[Solved] Acer Revo R3600 - Best Codec Setup for ION system (1 Viewer)

[PhilUK]

Hi all,

I am trying, once and for all to get my Acer Revo R3600 set up correctly and effectively to play HD & SD content through Moving Pictures & OnlineVideo.

I am not using the setup for live TV of any kind as my experience with this machine was not good due to the 230 Atom chip.

My current setup is as follows:
OS: Windows 7 32 Bit
RAM: 3GB Installed (2.75GB Usable)
MP: v1.3 Beta
Codec Pack: SAF 6.1.8 (latest)

I cannot now (since updating to SAF 6.1.8 this morning which coincidentally removed the LAV filters installed with MP1.3) find a set of codecs which will allow me to run both local files (up to 1080p mkv) and stream HD files from Onlinevideos (BBC iPlayer 720p) without some form of stutter in both cases.

Note that prior to updating SAF from 6.1.1 (I think) local 1080p files played flawlessly using ffdshow DXVA. Online streaming has always been a bit temperamental.

Currently, for streaming HD content from iPlayer using OnlineVideos I find LAV works best with hardware acceleration set to either DXVA2 or none (surprisingly). I do however still get some micro-stuttering in the stream. ffdshow has significant pauses in the stream which makes the content unwatchable.

For local content the DXVA codec now stutters significantly when playing back 1080p mkv files. LAV with DXVA2 native stutters mildly at regular intervals. LAV with CUVID is like watching a slideshow.

As it stands this is stopping me using my mediacentre for anything other than SD content! Has anyone got any experience of how best to set up this system which is heavily reliant on the ION chip due to the underpowered Atom 230 CPU? Any advice on how to diagnose where the issue lies?

Thanks in advance,
Phil

 

[PhilUK]

Hi all,

Having done some further work on this I have now got what I believe to be the optimal codec settings for my system.
Hope this helps someone in setting up a similar system for HD in the future!

An initial key lesson for me was around using the graph accessed using 'Shift + 1' to determine the level of dropped frames when using each h264 codec when running either local (1080p) or streaming (720p) HD content. This also pointed out to me that a major source of the stuttering was the TightVNC connection I had open to control the media centre whilst this was all going on (what a muppet!).

Having now run the setup for a while examining the graphs there is a clear winner in terms of quality and level of dropped frames. The LAV filters with DXVA2 Native selected is by far and away top in quality and speed for both local and streaming media.

1) LAV Codec with DXVA2 Native Selected and software deinterlacing deselected (deinterlacing settings not extensively tested)

No dropped frames in local media, very good.​

Some micro-stutter streamed media, takes time to settle down. ~900-950 dropped frames for 6000 drawn.​

2) Cyberlink PowerDVD 12 with DXVA enabled

Very good for local 1080p file, 1 dropped frame in 5 minutes and no stutter.​

Some micro-stutter noticable in streamed media, ~1100 dropped frames for 6000 drawn. Quality appears lower than LAV?​

3) ffdshow DXVA enabled

Stutter in both local and streamed media. Didn't do a dropped frames check as wasn't ever going to be acceptable.​

I guess the key thing here is that a system like this is perfectly accceptable for local 1080p files. However, with streamed media it is very close to its limit but watchable for now until I upgrade in the future (Intel NUC anyone? ).

Hope this gives some interesting and helpful information for others on here.

Cheers,
Phil

 

[santal123]

Make sure you have disabled postprocessing in ffdshow DXVA configuration->hardware acceleration tab for all configs