Shortlink of this post – http://wp.me/PrgSo-2n (you can use this link in your forum/BBS/IRC/twitter/facebook etc. messages) || Download the PDF version of this page here.
nVidia GPU users – you may optionally read here.
Nowadays, many anime fansub groups released their files in H.264 format, which can be pretty taxing for older CPUs (like non-dual core Semprons/Celerons). This will be apparent with high definition anime titles like the one I have reviewed in this blog here, here and here. With DXVA, you should be able to play those videos smoothly with less performance penalty upon your CPU.
This guide is the same as the one I posted at BakaBT forum here, although this page is the first place where updates will be done first. This guide mostly catered for anime fansub viewers (with emphasis on subtitles), but can also be used for viewing all kind of H.264 videos too which doesn't have one.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHANGELOG
BEFORE YOU START
FILES YOU NEED FOR TROUBLESHOOTING
TEST VIDEO FILES
EXPECTED RESULT AFTER DOING THIS TUTORIAL
—> THE TUTORIAL ITSELF <—
DXVA IN ACTION
NOTES
TROUBLESHOOTING
CHANGELOG
20 July 2010 – Added table of contents for better navigation of this extremely long page that cause some performance problems in Mozilla Firefox. DXVA Checker updated to latest version.
BEFORE YOU START…
Below are the things you need to use DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) to accelerate those CPU-hungry H.264 videos you see a lot here in this anime review blog:-
- Windows Vista or 7 (with the latest service pack you can get):- With Catalyst 10.4, ATI has followed Intel's footsteps and only made fully-featured functional DXVA acceleration (that includes playback of videos that do not conform to Blu-ray standards) available under these two operating systems. If you use Windows XP, even if you have an ATI GPU with UVD2.x ASIC decoding silicon, you won't get the new benefits offered by Catalyst 10.4. DXVA-assisted playback is still possible under Windows XP, but only for Blu-ray-compliant videos. For Intel GPU users, Windows Vista or 7 is mandatory.
If Windows XP is really a must for you (you have an im ortant applications that runs only on XP etc.), consider switching to an nVidia GPU and use the CoreAVC 2 CUDA method for reliable playback of all non-test user-generated H.264 videos out there.
My recommendation: Windows 7 Home Premium (buy here) minimum so that you can have the option to use Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder available in Windows Media Player 12. Therefore Windows 7 N should not be used.
- A qualifying video card that supports DXVA:- A list of them are available at the bottom of this tutorial. For ATI AGP GPU users, the improvements available in Catalyst 10.4, even if you use Windows Vista or 7 (playback of Blu-ray-compliant videos should still be available though). Therefore consider getting a PCI-E GPU or any supporting ATI IGP chipsets. Please note that ATI GPU with UVD1.x (UVD, UVD+) only see limited, but still remarkable improvements for decoding out-of-spec videos.
My recommendation: Any qualifying nVidia GPUs, with the emphasis on the ones with PureVideo4 ASIC. See the list at the bottom of this page to see which nVidia GPUs has such ASIC. Fermi GTX470/480 are not recommended though, unless you are gaming. Fermi GTX460 are recommended, as it is now are able to bitstream HD audio codecs and are beasts in gaming when put in SLI configuration.
- Media Player Classic – HomeCinema:- This tutorial will use the beta version build 1862. It can be downloaded from here (mirror) (changelog). MediaInfo.dll now comes packaged into the archive too, so no need for a separate download. Please use 32-bit binary only even if you use 64-bit version of Windows.
FILES YOU NEED FOR TROUBLESHOOTING
- DXVA Checker – Download here (you can check whether your card is DXVA-capable and you will need this for troubleshooting). Original website.
- GPU-Z – Download here (shows detailed information about your GPU).
- CPU-Z – Download here (shows detailed information about your CPU).
- DirectX End-user runtime (February 2010) – Download here. Install this if you have d3dx9.dll error message when using MPC-HC.
- Microsoft .NET 4 Framework – Download here. Needed for EVR/EVR custom presenter and also to run DXVA Checker.
- Update for Windows Vista (KB971512) – Download here. Backport of some of Windows 7 features such as DirectX 11 for Windows Vista.
- Haali Media Splitter – Download from here (original website).
TEST VIDEO FILES
If you have problems enabling DXVA, please test your setup with the three compliant videos first. If the problem is repeatable, make screenshots of your DXVA Checker, CPU-Z and GPU-Z results and make a comment in the comment section below.
- Blu-ray-compliant test video file 1 – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya NCED theme (Hare Hare Yukai) SD video with karaoke soft-sub – download here.
- Blu-ray-compliant test video file 2 – Clannad NCED theme (Dango Daikazoku) 720p with karaoke soft-sub – download here.
- Blu-ray-compliant test video file 3 – Kanon NCOP theme (Last Regret) 1080p with soft-sub – download here.
- Out-of-spec test video file 4 – James Bond: Quantum of Solace 1080p trailer – download here.
- Out-of-spec test video file 5 – AIR NCOP theme (Tori no Uta) multi-angle 1080p with karaoke softsubs – download here.
- Out-of-spec test video file 6 – BBC Planet Earth: From Pole to Pole opening clip – download here.
Download all 6 test videos above in one single archived zip file here (806MB). No need to wait 10 minutes to download the separate files individually. The links above still can be used if you do not want all of them.
EDIT: IT COMES TO MY ATTENTION THAT YOU WILL NEED A PREMIUM ACCOUNT TO DOWNLOAD FILES OVER 400MB. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ONE, YOU CAN STILL DOWNLOAD THE VIDEOS INDIVIDUALLY FREE OF CHARGE!!
If any files cannot be downloaded, make a comment below.
EXPECTED RESULT AFTER DOING THIS TUTORIAL
nVidia GPUs:-
- nVidia GPU users (with 191.xx drivers or later) + Windows Vista or 7 = can play all 6 test video files with ease. AIR NCOP theme (Tori no Uta) may become an exception if your CPU is slow, thus you may have to disable karaoke subtitle animation.
- nVidia GPU users (with 191.xx drivers or later) + Windows XP = can play the first 5 test videos, but not the BBC Planet Earth clip. The issue with AIR NCOP theme (Tori no Uta) also applies. nVidia GPU users who insists on Windows XP for whatever reasons, should consider using the CoreAVC 2 method.
ATI GPUs:-
- ATI GPUs with UVD2.x (PCI-E or IGP) + Catalyst 10.4 drivers + Windows Vista or 7 = can play test video 2 to 6, but not The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya NCED theme (Hare Hare Yukai). Success probability is 98%. The issue with AIR NCOP theme (Tori no Uta) also applies.
- ATI GPUs with UVD/UVD+ (PCI-E or IGP) + Catalyst 10.4 drivers + Windows Vista or 7 = can play test videos 2 and 3 reliably. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya NCED theme (Hare Hare Yukai) is not playable with DXVA. Should also be able to play test video file 4 to 6 but with less successful probability compared to ATI UVD2.x GPU users. The issue with AIR NCOP theme (Tori no Uta) also applies.
- ATI GPUs regardless of UVD version (AGP) + Catalyst 10.4 drivers + Windows XP/Vista/7 = can only play test video 1 to 3.
- ATI GPUs regardless of UVD version (PCI-E or IGP) + Catalyst 10.4 and older + Windows XP = can only play test video 1 to 3.
- ATI GPUs regardless of UVD version (PCI-E, IGP or AGP) + Catalyst 10.3 or older + Windows XP/Vista/7 = can only play test video 1 to 3.
Intel GPUs:-
- Intel G45/Clarkdale/Arrandale (with any recent drivers) + Windows Vista or 7 = can play all 6 test videos with ease. The issue with AIR OP theme (Tori no Uta) still applies. Reminder: while Intel GPUs can play the three out-of-spec video files made available here reliably, the same cannot be said for other out-of-spec videos floating out there. Successful probability for those files is 90%.
- Intel G45/Clarkdale/Arrandale + Windows XP = UPGRADE TO WINDOWS VISTA OR 7.
Other GPUs such as PowerVR’s Intel GMA500 or S3 Chrome = can only play test video 1 to 3.
TUTORIAL
- Step 1 – Installing MPC-HC & Haali Media Splitter.
- Step 2 – Opening the 'Option' window.
- Step 3 – Enabling MPC-HC internal subtitle engine.
- Step 4 – Choosing DXVA-compliant video renderers.
- Step 5 – Choosing the right splitters and decoders.
- Step 6 – Eliminating potential problematic DirectShow decoders/filters that may cause DXVA playback to not work.
- Step 7 – Configuring MPC-HC internal subtitle engine.
- Step 8 – Configuring EVR custom presenter/VMR9 renderless video renderers.
Download and install the MPC-HC from the link above. Unzip it where you wanted. If you have an existing MPC-HC installation (if you have CCCP or K-Lite Mega Pack), overwrite it with this copy. After that, start the program.
In the example above, I deleted the MPC-HC executables that comes with CCCP and replaced it with the new MPC-HC version (mpc-hc.exe) in its place. Just so you know, since build 1448, the executable has been renamed to mpc-hc.exe.
Download the latest version of Haali Media Splitter from the link provided above. During the setup process, when you arrived at the stage depicted below, unselect the option ‘Associate .mkv and .mka files with Windows Media Player’ before proceeding with the setup process.
If you somewhat skipped the process above, go to Start Menu —> All Programs —> Haali Media Splitter —> Media Splitter Settings (Windows 7 default start path, YMMV), and set the option ‘Use custom media type for H.264′ to ‘No’, as shown below.
Press O (or go to View —> Options) to open the Options window, that should look like below.
Go to Playback section, and make sure that Autoload Subtitles is checked. This will automatically disable DirectVobSub (auto-loading version), so no need to kill it in step 6. If you do not need subtitles, also enable this option so that DirectVobSub/vsfilter is blocked.
Go to Output section, and depending on your operating system, select the appropriate output you have to use. For Windows XP users, you can choose VMR7/9 renderless (if you need subtitles) plus overlay mixer and VM7/9 windowed (if you do not need subtitles – such as playing anime in AVI format that has hard subtitles, for example Dattebayo releases) while for Windows Vista/7 users, choose EVR custom presenter regardless of your subtitles needs. Keep EVR buffers as low as possible (3). If you choose renderers that did not support subtitles, DirectVobSub (auto-loading version) must be blocked in Step 6.
As I now use Windows 7, further steps will show that I am using EVR Custom Presenter.
Go to Internal Filters section and under Source Filters, make sure Matroska, MP4/MOV and Ogg is unticked. Then go to Transform Filter, and ensure that ‘H264/AVC (DXVA)’ and ‘H264/AVC (FFmpeg)’ are selected.
Then double click the selected ‘H264/AVC (DXVA)’ entry to open up its property page, as shown below.
So here is what you have to do depending on what GPU + driver + operating system combination you have:-
- nVidia users + whatever OS used = don’t do anything here, click OK and go to the next step.
- Other GPUs (PowerVR’s Intel GMA500 or S3 Chrome) = don’t do anything here, click OK and go to the next step.
- ATI GPUs (PCI-E or IGP ) with Catalyst 10.4 + Windows Vista or 7 = Set the option 'DXVA(H264) Compatibility Check' to 'Skip all checks', enable ‘Disable DXVA for SD’ option, click OK and go to the next step. Leave other settings as shown above.
- ATI GPUs (PCI-E, AGP or IGP) with Catalyst 10.3 or older + Windows XP/Vista/7 = don’t do anything here, click OK and go to the next step.
- ATI GPUs (AGP) with Catalyst 10.4 or older + Windows XP/Vista/7 = don’t do anything here, click OK and go to the next step.
- ATI GPUs (PCI-E, AGP or IGP) with Calayst 10.4 or older + Windows XP = don’t do anything here, click OK and go to the next step.
- Intel G45/Clarkdale/Arrandale + Windows Vista/7 = Set the option ‘DXVA(H264) Compatibility check’ to ‘Skip all checks’, click OK and go to the next step.
- Intel G45/Clarkdale/Arrandale + Windows XP = UPGRADE TO WINDOWS VISTA OR 7.
We are now going to Step 6, which is the most important step in this tutorial. This step is very important at ensuring that hardware acceleration will work at all.
Here, we go to the External Filters section, because we have to eliminate intermediaries between the MPC internal decoder and the renderer. It should look like below.
Now ask yourself whether you have installed programs like ffdshow in your computer. If you have installed codec packs such as K-Lite Codec Pack or CCCP, then you may have ffdshow Video Decoder. In that case, click Add Filter and you will see a dialog window like below.
Select ‘ffdshow Video Decoder' and click OK, then you will see the previous window populated with ‘ffdshow Video Decoder’ entry selected before.
Here, click Block to prevent ffdshow Video Decoder from being loaded by MPC-HC.
Repeat it with entries that you think will prevent the MPC-HC internal decoder from being connected straight to the renderer (either VMR9 renderless or EVR custom presenter). ffdshow video decoder and DirectVobSub (auto-loading version) are the main culprits that will do so. There could be others that I do not know. If you have done Step 3, DirectVobSub is killed automatically and you do not have to do so here, but if you choose to use video renderers that did not support subtitles like Overlay Mixer or VMR7 windowed, you have to block it here too. If you have other H.264 decoders installed in your computer, such as the ffdshow DXVA Video Decoder, CoreAVC Video Decoder, Cyberlink H.264/AVC decoder, DivX H.264 Decoder and Arcsoft Video Decoder, you should also block them here so that MPC-HC will not load them.
Go to Subtitles section, and set ‘Allow animation when buffering’ is ticked (for those who has low-powered CPU like Intel Atom, untick this option). As long as that option is enabled, the option ‘Sub pictures to buffer’ is not exactly important (set it to 10 if you have 512MB RAM – lower if you have less), but if this option is set to zero, subtitle animation will always be enabled (therefore to disable subtitle animation, the buffer must not be zero and ‘Allow animation when buffering’ is disabled). This will allow those anime OP/ED/insert themes that has soft karaoke effects to be displayed correctly. The appropriate renderer must also be selected in Step 4 above. With the latest MPC-HC, frame drops can be reduced to almost zero even if karaoke effects are turned on.
For ‘Maximum Texture Resolution’ option, set it to ‘Desktop’ with ‘Round up to power of two’ unchecked. This should give you very sharp-looking subtitles but remember, the higher the resolution is, the higher the CPU resources will be used. You can lower this setting to reduce CPU utilization.
Then go to the Subtitles/Default Style section, and full tick the option ‘Position subtitles relative to the video frame’ just like the screenshot below. This will ensure that subtitles will be rendered within the video picture, allowing more accuracy for positional subtitles such as signboards etc.
This step did not apply if you do not watch videos that do not have soft subtitles.
And that’s about all you should do in the Options window. Click Apply to apply all changes you have made, and then click OK to close the Options window.
Right-click within MPC-HC video area, go to Renderer Settings —> GPU Control and make sure that all three options within it (Flush GPU before VSync, Flush GPU after Present and Wait for flushes), just like the screenshot below.
If you use Windows XP or use Windows Vista/7 with Aero disabled, right-click within MPC-HC video area, go to Renderer Settings —> VSync and tick any of the options there to prevent tearing. Alternative VSync is recommended for ATI GPU users, the Accurate VSync is for everyone while VSync is similar to the ‘Lock Back-buffer option in the previous stable MPC-HC build (build 908).
I use Windows 7 with Aero enabled, thus those three Vsync settings above doesn’t apply to me.
If you use Windows Vista/7 with Aero enabled, go to Renderer Settings —>Presentation and ensure that the option Disable Desktop Composition is not ticked. If it somehow was ticked, untick it. If you are masochist enough to enable it, you have to select one of the VSync methods above or else you will get tearing. This option is useless in Windows XP (and you have to select a VSync method above).
Enable Frame Time Correction option should always be checked, regardless of what some people may think.
10-bit RGB option is optional (your GPU will actually have to support this feature). Disable if you want to take screenshots of the video being played. D3D Fullscreen Mode been made obsolete by the three VSync options above (and by Aero in Windows Vista/7), but if you use Windows XP and the VSync options and GPU Flushes cannot stop tearing when playing videos, this method is still the most foolproof way to stop tearing. If you have to resort to this, the option D3D Fullscreen GUI Support allows you to use context menu to operate MPC-HC without having to exit the application.
Again, right click within MPC-HC video area, go to Renderer Settings —> Output Range and select between 0 – 255 or 16 – 235, depending on what B&W level your display device is calibrated to. Read your display device manual for more information. Usually, computer monitors (LCD or CRT) are calibrated to 0-255 level, and TV is usually set to 16-235. But many high definition TVs nowadays are calibrated to 0-255, and some of them can have both, depending on what HDMI socket being used! Read the display's manual for more information.
DXVA IN ACTION
Reference system – Windows 7 Ultimate + AMD Athlon2 X2 250 3.0Ghz + 4GB RAM + nVidia GT240 + nVidia Forceware 195.62.
Download links for these test videos are available at the top of this page.
Blu-ray-compliant test video file 1 – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya NCED theme (Hare Hare Yukai) SD video with karaoke soft-sub.
Click here to see the full-resolution image.
Blu-ray-compliant test video file 2 – Clannad NCED theme (Dango Daikazoku) 720p with karaoke soft-sub.
Click here to see the full-resolution image.
Blu-ray-compliant test video file 3 – Kanon NCOP theme (Last Regret) 1080p with soft-sub.
Click here to see the full-resolution image.
Out-of-spec test video file 4 – James Bond: Quantum of Solace 1080p trailer.
Click here to see the full-resolution image.
Out-of-spec test video file 5 – AIR NCOP theme (Tori no Uta) multi-angle 1080p with karaoke softsubs.
Click here to see the full-resolution image.
Out-of-spec test video file 6 – BBC Planet Earth: From Pole to Pole opening clip.
Click here to see the full-resolution image.
NOTES
- If you have ATI AGP cards, it is highly advisable that you upgrade to a PCI-E or IGP-based GPU.
- If you use ATI PCI-E 1x GPU (instead of the normal PCI-E 16x interface), you have to disable the DisablePCIEx1LaneUVD option in the registry. You can do so with DXVA Checker as shown below.
- Cards that support DXVA:-
ATI:
Radeon™ HD 3800 Series, Radeon™ HD 3600 Series, Radeon™ HD 3400 Series, Radeon™ HD 2600 Series, Radeon™ HD 2400 Series, Mobility Radeon™ HD 3600 Series, Mobility Radeon™ HD 3400 Series, Mobility Radeon™ HD 2600 Series, Mobility Radeon™ HD 2400 Series, Mobility Radeon™ HD 2300 Series, Radeon 780G integrated chipset – UVD 2 + AVP 2 (with Phenom only), Radeon HD 4xxx HD Series, Radeon HD 5xxx HD series.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Video_Decoder
Recommended ATI GPU (for those who doesn't play games – HTPC usage with minimum spec for hardware deinterlacing and AVIVO post-processing at the same time):-
XFX ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB DDR5 PCI-Express x16Recommended ATI GPU (for gamers with no budget limits):-
Visiontek ATI Radeon HD5870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-Express x16NOTE: Both ATI GPUs above sports UV2.2, which should allow L5.1@High video playback with Catalyst 10.4 or later, simultaneously with deinterlacing and post-processing. Ability to bitstream high-definition audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA exists in both GPUs.
nVidia:
All GeForce 8xxx cards and IGPs except GeForce 8800GTS/GTX with G80 core. All GeForce 9xxx cards and IGPs. All GeForce 2xx cards. All Fermi cards.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVIDIA_PureVideo – any of the VP2, VP3, and VP4 GPUs can be used. When buying, make sure it has at least 256MB of video RAM (512MB if you use Windows XP). VP3 GPUs cannot decode videos with the following widths: 769-784, 849-864, 929-944, 1009-1024, 1793-1808, 1873-1888, 1953-1968, 2033-2048 pixels.
Recommended nVidia GPU (for those who doesn't play games – HTPC usage with minimum spec for hardware deinterlacing and post-processing at the same time):
EVGA nVidia GT220 1GB DDR2 PCI-Express 16xRecommended nVidia GPU (for gamers with no budget limits):
EVGA nVidia GTX460 1GB GDDR5 PCi-Express 16x (in SLI mode)NOTE: While both GPUs sports PureVideo4 ASIC, the GT220 cannot bitstream high-definition audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA/HR and playing H.264 MVC codec used in 3D Blu-rays. GTX460 can do both.
Intel:
Intel G45/Clarkdale/Arrandale IGPs: Windows Vista & 7 only (the latest drivers seems to be problem-free). Set at least 256MB of RAM for the IGPs, 512MB is better. Clarkdale/Arrandale GPUs are able to bitstream high-definition audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA.
Intel Core i5 650 3.2Ghz Socket LGA1156 with Clarkdale GPU.+
- Known issues with DXVA-enabled playback:-
- Seeking (fast-forward or rewind) when DXVA is enabled will not be as smooth as playback with no hardware acceleration.
- The dropped frames with soft-subtitles has largely been fixed with the latest final build, but you will still see some of it during seeking operations.
TROUBLESHOOTING
There are 3 test files available for you above to download so that you can test whether you managed to use DXVA on your computer or not. If you can’t, there are few things you should check:-
- Run DXVA Checker (download from the link above) and see if your card drivers exposed their DXVA capabilities.
DXVA Checker result for AMD ATI HD5770.
DXVA Checker result for nVidia GeForce GT220.
- Under your card's name/model, the ModeH264_VLD_NoFGT (ATI and nVidia GPUs) or ModeH264_VLD_NoFGT_ClearVideo (Intel GPUs) should exist (alongside with their supported resolutions) and will confirm your GPU capability to accelerate H.264 decoding.
- If you see empty space under your card’s name instead like below:-
You won’t be able to use DXVA in MPC-HC, even if your card supports it. Try reinstalling drivers and then rerun DXVA Checker again to see whether it has been fixed. If it isn’t fixed, you may have to reformat your computer and reinstall Windows.
- When posting a comment for help, please state:-
- Your operating system, inclusive whether it is 32-bit or 64-bit.
- Exhaustive information about your card. Information needed are GPU model (e.g. ATI 3450 or nVidia 9600GT), driver version (e.g. ATI Catalyst 8.12 or nVidia Detonator 178.24 – plus whether you use manufacturer drivers or ATI/nVidia drivers), video memory (e.g. 256MB, 512MB; 256MB is the minimum requirement) and most importantly, the interface (e.g. AGP or PCI-E; PCI cards do not work). If you have AGP cards (ATI only, because nVidia DXVA cards has no AGP versions), you also have to state the manufacturer of your motherboard chipset (e.g. Intel, AMD, ViA and nVidia) and whether you use the DVI-HDMI dongle.
- Screenshots of DXVA Checker, CPU-Z and GPU-Z results. Put them somewhere in sites like photobucket or imageshack and post the link to them here. You cannot embed pictures BTW.
- The version of MPC-HC used.Please also make sure that your problem can be repeated with any of the three test files (Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad and Kanon – not the Quantum of Solace trailer or the AIR OP theme either).
- When asked to use third-party DXVA codecs instead of MPC-HC internal decoders, you can do so by following the instructions at this page.
Click the ‘Older Comments’ link to see, well, older comments for this blog post.
Some other people says that they do not have problems with DXVA with Catalyst 9.1 and MPC-HC, but it seems that a large number of people does have DXVA broken. Will see if this is really a trend.
edit: Someone at doom9 forum says that this happened with Windows XP users only. Vista users seems unaffected.
I can confirm, that Catalyst 9.1 breaks dxva. At least in Windows XP SP3. Anyone using Vista?
[...] Watching h.264 videos using DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA). My collection of short anime reviews i was not able to get the DXVA enabled… but the above link helped me thanks to the one who [...]
Just a quick note that the new ATI drivers 9.1 completely break DXVA support. Check with DXVAChekcer.
I grabbed the Elfen Lied OP from TokyoTosho. Dunno who made it, but it is a very good subtitled DXVA test file.
Thank you for your quick response.
I didn’t know it.
So this means I will continue to have my cpu at 100%.
By the way, of wich fansub did you take the elfen lied ed test out? I tried to search, but could not find it…
Wish you all the best.
@Inachan
Your GPU can only accelerate DVDs, not H.264 videos.
I can see the video if I change to vmr7, but cpu is up at 100%.
Inachan
Hallo, I have done all the steps, but I get a black screen and only hear the audio when I play the file with mpc.
With my computer, can I use dxva?
I’m using windows xp sp3, and when I run dxva checker it says
Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller
ModeMPEG2_A: DXVA1, IMC4, 720×480 / 1280×720 / 1920×1080
ModeMPEG2_B: DXVA1, IMC4, 720×480 / 1280×720 / 1920×1080
ModeMPEG2_C: DXVA1, IMC4, 720×480 / 1280×720 / 1920×1080
ModeMPEG2_D: DXVA1, IMC4, 720×480 / 1280×720 / 1920×1080
Should I be able to use dxva?
Thank you for your guide and your effort.
Inachan
@Kelvin.
Is that result with the subtitled test videos?
Thanks for the guide!
After spending half a day searching around, I manage to get my 2600xt AGP perform hard acceleration!
However, the result is not as good as what expected (maybe is due to my low pc spec, P4 2.8 HT/1GB DDR Ram). CPU utilization showing 19%-30%, while GPU ranging from 30%-40% on a 720P clip (haven’t had a chance to try it on 1080P).
@Joe
From your DXVA Checker screenshot and info from http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2564&Itemid=230&limit=1&limitstart=1
your card did not support DXVA for H.264 videos. Sorry.
@Alex
Unless you play ts/m2ts videos, those settings is immaterial. DXVA should be used even if those are ticked, but at higher CPU usage.
Clicking the Yahoo! playlist will download me a .mov file. Is that video using H.264? .mov container is not a good container for H.264, just like avi container. That may be the source of the problem. Can you remux the video into .mp4 or .mkv container and see whether artifacts still appears? (I do not know how to do it though).
For the settings:-
Decoding thread number: 1-4 [For DXVA, it will use only one thread. For software decoding, will use up to 4 threads. Set it to the number of CPU cores you have].
H264 skip deblocking mode: [Set it at Default and never set it to None].
Error resilience: [Careful should work most of the time].
IDCT algorithm: [For MPEG4 ASP videos only like DiVX and XviD. Leave it at default].
Read AR from stream: [Will read the video aspect ratio from the video stream. Turn it on].
upd:
soft horizontal stripes around objects is the artefacts, on the screen it much sharper
And may be you can counsel where I can find instruction how to set up MPC video decoder. Those settings decoding thread number, H264 deblocking mode and other.
One more issue:
on this media
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?sid=78341454&sdm=web&pt=rd
appeared some artefacts, which wasn’t there when DXVA wasn’t used
it’s look like this
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3007/dinovod.0/0_3a8c_febf347_orig
Yap! Now it works! Detonator installation utility process didn’t ends, but driver updated and its ok now.
Thak you very much.
By the way, in internal filters MPEG PS/TS/PVA wasn’t switched off when i asked my first question. Could it be the reason why DXVa wasn’t used?
I’m running Windows XP (32bit) and I have a Geforce 7300 LE with the following drivers (181.20_geforce Nvidia). I think the card is a 512mb one, and it is through PCI-E. My PC is a Pentium 3.2 GHZ Dual Core, 2GB ram. Now I have tried several different combinations using the internal MPC filters, CoreAVC, Cyberlink, all with Haali splitter and I can’t seem to get smooth playback on 1080p files. CPU use is very high (90%), and also can be high on 720p files (70-90% at the most demanding parts). Here is a can of the DXVA checker:
http://i41.tinypic.com/2yts3gw.png
I’m not sure what the problem is, but I don’t think DXVA is being activated somehow. Both with the internal MPC codec (I get DXVA not in use, when I right click), and I get this info when using cyberlink:
Filter : CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD8) – CLSID : {C16541FF-49ED-4DEA-9126-862F57722E31}
- Connected to:
CLSID: {55DA30FC-F16B-49FC-BAA5-AE59FC65F82D}
Filter: W:\+720p Films+\Dusk Till Dawn 1996 1080p BluRay DTS x264-DON_Sample.mkv\From Dusk Till Dawn 1996 1080p BluRay DTS x264-DON_Sam
Pin: Video
- Connection media type:
Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1920×1080 23.98fps
AM_MEDIA_TYPE:
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: Unknown GUID Name {31435641-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO {E06D80E3-DB46-11CF-B4D1-00805F6CBBEA}
bFixedSizeSamples: 0
bTemporalCompression: 0
lSampleSize: 1
cbFormat: 299
VIDEOINFOHEADER:
rcSource: (0,0)-(0,0)
rcTarget: (0,0)-(0,0)
dwBitRate: 0
dwBitErrorRate: 0
AvgTimePerFrame: 417082
VIDEOINFOHEADER2:
dwInterlaceFlags: 0×00000000
dwCopyProtectFlags: 0×00000000
dwPictAspectRatioX: 16
dwPictAspectRatioY: 9
dwControlFlags: 0×00000000
dwReserved2: 0×00000000
MPEG2VIDEOINFO:
dwStartTimeCode: 0
cbSequenceHeader: 167
dwProfile: 0×00000064
dwLevel: 0×00000029
dwFlags: 0×00000004
BITMAPINFOHEADER:
biSize: 40
biWidth: 1920
biHeight: 1080
biPlanes: 1
biBitCount: 24
biCompression: avc1
biSizeImage: 0
biXPelsPerMeter: 1
biYPelsPerMeter: 1
biClrUsed: 0
biClrImportant: 0
pbFormat:
0000: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …………….
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …………….
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3a 5d 06 00 00 00 00 00 ……..:]……
0030: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 09 00 00 00 …………….
0040: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 00 00 00 80 07 00 00 ……..(…€…
0050: 38 04 00 00 01 00 18 00 61 76 63 31 00 00 00 00 8…….avc1….
0060: 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 …………….
0070: 00 00 00 00 a7 00 00 00 64 00 00 00 29 00 00 00 ….§…d…)…
0080: 04 00 00 00|00 1e 67 64 00 29 ac 34 e5 01 e0 08 ……gd.)4å.à.
0090: 9f 97 ff 00 01 00 01 10 00 65 d3 b0 13 12 d0 08 Ÿ—ÿ……eÓ°..Ð.
00a0: f1 83 19 60 00 85 68 ee b3 ce 55 31 cc 30 5d 26 ñƒ.`.…hî³ÎU1Ì0]&
00b0: 28 d1 30 80 21 48 68 78 3a 1c 0d 04 e1 21 42 c0 (Ñ0€!Hhx:…á!BÀ
00c0: ac 0d a0 2f e1 00 42 ad 35 e9 e8 50 b7 48 c7 78 . /á.B5éèP•HÇx
00d0: a1 41 00 88 b1 72 10 54 49 ca 30 50 e2 04 44 8b ¡A.ˆ±r.TIÊ0Pâ.D‹
00e0: 20 a4 d8 a0 81 82 70 90 80 98 48 54 1d c4 29 0a ¤Ø ‚p€˜HT.Ä).
00f0: 43 16 42 15 a2 01 90 0c ae 83 40 f8 1e 86 f0 33 C.B.¢..®ƒ@ø.†ð3
0100: 00 b6 01 70 02 ac 05 98 1d 61 a0 78 02 a8 40 0a ..p..˜.a x.¨@.
0110: 90 20 87 40 47 00 bc 01 05 06 e0 36 40 4b 81 18 ‡@G.¼…à6@K.
0120: 05 90 2e 07 20 3e 00 87 ff 85 8f ... >.‡ÿ…
Also to make things worse, after a reboot, I seem to get a blank screen which doesn’t play when using the mpc filters now, only cyberlink will play them. Any ideas how I can ensure DXVA is working?
Thanks
@Alex
This is because none of the renderers accepts NV24 input and the MPC-HC decoder do not support it either. Can you use drivers available at nVidia website? That will allow you to use NV12 colorspace instead of just NV24 for H.264 videos.
Hello.
Here my DXVA Checker results
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3305/dinovod.0/0_3a34_7370c86_orig
I’ve passed all steps of instruction, but DXVA still not used while i’m playing samples which have DXVA support.
In my results there are no MPC video decoder. Why it could be?
My computer: notebook samsung with Geforce 9200m gs, Vista home premium x32, drivers for video card from samsung support site version 7.15.11.7624 from 26.07.2008
mpc-hc version 1.2.908
how to interpret the DXVAChecker output?
1. on my pc (with ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro/XT) “ModeH264_VLD_noFGT” is listed with “DXVA1, NV12, -” that means there are no resolutions listed, like you can see on other screenshots. Probably as a consequence, the test-video 2 “Suzumiya” cannot be displayed. In fact, a black screen is visible and if you display the statistics, it shows “DXVA1: H.264 bitstream decoder, no FGT”.
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/oo22/chris75vie/mpc_suzumiya.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/oo22/chris75vie/gpu-z.jpg
http://i358.photobucket.com/albums/oo22/chris75vie/DXVAchecker.jpg
What’s reason that the video is not displayed?
How should one interpret the resolution list of the DXVAChecker? Does “-” mean that this feature is not supported at all? What about smaller resolutions with are not listed? Are they supported?
Another thing is that, test-video 2 can be displayed only with VMR7 renderless with internal “H.264/DXVA” disabled. Other renderer won’t work.
2. the quantum video (http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/132004/test_hd_9refs_high_l5.1.mp4) won’t use DXVA even on my notebook, which sucessfully uses DXVA for test video 1 and 2.
Any ideas?
@ranpha
With Divx7 h264 decoder I get the same problems (video stuttering a little and scratching noises) I have with CoreAVC. I’m starting to lose hope here, lol. But still can’t fathom why with no dxva acceleration I have a lower performance now than I did before… Thanks for your patience though.
I also can’t understand why, if the hardware supports it, do the drivers limit the playback of h264 videos!! What the hell are the guys from ATI thinking??!!
[...] slab, nu cred ca e de acolo, oricum ai o placa care stie decodare DXVA ai incercat tutorialul Watching h.264 videos using DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA). In VLC player nu poti obtine asa ceva pentru ca el are propriile codecuri si nu accepta filtre [...]
@matt
Well, I have no idea if ATI will ever make their drivers to work with L5.1 videos. Their hardware is capable of it, but the drivers limits it to L4.1.
Well I just purchased a ati hd4550 for this purpose then realized that it couldn’t handle L5.1 videos of which I have several. Anyone have any word or idea if ATI/AMD will update their drivers to support L5.1 as Nvidia did? If they don’t then I’ll be exchanging this card for a Nvidia card.
[...] that GeForce 8300 also support DVXA and hence should be OK using MPCVideoDec.ax Also checkout Watching h.264 videos using DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA). « My collection of short anime review… – might have some relevant tips [...]
No such device is listed in my Control Panel, only my creative sound blaster. Could it be that there was some problem with my drivers installation for the ATI?
The only thing I can think of is that the built-in audio in the ATI 3850 AGP card is interfering with the operation of your SB Live card. If you do not use the built-in audio in the ATI card, you may want to disable it in Control Panel —> Sound.
Yes, mp3 or aac. But what I find strange is that with my geforce 6800 GT, I was able to play smoothly and with no sound problems lots of 720p h264 movies with coreavc and ffdshow audio decoder. Now, with the ATI HD 3850 AGP, for those files non-DXVA, I got the problems I mentioned with those same videos!
I don’t understand why the loss in performance if supposedly the Nvidia and the ATI are not accelerating the decoding and the CPU is doing all the work in both cases. I just switched my graphics card, absolutely nothing else, and now I have less performance.
@ranpha
Those video and sound problems happen only on h264 video files in which the dxva is not being used. In those, I tried decoding the video with both MPC Video decoder and CoreAVC, the results are similar, though CoreAVC seems to do a somewhat better job (less pops and scratchings, though still present).
The FPS are not stuck, in fact in the file “House.S05E11.720p.HDTV.X264-DIMENSION.mkv”, for instance, it’s varying between 21 to 24 FPS. (with CoreAVC, with MPC Vid. Dec. it uses DXVA)
For audio decoder I the use FFDShow audio decoder present in the CCCP pack (don’t worry, I block FFDShow video and CoreAVC when using MPC Video Decoder)
I forgot to mention that before I had my ATI I used the Overlay Mixer, not EVR. Now I notice that using CoreAVC and the Overlay Mixer, if I right click on the video during playback and choosse Filters-> Video Renderer, all the fields have zero value, which did not happen before. Does it mean something?
@Cinetyk
The videos that did not work with DXVA is probably (highly likely even) not DXVA-compliant, especially for older releases.
About the slow video and sound problems, does that happened with the test files as well? What audio decoder did you use?
Did the video playback stuck at 20fps or something?
Hi there. First of all thanks for the guide!
My system:
P4 3.0 Ghz HT (Socket 478), Motherboard: ASUS P4S800D-X (SIS 655FX); 2GB RAM DDR400; SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON HD 3850 AGP (working AGP 8x); Drivers: Catalyst 8.12 HOTFIX for HD2k/HD3k AGP cards and Vista 32-bit (if problems occur by using AGP cards) from SAPPHIRE site. (DEC 15th 2008)
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1.
SoundBlaster Live! Digital 24 bit
Before this card, I had a ASUS V9999 GT (Nvidia Geforce 6800 GT), and I used CoreAVC 1.8.5 and haali media spliiter for h264 video decoding, and I could play most of the 720p up to a certain point (in quality of the encode, I suppose), past which the playback got really slow. Certainly the CPU couldn’t handle more.
I switched only the graphics card, and with the guide got the test files working with dxva, no problem. Only there’s some files I have on which dxva is not used (checking the properties on the MPC video decoder says so), but I figure it’s the card problem (as the guide says, ATI have limitations). Is there any solution to this? A way of getting
I thought about using CoreAVC for those, as I used before, but now I get a lot of problems I didn’t have with the old video card: the playback is slow and the sound pops a lot, like a vinyl it’s being scratched or something. Is there any way to fix this, I mean, making CoreAVC do the work and get the performance I had with the Nvidia 6800 GT?
With an ATI 2400HD, SEMPRON 3000, 2.5GB RAM I am able to watch 720p and 1080p with maximum 40% CPU load.
DXVA is freaking amazing.
cables maybe? hmmm
p.S.
narrowed it a bit further. DVI is much better than HDMI, at least it’s watchable, but VGA is still better.
Thanks again.
thanks for all your help. Having tried all possible drivers and fixes with no result I have now found this. My card has HDMI, DVI and VGA connectors. Using either the two digital ones I get the problem with colours. However if I connect the card using analog cable 15pin VGA to the TV (it also has such an input) the colour is great;. I use exactly the same setting so the TV display and it is obvious that the problem lies with digital output.
Having realised that this is a more general problem and not specific to DXVA I will not trouble you anymore and will seak help elsewhere. In case you do have any sudjestions they are ofcourse more than welcome.
Thanks for all your time for the guide and support.
Thank you both. I’ve now tried all suggestions to no avail. I have even tried installing vista64 and the display is the same. I now believe this is a driver or hardware issue as the display is washed out (not really noticeably but it shows in MPC and 3d games). I noticed that without any drivers colours are much better and MPC playbacks decently. I will try other driver sets, other than 8.12 and asus pack, and post back.
However I wonder, could this be a hardware issue? Maybe I shoud RMA the card.
Thanks again.
Or try with the wast beta version of MPC-HC: http://www.xvidvideo.ru/content/category/1/1/2/
@otheos
If the starting BIOS screen is grey instead of black, then highly likely the scenario is the opposite of what I have mentioned. If that’s the case, your TV is probably already using PC levels (0-255) but the ATI card outputs TV levels (16-235). Try applying the “UseBT601CSC”=”1″ tweak mentioned at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11659897&postcount=2121
@ranpha
Thanks for that. I have also checked CCC and under DTV controls I get the option ti change from PC Standard (Full RGB) to Studio (Limited RGB) but this makes no apparent change.
This is a screenshot of CCC.
http://pub.otheos.com/images/forum/pixelcolors.jpg
Now before this HTPC I had another one using an AGP HD3650 card and all was fine (on the same Sony Brava 40S3000 TV) over a DVI2HDMI cable. As soon as I upgraded I noticed the BIOS screen to be brighter so I think you’re right about what the card is outputing and how it’s being hadled by the TV. Tried the same DVI2HDMI cable but I get the same output (I usually run HDMI from the card).
I am sitting with my TV’s manual as we speak. I was hoping the change offered by CCC regarding RGB colours would make it. Maybe a different drivers set?
Thanks again and happy new year.
Hey, thanks for the eye opener, all the effort and the replies to everyone. Really thank you.
Now to my issue. Everything works great but I have noticed poor dynamic range of colors on most mkv movies with the 902 version. When I switch to CoreAVC colors are great but changing back to the internal codecs gives black dark colors and too bright whites.
It’s not a matter of adjusting brightness on my tv (everything gets washed out). So is there a way around this? Is there a way to adjust the colours of the internal codecs?
I use an ATI 4670 (CCC 8.12) with a celeron dual core on an G31 based motherboard (really cheap hardware but oh so nice to see it playback 1080p mkv’s with less than 10% usage) with WinXP MCE SP3 and no other codec (mplayer, matroska splitter and coreavc).
Did I say thanks? Well thanks again.
including the sample videos… not “same” videos… sry for the typo
Great tutorial.
I got to a point where MPC says that its using DXVA… but I get horrible framedrops and stuttering on most videos (including the same ones).
I have dual 8800M GTX (G92) in SLI.. though I had to disable SLI for MPC to even attempt DxVA, but technically everything should work fine.
Any ideas?
Thanks for the info ranpha.
Ranpha, thanks for the advice, unfortunately did not work, will stick with coreavc on this pc
Ok, isnt needed with mpchc because it includes an embedded video decoder that uses this technology and if i play a 720p video i can view that DXVA works fine.
But if i’d want to try another player with EVR support (like kmplayer or somethingelse) i have to install Avivo package or is not necessary?
Thanks.
Avivo package is necessary to use DXVA or not?
Having a little trouble with my setup.
Have just done a fresh install of xp, have an asus eah2400pro card on agp.
Have no trouble getting pc to run mpc-hc with coreavc or ffdshow decoders, however get black screen when trying to take advantage of dxva through mpcvideodec.ax decoder. The decoder is on the registry, and when i run dxva checker, can see my card is listed and has the Modeh264_VLD_NoFGT then DXVA1 then NV12, but no resolutions listed next to that? It also shows mpc – Video Decoder when I check DirectShow Filters, with two ModeH264 (one with FGT and one without) but no DXVA 1 or 2 written next to that?
I have tried with two sets of drivers for the Graphics Card, and has worked with neither. ANy ideas much appreciated, so I can enjoy 1080p mkv’s!
Thanks
Sean
Merry Christmas guys
Great kudos to the author of this excellent guide!
I was close to buying a new desktop for HD movies but thanks to you, I’ll save some money
Seriously. I checked a lot of forums in my local language. Even articles in popular magazines says that the requirements for HD video are close to two 3 GHz cores, etc… This page comes to prove again that the software we usually use can be much, much better optimized in order to squeeze everything that hardware offers.
I’m using nVidia nForce 3 250 based mobo, socket 754, Sempron 2500+ (1.4 GHz), 1 GB RAM DDR 400, Sapphire ATi HD2600XT AGP with 256 MB DDR3 and catalyst version 08.12.
MPC – Homecinema, build 1.2.908.0.
I know HD2600 has the potential as a hardware and I was very dissapointed that simply there was no properly written software to utilize the GPU capabilities. I mean mkv
After reading this, I can watch 720p with 5-15% CPU load! I can also perfectly play your 1080p test movie. Finally! Great!
Before, I was using software decoders and it was almost possible to watch mkv 720p after CPU overclock up to 1.8 GHz and at over 85% CPU load. Even than there were some drops and bad synchronization between audio and video.
So, thank you again
What if we always had software that fully uses all hardware power in our computers – just a thought
Let me give you some feedback
I am still not able to play all 1080p movies (BBC Planet Earth for exampe).
I tried all above with old graphics drivers, directx update, etc. but honestly there is no difference. I experience the same as with your L5.1 movie – pure lack of hardware decoding.
I changed Planet earth to 4.0 with IDC Multi Changer v. 1.0.0.0. Strangely, it started to give some error message short after this. The same happened with TsRemux v. 0.0.21.2.
I can mention that DXVA checker (unfortunately I can’t give you screen shot now) says up to 1280×720 for ModeWMV8_PostProc and ModeWMV9_PostProc. The other information from DXVA checker looks OK. Maybe this has something to do?
Also, I use my laptop (Core 2 Duo T7500 2×2.2 GHz, 2 GB DDR667, Intel GM965/X3100 video) for 1080p with software decoding. K-lite plays much better than community pack by using both cores but even then I get some drops during very heavy scenes (camera panoramic movement, lots of moving objects in the frame). According to this
http://www.intel.com/technology/graphics/ctv.htm
it should also be possible for Intel X3100 to support nice 1080p play, especially combined with two Merom cores, over 2 GHz each.
Can you help with Intel GM965 platform and matroska too? I’m sure it is possible. Just someone has to write it
Cheers
[...] than L4.1 cannot currently (AFAIK) be decoded in hardware by ATI/AMD video cards. However, I read here that nVidia has added profile L5.1 support now. Personally i got tired of all the hardware accel [...]
[...] erklären an was es liegt? Hab bis jetzt folgendes gemacht: Das hier gelesen und eingestellt: Watching h.264 videos using DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA). My collection of short anime reviews -> leider noch 100% Prozessorlast und arges ruckeln. -> also irgendwas geht mir [...]
hi,
so I am stucked at the build 906 from mpc hc.
I was happy with that version, and wasnt so much at home. But today I downloaded build 929, and I have got the same problem as with the stable 908. After I close it Windows shows me that the problem is not responing, and so on…
But it’s ok with the build 906.
So if someone else got this problem, you need to downgrade.
Ciao,
Keksz