MP1 EVR Presenter/dshowhelper community development (8 Viewers)

[edterbak]

Hi all,

just to let you know my findings. I had lots of trouble with 1080i HDTV channels.
I found out I am unable to get a good picture with aero (Win7-x64) enabled.
When aero is disabled I can set my HD3450 to de-interlace up untill (and includiong) adaptive de-interlacing. With this setting I still get perfect smooth picture. Higher de-interlacing is too much for the HD3450 with stutters and framedrops as a result.
When earo is enabled stutters even with weave/bob setting.

In addition I use dshowhelper.dll V2 and no reclock installed. MP RC4 installed as well.

Q: Does disabling aero have a downside? ATM I see none.

 

[tourettes]

Q: Does disabling aero have a downside? ATM I see none.

Depending on the luck you will get random amount of tearing since v-sync cannot be done. It is possible that Owlsroost's DLL creates less visible tearing since it will be trying to limit the position where frame drawing is started.

 

[jet70]

Hardware:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA MA78GM S2H
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.1GHZ
GPU: ATI HD4550
Memory: 4GB DDR2

Software:

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate
ATI: 10.5
Mediaportal Version: RC4


I have upgraded to RC4 and have been experimenting with the various dshowhelper files in this thread. I am not using ReClock because my TV supports 24, 50 and 60HZ.

V2 seems to have improved my xvid stutter problems a lot although I do sometimes find that the stuttering issues arise quite some time after I have been using Mediaportal - so I am holding my breath!

However, I am finding 24hz h264 (720p and 1080p) files are stuttering - particularly noticeable on slow panning shots.

I was wondering - are some of the problems on this thread down to high expectations of people's hardware?

When I first started using Mediaportal 1 and a half years ago on Vista (even with my onboard ATI 3200) h264 files were smooth as butter.

Is Mediaportal more resource hungry now? It certainly looks a lot better. Might we need better GPUs compared with a year ago?

Might Mediaportal and Windows 7 be pushing my ATI HD4550 to the limit?

Any thoughts?

 

[cecet23]

Hardware:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA MA78GM S2H
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 550 3.1GHZ
GPU: ATI HD4550
Memory: 4GB DDR2

Software:

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate
ATI: 10.5
Mediaportal Version: RC4


I have upgraded to RC4 and have been experimenting with the various dshowhelper files in this thread. I am not using ReClock because my TV supports 24, 50 and 60HZ.

V2 seems to have improved my xvid stutter problems a lot although I do sometimes find that the stuttering issues arise quite some time after I have been using Mediaportal - so I am holding my breath!

However, I am finding 24hz h264 (720p and 1080p) files are stuttering - particularly noticeable on slow panning shots.

I was wondering - are some of the problems on this thread down to high expectations of people's hardware?

When I first started using Mediaportal 1 and a half years ago on Vista (even with my onboard ATI 3200) h264 files were smooth as butter.

Is Mediaportal more resource hungry now? It certainly looks a lot better. Might we need better GPUs compared with a year ago?

Might Mediaportal and Windows 7 be pushing my ATI HD4550 to the limit?

Any thoughts?

Have you tried reclock with vsync disabled?

 

[jet70]

No, that is my next move if all else fails however, does this affect DTS soundtracks if I use SPDIF to an external amplifier?

I don't use passthrough, I haven't reinstalled since installing RC4, but would use AC3filter as a postprocess filter.

 

[webs0r]

Hi jet70,

I have an ATI 4550 and I'm not having issues so I do not think the problem is stemming from that. V10 with 5 buffers are giving me perfect results (is it V11?).

That being said, I playback my film content @ 25fps with reclock and run the display @ 50 Hz. I remember back in the day when ar-jar was writing his EVR sync for MPC-HC I had initial trouble in getting sync running 24 fps / 24 Hz. I haven't gone back to test it.

With your question on reclock - you'll have AC3filter (decode DTS/other processing) -> reclock (resample etc) -> spdif (PCM)

Check your graph (shift-1) while playing back those slow panning scenes. Are the lines horizontal?
The problem might be in the source.
Check your cpu usage while playing back those scenes. How high is it? If it is averaging around 75% or more, temporary spikes might be pushing it over and it might start having to drop frames.

If the CPU use isn't that high it's unlikely that your issue is caused by pushing hardware to its limits, more likely to be just timing/software issues. You could try a different hx264 decoder as well & see if that helps.

 

[jet70]

Thank you webs0r for your comments.

I have installed ReClock and am not seeing any difference. I think because I am not trying to speedup/slowdown that is why I am not seeing an improvement.

I have been watching so much material, I think I am going to go blind!

However, my panning shots that I use to test are in HDDVD rips in an AVC container. The 3 lines in the stats overlay go crazy every few seconds.

I tried some more conventional H264 movies and the lines behave themselves much better - much flatter. I have not been able to watch enough material to know if they are nit stuttering - I am having problems finding some other really good panning shots 'on the fly'.

It does look however, like the source files are causing greater problems.

The other files that I am having issues with are 25hz xvid files and I really don't know why these are glitching badly. At one point V2 of the DLL looked great, but a while later, they are misbehaving again.

What is interesting though, is that in GraphStudio, forcing the refresh rate to the correct HZ rate and maximizing the playback window, plays these files fine.

So something is unhappy in Mediaportal even if certain files cause more issues than others.

I have tried various codecs.

I am really at a loss!

 

[robyf]

Jet70, I've not understand if you use AC3/DTS passthrough or not. If yes try this configuration:

- Install reclock
- Enable "Allow ReClock to Accept AC3 Sources" in the first page of reclock config or something like that, don't have it installed now to try
- Disable vsync correction in reclock

For this configuration to work you HAVE to play the media with a refresh rate multiple of the fps of the media. For instance 25fps xvid must be played at 25hz or 50hz, 24fps movies must be played at 24hz, and so on.

Then try the original RC4 dshowhelper or the ones of owlsroost to find which one feets best to your hardware/software configuration.

If you do not use AC3 passthrough then you only have to disable vsync correction in reclock to make it work.

Please also edit your system configuration in your profile and make it visible so we can understand which kind of hardware/software configuration you have.

 

[jet70]

Hi Robyf, (I have filled in my system specs)

I didn't get any joy using ReClock but can you confirm :

I installed it and it seemed to prompt me and ask me as to whether it should work with Mediaportal - I answered Yes.

I have not explicitly set it as an audio codec in Mediaportal settings - should I?

For vsync - on the Video Tab, there are 3 tick boxes under Vsync - I take it I should untick all 3?

I don't understnad why I get considerable judder in Mediaportal but not in my tests in GraphStudio! - not complaining, but for me, the judder seems to have been a more recent occurence.

Thanks for your help/guidance.

 

[cecet23]

Hi Robyf, (I have filled in my system specs)

I have not explicitly set it as an audio codec in Mediaportal settings - should I?

For vsync - on the Video Tab, there are 3 tick boxes under Vsync - I take it I should untick all 3?
.

Yes, You should untick all 3, and you should use reclock as "Audio Renderer"..