ATi-codecs), but I suffer from lip-sync issues (probably codec hell - and yes PD: I tried filmerit ).

Probably going to get a HD3650 when they ship - or a nVidia if the 1080p50 issues are not fixed.

Also considering trying Vista - please tell me what your experience is if/when you try it - will do the same.

[kszabo]

I ordered Vista from Amazon yesterday, I will merge to it in few days. I will report.

BTW, I did not find any ATi h.264 decoder! On the ATi Website they offer just a link to Nero. I´ve tried Nero Showtime with the Nero h.264 Codec with Avivo, no better than with Cyberlink. And I´ve learned that the former ATi h.264 codec was a Cyberlink one. So I´ve tried both.

I test h.264 DVB-S2 1080 (I dont know p or i), CPU is an Athlon X2 BE2400 (2x2,3 GHz)

What I will try is the CoreAVC! Tests say it is much quicker than other codecs, maybe as quick as HW accelerated PureVideo or Avivo (picture quality is of course a little bit worse)! see: http://www.behardware.com/news/8117/...purevideo.html
If the X1250 does not support DxVA, I could use other codecs than the recommended Cyberlink anyway! I will test and report.

[Spragleknas]

I intalled this: http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_ca...adeonxavivo-xp
... and got ATi as a codec option....

[kszabo]

Thanx! I will give a try maybe but CoreAVC looks much more promising! (I just tried CoreAVC with a Pentium 4HT 2,6 GHz, Intel integrated graphics and a 1080p trailer played without stutter in zoom player! wow! fps was about 18-22 as I can judge it with my eyes). It gives me the hope that I can keep my Asus Pundit 690G/x1250 barebone (and my wife does not kill me because of buying new hardware ;-) )

BTW Vista supports DxVA 2.0, XP only DxVA 1.0. Maybe the weak x1250 works better with that. Any idea?

[Spragleknas]

Nope.

Btw: I can only achieve ~50fps (PAL) when using DXVA. Else I only get ~25 FPS (PAL - deinterlaced?) no matter what I try. How about you (or other reading this thread)?

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by kszabo

AFAIK the x1250 should support h.264 acceleration.

The x1250 supports H.264 decoding, but it does not provide any hardware acceleration of H.264. This is what it says about the x1250 on the AMD site:-

Motion Video Acceleration Features

Enhanced MPEG-2 hardware decode acceleration
MPEG-4 decode support
Hardware acceleration for WMV9 playback
Supports top quality DVD and time-shifted SDTV/HDTV television playback with low CPU usage

Notice that it only has hardware acceleration for MPEG-2 and WMV9 ...