Vista and EVR support (2 Viewers)

[DMember 49125]

Please add EVR support to MediaPortal. It is superior from VMR9.

 

[kamrat]

I just installed the new server with RC1 today and managed to get SVT HD our first DVB-T H.264-channel to work in MediaPortal. A milestone! BUT I really really need to be able to use the Cyberlink codecs with my new Nvidia 8600 to make it playback smoothly. Until EVR is added to MP I'm stuck with DVB-viewer!

I'm not a programmer but does anyone know what kind of work it takes to implement this renderer into MP?

 

[diehard2]

It wouldn't be too bad, however we don't allow for the choice of renderer (which would be harder). The problem with the EVR is that there is no hardware acceleration under XP as it requires DXVA2. It was essentially released to XP with the understanding that it would never by fully functional. Until Vista is widely used, it probably won't be incorporated. However, if someone was enterprising and decided to implement EVR as an option, I don't think anyone would be opposed.

 

[DMember 49125]

Why you don't add an option to mediaportal to use the system's default render? EVR is the default renderer for Vista. Is that possible?

 

[Eabin]

if some developer could give me a hint on where to start, and which files/methods will be affected, i would like to give it a shot in my summer break.

 

[kamrat]

if some developer could give me a hint on where to start, and which files/methods will be affected, i would like to give it a shot in my summer break.

That would be great!! Can anyone give the guy a clue? ;-)

 

[Eabin]

just fyi: i have a _very_ basic proof of concept implementation (automatically using dxva 2.0 as expected), which replaces the VMR9 renderer. there's still a lot to do, but maybe i have something to test for the brave by next week.

 

[kamrat]

just fyi: i have a _very_ basic proof of concept implementation (automatically using dxva 2.0 as expected), which replaces the VMR9 renderer. there's still a lot to do, but maybe i have something to test for the brave by next week.

That´s very exciting! I don't know much about programming but what does "replace the VMR9 renderer" mean. It only replaces it in MP, right?

Good luck!!

 

[arfster]

I'd certainly be interested in EVR also - will help with testing if anyone wants.

In Vista we're basically up a creek without it for h264, since DXVA1 h264 decoders don't work (dxva1>dxva2 translation thingy in Vista doesn't pass h264 properly). Thus, Vista users are left running with no acceleration, which kinda hurts if you want to play Bluray/HDDVD h264, or high bitrate 1080i broadcast like BBC HD. It also means no deinterlacing, so you get juddervision 25fps.

 

[Eabin]

So, if you like trying out alpha-code on your own risk, please give the attached files a try. These are built against SVN from wednesday late evening (i think its rev. 15080)

Just replace the files in you MediaPortal folder (of course not without making a backup copy of original files first). They will replace the default VMR9 renderer in the pipeline and instead use the EVR. (you should see this in graphedit, the input pin is named EVR).

What does work for me atm:
*) Playing back 1080p H.264 .mov files with high bitrate (about 18 MBit) with almost no CPU usage. (Cyberlink codec)
*) Playing mpeg2/divx/... files as usual, but not through VMR9 but EVR.

What does not:
*) Playing broken streams (e.g. bad recordings with lots of missing information) will most likely freeze the player - but they freeze MediaPlayer too, so not much i can do about it. maybe a nvidia driver problem.
*) I couldn't yet get it to work with HDTV, but then again the current twinhan drivers are a real mess.
*) Scanning is not working correctly, but skipping works fine.


What I would like to know from you:
*) Does anything work with this patch (Playing back a normal divx/mpg file)?
*) Does it use HW-Acceleration for H.264?
*) Can you watch TV, esp. HDTV with acceleration?
*) Do you get smooth playback?

If there are any frozen images or crashes, please attach MediaPortal.log and vmr9.log.