User experience with AMD 780G and MediaPortal (1 Viewer)

[jo16v]

My observation is that a lot of the problems are around HA with this and other boards, than anything to do with a specific board. I think the technology here, particularly h.264 and VC-1 HA is pretty new. There's bound to be a few bugs, given that this chipset was one of the first to support it. I'm holding off trying to tackle HA for a little while yet...... let you early adopters sort out all the problems first

Yes I think a lot of people have issues not just with the popular Gigabyte board. What I am hoping to do is see what is (if there is) a common factor in those that have it working and those that don't- but it may be that for different boards different things (i.e. programme conflicts, codec conflicts, catalyst drivers and settings) determine what works and what doesn't.

 

[kszabo]

If I remember correctly there was someone in this thread who had HA working great with CoreAVC.... Deinterlacing was working fine @ 1080p.... catch my drift ??

I do. But this is a forum not a professional tech support.

 

[jo16v]

Posters who HAVE got hardware acceleration (DXVA) working on AMD 780G chipset motherboard in MediaPortal:

1. kiwijunglist
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, XP SP3, VMR9, Catalyst 8.8, MP 1.0 RC2, BIOS: F3, using PowerDVD codecs for DXVA on HD content (also in Vista)

2. hoborg
ASUS M3A78-EMH HDMI, XP SP3, VMR9, Catalyst 8.5, MP 1.0 RC3, BIOS: 1101, using MPC-HC for DXVA on HD content

3. ocnos
ATi 3200HD, Vista, EVR, Catalyst: unknown, MP unknown, BIOS: unknown, using PowerDVD codecs for DXVA (must have DirectVobSub disabled).

4. Kian
ATi 3200HD, Vista, EVR, Catalyst 8.8, MP unknown, BIOS: unknown, using MPC-HC for DXVA

5. pilehave
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H (rev 1.0), XP SP3, Catalyst 8.8/8.9, MP unknown, BIOS: unknown, using PowerDVD codecs for DXVA

6. robby3
GA-MA78GM-S2H, Vista 64, EVR, Catalyst: unknown, MP: unknown, BIOS: unknown, using PowerDVD codecs for DXVA (had to enable ATi acceleration in PowerDVD settings as well as enable in MP config)

7. Spooky
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, XP SP2, Catalyst: unknown, MP: unknown, BIOS: unknown, using PowerDVD codecs for DXVA

8. kszabo
Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H, Vista HP x32, EVR, Catalyst 8.9, MP 1.0 RC2, BIOS: unknown, using PowerDVD7.3 for DXVA

9. canarygsr
Gigabyte GA-MA78-2SH, Vista Ultimate, Catalyst 8.9, VMR9, MP 1.0 RC2, BIOS: unknown, got PowerDVD8 codec to work for DXVA in Vista after failing with XP

10. jandar
ECS A780GM-A, Vista UE X64, EVR, Catalyst 8.5, MP unknown, got DXVA working using MPC-HC codec

Posters who have NOT got hardware acceleration (DXVA) working on AMD 780G motherboard in MediaPortal:

1. canarygsr
Gigabyte GA-MA78-2SH, XP SP3, Catalyst 8.9, VMR9, MP 1.0 RC2, BIOS: unknown, can't get PowerDVD8 codec to work for DXVA

2. jo16v
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, XP SP3, VMR9, Catalyst 8.10, MP 1.0 RC3, BIOS: F5, can't get MPC-HC or PowerDVD8 codec working for DXVA on HD content in MP only.

3. thebalance
Gigabyte GA-MA78PM-DS2h, XP Pro SP2, VMR9, Catalyst 8.5/8.9, MP 1.0 RC2, BIOS unknown, can't get DXVA with PowerDVD codecs in MP only.

4. DasToem
Gigabyte MA-78GM-S2H, XP Pro SP3, VRM9, Catalyst 8.5, MP 1.0 RC2, BIO: unknown, can't get DXVA working with PowerDVD codecs in MP only.

OK, as you see above I made a list of peoples who have discussed hardware accleration for 780G boards- interestingly many that have problems have eventually found a way to fix their problem. If anyone would like to be added to the list or add missing details please pm me.

One possible thing in common seems to be many eventually successful users are using Catalyst 8.8- this version has now been officially approved for Gigabyte 780G motherboards as of 7th October - see here.

Also those that can't get it working seem to have problems with DXVA only in MediaPortal, DXVA works for them in PowerDVD, MPC-HC, DVBviewer etc.

ADDITION: OK, someone had almost exactly the same problem as me- i.e. acceleration worked in DVBviewer and PowerDVD but not MP but the problem was possibly fixed by changing a 3D setting in Catalyst Control Centre- can anyone tell me what this setting is in English mentioned in this post ?

 

[kszabo]

can anyone tell me what this setting is in English

It´s wait for vertical refresh. It is also called v-sync. I don´t think this is importan for DXVA. It is good against tearing in VMR9 and XP. I did not notice any difference changing this with Vista/EVR/CCC8.9/PDVD7.3.

greetings

I think all of you should consider using Vista. The newer ATi/AMD chipsets has much better drivers (Catalyst) for Vista than for XP (examples: freeze of MP skins with reflections, no Hybrid-XFire for XP etc). Vista have EVR, XP does not (not really even with .Net 3.5). Vista has DXVA 2.0, XP only DXVA 1.0 (Info: DirectX Video Acceleration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Everybody on your list having no DXVA use XP

I don´t think that good and stable DXVA with Mediaportal is possible with Windows XP. Give Vista a try!

Once again what you need for DXVA up to 1080i/p:
- Vista 32bit, not XP
- EVR as renderer
- 780G/HD3200
- HT3.0 CPU (Phenom) - not absolutely needed for SD but more stable
- PowerDVD 7.3 or 8.0 with latest patch
- Catalyst 8.9 or 8.10 (everything set to default, no tweak needed)
- DXVA enabled for PDVD codec (in MP direct show controls)

 

[jo16v]

can anyone tell me what this setting is in English

It´s wait for vertical refresh. It is also called v-sync. I don´t think this is importan for DXVA. It is good against tearing in VMR9 and XP. I did not notice any difference changing this with Vista/EVR/CCC8.9/PDVD7.3.

I don´t think that good and stable DXVA with Mediaportal is possible with Windows XP. Give Vista a try!
[

Thanks for the translation- I really don't think XP/Vista is an issue as 4/10 people on my list that have DXVA working use XP and I have seen many users on other sites using Vista that can't get DXVA working. I feel it may well be to do with setting/settings in Catalyst Control Centre which people don't often mention so people are not aware certain settings prevent DXVA working with MP? I am going to post my CCC settings later and hopefully people will look and see if there is anything different to their systems.

 

[5Hundred]

jo16v i think your barking up the wrong tree with CCC settings, mine are default.

Have you enabled HA acceleration within the PowerDvD codec and mediaportal configuration? have you selected PowerDVD as your h264 codec for TV and movies?

 

[canarygsr]

Jo16V
I only had DXVA running on Vista, Not XP (I thought I did, but when I went for a clean install after so much stuffing around never got it, I had 3 different instances of XP installed on the 1 computer).

I have to admit with Vista, it just worked with RC2 no stuffing around now with RC3 I have some resume from suspend problem all I get is a blank screen, CTRL ALT Del can close mediaportal but it wont load again until I reset the computer. This only happens some times normaly after I come home from work and go to turn it on

 

[kiwijunglist]

I find vista EVR has the annoying flickering when using the on screen display eg. bringing up a TV Guide while the TV is on. Therefore i use XP.

DXA works with 720P/1080P mkv files using MPC-HC and catalyst 8.52 or newer + XP Pro SP2/3

For DVB-T HD TV it works using MP RC2+ + PDVD8 + Catalyst 8.52 or newer + XP Pro SP2/3

for Interlaced DVB-T HD TV then i get glitches in XP Pro SP2/3 but not Vista

btw - I am using F3 version of bios

 

[Spooky]

I tried Catalyst 8.10 and 1.0.0.0 RC3#latestSVN today, but this time I only get a black screen on 1080i channels and I had to reset the PC. I tried different deinterlacing settings but it just didn't work. 720p channels still work with HA though.

 

[jo16v]

@jo16v i think your barking up the wrong tree with CCC settings, mine are default.

Well, it may be some programme (or the user, perhaps inadvertedly) has modified the CCC settings for those that don't have it working?

Have you enabled HA acceleration within the PowerDvD codec and mediaportal configuration? have you selected PowerDVD as your h264 codec for TV and movies?

Yes I have enabled ATi AVIVO acceleration in the PowerDVD settings although most people seem to say this shouldn't effect things. What I find strange is if I use Radlight Filter Manager to check the settings of all the Cyberlink decoders - even if turn off DXVA/Hardware Acceleration in all of them it will still be on if I have set it as on in DVBviewer. I can also have it turned on in FilterManager but it will be off in MediaPortal if I select it in MP config or not.

Anyway after installing and uninstalling the StandAloneFilter pack (incorporating Cyberlink MPEG2 and MP-HC h.264) and Haali spiltter I can now no longer open any .mov (quicktime) or .mp4 HD files (I click nothing happens). If I open .wmv hd files I just get a black screen with sound. My HD channels are working (BBC HD, Luxe HD) (with Cyberlink h.264, no DXVA) but I also lose sound every time I change channel and I have change again to get it back?

I tried Catalyst 8.10 and 1.0.0.0 RC3#latestSVN today, but this time I only get a black screen on 1080i channels and I had to reset the PC. I tried different deinterlacing settings but it just didn't work. 720p channels still work with HA though.

Interesting, do you have the Gigabyte 780G board (MA78GM-S2H)? Can you tell me what BIOS you use? Maybe I should try reverting to the Catalyst 8.8 drivers from the Gigabyte site?