Hardware acceleration, PDVD8 (1 Viewer)

[homeboytim]

TV-Server Version:
MediaPortal Version: RC4
MediaPortal Skin: Blue3
Windows Version: XP SP2
CPU Type: Pentium 4 3.0ghz
HDD: 250gb
Memory: 2.5gb ram
Motherboard:
Video Card: ATI x300 pci-express
Video Card Driver:
Sound Card: Realtek HD
Sound Card AC3:
Sound Card Driver:
1. TV Card:
1. TV Card Type:
1. TV Card Driver:
2. TV Card:
2. TV Card Type:
2. TV Card Driver:
3. TV Card:
3. TV Card Type:
3. TV Card Driver:
4. TV Card:
4. TV Card Type:
4. TV Card Driver:
MPEG2 Video Codec: CyberLink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD8)
MPEG2 Audio Codec: CyberLink Audio Decoder (PDVD8)
h.264 Video Codec: CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD8)
Satelite/CableTV Provider:
HTPC Case:
Cooling:
Power Supply:
Remote:
TV:
TV - HTPC Connection:

When I play Xvid videos in PowerDVD with hardward acceleration on, they look great. This option is NOT enabled as a default setting in PDVD8 when I installed it. I currently have PowerDVD 8 as the h.264 decoder and the mpeg-2 decoder in MediaPortal. When I play the same Xvid movies in MediaPortal, they don't look quite as good (not as good contrast, they are a little more "grey").

Any idea of how to make sure that hardware acceleration is enabled when I use PowerDVD through MediaPortal?

Also, I tried playing an h.264 .mov file (1080p Big Buck Bunny) in PowerDVD, it works great. In MediaPortal, I just get a black screen. No video, no sound.

 

[revs]

Video being more grey is not a symptom of hardware acceleration not working. It sounds like a gamma/colour setup issue. I think Pdvd by default has it's own colour settings.

As for QuickTime movies - try installing QuickTime lite.

 

[homeboytim]

Well, like I said, they all look PowerDVD. Any suggestions on how to make the h.264/.mov work in MediaPortal, and to get the Xvids looking right?

 

[revs]

See previous post for .mov

As for colour/gamma in mediaportal, there are no unbuilt ways to change it, so you may have to use the graphics card control panel to calibrate.

 

[homeboytim]

Oh ok thanks. The same file won't run in Quicktime on my pc, because my PC isn't powerful enough to play it without the hardware acceleration of my graphics card. They run great in PowerDVD with H.A. on though. How do I tell MediaPortal to open .mov files with the PowerDVD decoder?

 

[revs]

Ah - not too sure about that. I have always assumed I needed to install Quicktime lite - never occured to me to try playing them in PDVD.

 

[homeboytim]

Yeah, for my system PowerDVD or another hardware accelerated program are my only options. Can anybody tell me how to get .mov files to open in such a way in MediaPortal?

 

[homeboytim]

Noone? My Xvid movies look great in VLC and PowerDVD, but in MediaPortal the colors are washed out, and blacks are gray, regardless of the video decoders that I pick.

 

[Spragleknas]

You're not giving much info. Please provide OS and gfx - at least.

 

[homeboytim]

Did you read my first post at the top of this thread? I specified both plus a lot more. Since that post the only thing that changed is that I have switched both of my video decoders to 'ffdshow' in MP configuration.

Anyways, I have used other people's advice to apply a bit of a work-around. I did a registry tweak for my ATI gfx card (see https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/codecs-external-players-55/ffdshow-upscaled-tv-adn-xvids-looks-worse-than-sd-45535/), and set ffdshow to always scale my video to 1366 horizontal resolution (1080i). Thanks to those of you that came up with that idea.

This seems to have somewhat fixed the problem. Developers take note, this seems like a silly problem that maybe you guys can iron out by version 1.0 release time. There are a LOT of posts related to this issue (black is gray, bad contrast) throughout the forums, and people seem to have varied success fixing it themselves.

Contrast/brightness controls in MP would be nice. Plus, I might be wrong it seems like regardless of the video decoders that I pick, my video always looks the same. Maybe it's just my cruddy video card, but other people have noted this issue as well.

Regardless, I love MediaPortal and the direction that it is heading. Btw, props to the developers of MP-Tvseries. That plugin is fantastic.