Codecs SAF v5.02 *final* (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder) (405 Viewers)

[pirivan]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

Here is next SAF revision:

SAF 5.00 SVN100809:
- ALL - MPC-HC filters/player updated to rev. 1.3.2220 (xhmikosr build)
- ALL - FFDShow updated to rev.3488 (xhmikosr build)
- ALL - added *.OGG support
- ALL - DXVA checker updated to 2.3.0.0
- GB-PVR- Updated czech translation

BTW, DTS + libavcodec should be OK now.

I found a decent definition of OGM for you:

"Ogg Media (OGM), meaning Ogg Media File, is a container format (for video, audio and subtitle streams). It was developed by Tobias Waldvogel and can do a few things the common AVI format cannot. OGM's features include in particular:

* Chapter support
* Multiple subtitle tracks
* Multiple audio tracks of various formats (MP3, AC3, AAC, Vorbis, LPCM)
* Vorbis audio support (there is no standard way for AVI to support Vorbis, making any attempt unreliable and potentially incompatible with players)

OGM support for Windows (Including Microsoft's Windows Media Player) is available via Tobias's own OggDS, Haali Media Splitter, VLC, or RadLight's Ogg Media filters (the last of which can also decode Theora video). On Unix-based systems OGM support is available in MPlayer, xine and VLC."

Here is where I pulled the definition from if you want more details:

Ogg Media - encyclopedia article about Ogg Media.

Basically the OGM files I have are mostly containers for an xvid video stream and a vorbis audio stream (and a subtitles stream).

OK, then try new SAF build. If it will be still not working, i will need an OGM sample to test (didnt found any by myself).

Wooo hooooO! Thank you so much Hoborg! I did some quick tests and all the .ogm files I tried worked without any issues! The .mkv file that I was having sound issues with also works properly now too!

The only oddity I have noticed is that the aspect ratio settings in MePo don't work like the used to (before I upgraded to the new version of MePo and SAF 5.00). While I am actually happy with the settings it appears to choose by default, I have noticed that some of aspect ratio settings no longer appear to have any effect (like the 'original' setting etc). Only 3-4 of the settings actually appear to modify the aspect ratio/display size. I made the change suggested in the first post and disabled aspect ratio correction in ffdshow but that didn't seem to resolve the issue. Either way, it's not a HUGE deal as it the picture appears to look proper for most of the media I have played and fills the screen appropriately (not too zoomed in etc). I can clarify more tomorrow which settings appear to change the picture size and which do not tomorrow when I have the server back on after work.

 

[hoborg]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

While I am actually happy with the settings it appears to choose by default, I have noticed that some of aspect ratio settings no longer appear to have any effect (like the 'original' setting etc). Only 3-4 of the settings actually appear to modify the aspect ratio/display size. I made the change suggested in the first post and disabled aspect ratio correction in ffdshow but that didn't seem to resolve the issue. Either way, it's not a HUGE deal as it the picture appears to look proper for most of the media I have played and fills the screen appropriately (not too zoomed in etc).

This is some MePo issue, if you play your video in Graphstudio/GB-PVR, aspect ratio is always correct. Resizing is needed to get good looking subtitles in lo-res videos + FFDShow subtitles engine.

I just noticed MPC-HC player is crashing (at last here) in today SAF build - this have no effect to MePo.

 

[mrmojo666]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

ATI HD3200 is too slow for HDTV + the current mediaportal releases, go back to MP 1.0 Final or buy a faster video card. If you have an HT3 CPU you can try overclocking the HT + GPU core.

I strongly disagree with that. My ATI 3200 is very capable of running hd-videos/bd-rips without too many heat generation/cpu usage. The only problems I have are with live-tv. And I can't imagine a difference between mediaportal 1.0 and 1.1 when watching fullscreen videos. The only thing that should make a difference is codecs/video drivers

Uhmm...

HDTV is Interlaced and it is very hard to decode for 3200 card..... probably that's why you can't have smooth tv play.
Try to set, in your ati driver at video section, enforce smooth playback it should disable all PP you set in CCC (either you have thick pp options). Eventually you can try to put off deinterlacing or choose a simple deinterlace like BOB.

Your MKV or BD or other files are usually progressive source , more easy to manage for the poor hd3200 card.

At the moment the situation with mediaportal is that.

Byeeeeee

 

[doskabouter]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

ATI HD3200 is too slow for HDTV + the current mediaportal releases, go back to MP 1.0 Final or buy a faster video card. If you have an HT3 CPU you can try overclocking the HT + GPU core.

I strongly disagree with that. My ATI 3200 is very capable of running hd-videos/bd-rips without too many heat generation/cpu usage. The only problems I have are with live-tv. And I can't imagine a difference between mediaportal 1.0 and 1.1 when watching fullscreen videos. The only thing that should make a difference is codecs/video drivers

Uhmm...

HDTV is Interlaced and it is very hard to decode for 3200 card..... probably that's why you can't have smooth tv play.
Try to set, in your ati driver at video section, enforce smooth playback it should disable all PP you set in CCC (either you have thick pp options). Eventually you can try to put off deinterlacing or choose a simple deinterlace like BOB.

Your MKV or BD or other files are usually progressive source , more easy to manage for the poor hd3200 card.

At the moment the situation with mediaportal is that.

Byeeeeee

Well, I did have smooth tv with mediaportal 1.0.2. And indeed the de-interlacing is quite a stress for my system, although I don't have HDTV, just the regular 720x576 (analog and digital).
Now I'm watching tv through PDVD10, and CCC set to automatic (determine best) de-interlacing (the only choices by hand are weave and bob) and it does the bob-trick as far as I can determine. And as far as I can recall, those are the same settings as with mediaportal 1.0.2

 

[hoborg]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

Well, I did have smooth tv with mediaportal 1.0.2. And indeed the de-interlacing is quite a stress for my system, although I don't have HDTV, just the regular 720x576 (analog and digital).
Now I'm watching tv through PDVD10, and CCC set to automatic (determine best) de-interlacing (the only choices by hand are weave and bob) and it does the bob-trick as far as I can determine. And as far as I can recall, those are the same settings as with mediaportal 1.0.2

Did you try set FFDShow as a TV decoder? Should be working perfectly for you (it will provide you the best possible image quality for analog source).

BTW, what OS do you have? If you are on Vista/Win7 it can be MePo EVR rendered issue too.

OK, due to crash in latest MPC-HC player, i replaced new one by older working version and upload "saf500svn100809b.exe"

 

[doskabouter]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

Well, I did have smooth tv with mediaportal 1.0.2. And indeed the de-interlacing is quite a stress for my system, although I don't have HDTV, just the regular 720x576 (analog and digital).
Now I'm watching tv through PDVD10, and CCC set to automatic (determine best) de-interlacing (the only choices by hand are weave and bob) and it does the bob-trick as far as I can determine. And as far as I can recall, those are the same settings as with mediaportal 1.0.2

Did you try set FFDShow as a TV decoder? Should be working perfectly for you (it will provide you the best possible image quality for analog source).

BTW, what OS do you have? If you are on Vista/Win7 it can be MePo EVR rendered issue too.

OK, due to crash in latest MPC-HC player, i replaced new one by older working version and upload "saf500svn100809b.exe"

I tried ffdshow, but it had a lot more cpu usage (both with deinterlacing enabled in ccc, disabled in ffdshow and disabled in ccc,enabled in ffdshow) and a lot more syncing problems.

I'm running vista sp2.

 

[kiwijunglist]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

doskab: what cpu are u running?

 

[hoborg]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

I tried ffdshow, but it had a lot more cpu usage (both with deinterlacing enabled in ccc, disabled in ffdshow and disabled in ccc,enabled in ffdshow) and a lot more syncing problems.

I'm running vista sp2.

Strange.
By default SAF settings, FFDshow only decode MPEG-2 stream+decrease brightness (to make black=black not grey)+crop (great if you have analog source)- all this will eat ~13-15% of my stupid Intel Atom here, and send interlaced stream to GPU to deinterlace. You should not have much CPU usage at all and you will have great picture.

As i wrote, this can be MePo EVR renderer related, get some MPEG-2 TS regording, play it in Graphstudio (to eliminate MePo) and watch for CPU usage.

 

[Larzon]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

...
The problem is playing .ts files. Programs broadcast in 1080 are very choppy and the picture lags behind the sound substantially. Playback of 720 content seems to be OK.
...
Now, if I simply edit the graph by replacing the FFDSHOW Video with MPC-MPEG-2 (Gabest), the file plays just fine, and GraphStudio.exe uses 20-30% CPU.

How do I get FFDSHOW to play .ts files?

Hi.
The main difference between FFDSHow and gabest decoder is deinterlacing.
Can you provide small sample to test?

I bet your GPU is to slow to do HW deinterlacing.
To confirm this, start your TS video, double click on FFDshow icon in system tray, Output and here uncheck "Set interlace flag in output ..."

Update:

I discovered the main culprit was an NVIDIA setting for the GeForce 9400 GPU. A few weeks prior I had enabled Noise Reduction in the GPU while trying to improve DVD playback. (That was before I had heard of SAF/FFDSHOW).

The good news: After disabling Noise Reduction in NVIDIA Control Panel, MediaPortal/FFDSHOW can pass the job of deinterlacing (1080i content) to the GPU, and both live and recorded TV look fine with zero dropped frames. Curiously, rendering the same TS file in GraphStudio causes occasional stuttering; I think the difference may arise from the type of deinterlacing chosen by the host application. This does reveal, I think, that the 9400 is just barely able to do the job when the deinterlacing method is not too demanding.

Now, the bad news: Although FFDSHOW-based playback of 1080i in MediaPortal looks good and has zero dropped frames, there is an audio synchronization problem. This occurs with both live and recorded TV in MediaPortal only. (GraphStudio playback of 1080i does not have this problem.) It seems that the audio delay occurs with a momentary glitch at the beginning of play, and the delay stays constant from then on. This glitch also happens upon changing the channel. Sometimes skipping back and forth makes the delay disappear.

This FFDSHOW audio synchronization problem also occurs when I configure FFDSHOW to perform the job of deinterlacing (i.e. using CPU). Again, there are zero dropped frames in MediaPortal (monitored using Shift+1), but a constant video lag is introduced at beginning of play.

Well, I'm throwing in the towel on getting FFDSHOW to play TS files in MediaPortal. This mystery will have to remain unsolved. I realize this is a MediaPortal issue. But in MediaPortal the MPC (Gabest) codec (which has to be re-registered after installing SAF) produces perfect playback of live and recorded TV, so I'll stick with the native codec.

That said, I still want to applaud the great job FFDSHOW does with DVD playback.

 

[hoborg]

Re: SAF v5.00 experimental (based on FFDShow DXVA decoder)

Larzon: Taht confirm you GPU is not powerfull enought to do HW deinterlacing. Gabest do some basic (and fast) deinterlacing, that is reason why you have no droped frames. Similar deinterlacing can be setup in FFDshow.