Do i really need the CoreAVC codec ? (1 Viewer)

[ChAoTiC]

Hi guys i'd like to start by saying exellent software and great forums.

Now my question ... I have stuck windows 7 on my old Dell optiplex gx280 to test as a htpc with the intentions of building a better one in the future. At present the Dell has a nvidia 7300 gfx card in and a audigy sound card connect to my av amp with 3 mini jack to rca cables as my AV amp as every connection possible but the sound card only has the usual 6 channel connections. This sound wise works perfectly.

I set about ripping my dvd collection with shrink and reauthoring then to main title only no compression and then converting with handbrake. I tried the same movies both as mp4 and mkv to try to determine the best container (both h264 codec) and thats where the problem lies.

The Mp4's play perfectly on the Dell but i have blocky/striped sections using the mkv container. They do play and sound is fine. I have FFDSHOW Tryout, Haali Media Splitter and VSFilter installed and configured like i read but no CoreAVC Codec.

I tried various codec packs and although my mkv's play perfect in MPC and VLC they don't in WMP.

Is this because i need the CoreAVC Codec ?

Also is there any real reason to use MKV over Mp4 as there seems to be issues with this container ?

Thanks for any advice. ChAoTiC

 

[MageMinds]

In Windows 7 your video is being handled by the Media Foundation and their h264/x264 video codec is literally a piece of crap. Even if you install an other codec yourself Windows Media Player and all the other DirectShow players won't be using your codec because Microsoft in their quest to control the World have made this hard to modify.

But fortunately you can download a little program that allow you to control how your video are being decoded.

Codec Guide: Windows 7 Preferred DirectShow Filter Tweak Tool

I personally use CoreAVC, because they support CUDA decoding on my ION motherboard, which allow me to decode pure BluRay 24 mbits stream with an Atom 330 using as little as 5% to 10% CPU.

MPC and VLC have their own codec, this is why they work well with your video and WMP uses Media Foundation, which is fundamentally bad at everything.

I would also recommend the use of CoreAVC since it's the fastest decoder you can find that wont use as much CPU as other codec and if you have a CUDA enabled GPU (which you don't at the moment) you could use CUDA to take care of the decoding part. CUDA decoding allow you to add subtitle which DxVA is unable to do.

Also CoreAVC 2.0 is certified by Microsoft and it will be used as the preferred decoder without you having to use the little software I mentioned before, at least it's supposed to, it didn't worked for me, but I already tweaked Win7 before installing my CoreAVC licence. It's a little price to pay for the best codec around, please do not pirate this less than 15$ USD that's nothing it costs more to eat at McDonald's, think about that and McDo do sell you shit!

MageMinds

 

[ChAoTiC]

Thanks for the reply. I have downloaded the tweek tool and will be messin with that soon. As for the codec i probably will buy it as i keep reading its the best. Although i have no problems using VLC or MPC on this pc which i encode with i want full library software on the media pc but i also saw i'm supposed to buy the codec twice for this and my media pc which is a bit greedy i think.

But anyway in the future i will be building a better media pc and will look into CUDA. I still have some learning to do but i'll get there.

Oh and i dont eat McDo cos i know its shit.

 

[Crackofdawn]

I have perfect video on my HTPC and have never used CoreAVC. DivX and MPC-HC both have Codecs that support DXVA and work just as good as CoreAVC and they're both free.

 

[MageMinds]

You obviously doesn't use subtitles or your do not use DxVA either way on an Atom motherboard you need the offloading to play HD video and if you expect to have subtitles DxVA will not work for you, only CUDA will.

 

[tourettes]

You obviously doesn't use subtitles or your do not use DxVA either way on an Atom motherboard you need the offloading to play HD video and if you expect to have subtitles DxVA will not work for you, only CUDA will.

MediaPortal works with DXVA and subtitles, just enable the MPC-HC subtitle engine in the config.

 

[MageMinds]

Oh I didn't know about this, this is new! Either way I love my CoreAVC codec, it's fast reliable and efficient... Maybe I'll try it one day just for fun ...

MPC-HC subtitle engine must be just before the codec engine in the directshow graph then...

Thanks for the information though!

MageMinds

 

[Crackofdawn]

Yes no need to jump to conclusions or anything - MPC standalone h264 decoder, matroska splitter, and subtitle engine can play h.264 files WITH DXVA and subtitles in mediaportal. And its free.

 

[MageMinds]

I finally did some research about DxVA and it turns out that this technology is really hard to make work and some video may not be able to use DxVA because some setting in the encoding prevent the use of rigid DxVA rules. I did see that the MPC - Subtitle Source connect directly to the renderer allowing the DxVA codec to be directly attached to the renderer too, but since DxVA is really selective and most of what I listen was not encoded by me, I must be sure that all my HD content is decoded by my GPU since my CPU is not able to decode it most of the time. CUDA decode everything, because it does not use functions included in the GPU chipset, that we don't know how they process information and need specific format to work, CUDA is used as a co-processor it execute custom code from the codec. You can even use your CUDA GPU to run SETI@Home, you can use the GPU to compute anything as long as the code is coded to use parallel computing, since the CUDA GPU is a parallel processor, like the one you can find in university, the one that researchers uses to predict that the earth will explode because we burn too much oil...

For that reason I'll stick with CoreAVC w/CUDA, all x264 video are decoded by the GPU. Maybe it's commercial, but it's the best one around.

MageMinds

 

[captainjack]

Why do you say the Windows 7 h264/x264 codec is crap? What problems did you have with it?