Shortlink of this post – http://wp.me/PrgSo-2n (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 fansub groups released their files in h.264 format, which can be pretty taxing for older CPUs (like non-dual core ones). This will be more apparent with high definition videos like the one I reviewed 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 the BakaBT forum here. NOTES TO ALL USERS, PLEASE READ THE NOTES SECTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
CHANGELOG
27 December 2009 – Updated the tutorial to use MPC-HC build 1453 (notable new features are Windows 7 jump list integration, new audio renderer and some more EVR custom presenter tweaks). Most important change in this revision is the additional work on how to reconfigure the latest version of Haali Media Splitter so that you won’t get pin errors when using it in conjunction with the internal H.264 decoders.
GUIDE TO USING DXVA WITH MPC-HC
What you need to use DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) to accelerate those CPU-hungry h.264 video files you see a lot here:-
- Windows XP SP2 (SP3 recommended), Windows Vista (SP2 recommended) or Windows 7 (get the edition that has Windows Media Player 12). Windows Vista or Windows 7 are mandatory for Intel G45 users.
My Recommendation:- Windows 7 is recommended so that you can use the new Microsoft H.264 decoder ‘Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder’. So to all European readers, Windows 7 N is not the version you have to buy. For Windows XP users, consider upgrading to Vista/7. - A qualifying video card that supports DXVA. A list of them are available at the bottom of this tutorial.
My recommendation:- As of now, nVidia GeForce GT220. One of the many PureVideo4 available out there. This card here is a good one (I have one myself), which can also do bitstream decoding for VC-1, MPEG4 ASP (xVid and DiVX) and MPEG2 videos. Also has HDMI audio, like ATI4xxx series. Plus the CUDA method at the link at the top of this page can also be used. Quite a decent card for Left 4 Dead 2 and Serious Sam First Encounter HD. There are many PureVideo4 cards (and chipsets) out there, such as the G210 and GT240 too, so off to Newegg (or your local retailer) you should go. - Media Player Classic – HomeCinema. This tutorial will use the beta version build 1453. It can be downloaded from here (mirror). Change-logs for the MPC-HC can be read here or here. 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. Make sure that you have the latest drivers too.
- Haali Media Splitter – Since build 718, the Matroska (.mkv) and Ogg (.ogm) internal source filters has been disabled because they are inferior to what Haali Media Spliter can do. You can still enable them of course, but from the comments you can read below, it seems that it will be better if you just let them stay disabled (.mp4 too). Download Haali Media Splitter from here or here (version 1.9.355.21). The older version (version 1.9.42.1) is available here. From the feedback at the comments (thanks a lot to Dimension), it seems that Haali is a better alternative after all). Download and install this program first before proceeding with this tutorial. Please do not disable Haali Media Splitter to use the internal source filters (they contributes to frame drops and audio de-syncing).
ATTENTION TO ATI CARD USERS, IF YOU USE WINDOWS XP, ATI CATALYST 9.4 (and above) IS THE ONLY 2009 DRIVERS YOU CAN USE. CATALYST 9.1 – 9.3 ARE NOT USABLE. VISTA/7 USERS ARE NOT AFFECTED.
FILES YOU NEED FOR TROUBLESHOOTING
DXVA Checker - Download here (you can check whether your card is DXVA-capable and you will need this too for troubleshooting). Original website.
GPU-Z - Download here (show the detailed information about your card).
DirectX End-user Runtime – Download here. Install this if you have d3dx9.dll error message when using MPC-HC.
Microsoft .NET 3.5 Framework – Download here or here. Needed, if you don’t have it already, to use for EVR/EVR custom presenter. Also needed to run DXVA Checker.
TEST VIDEO FILES.
If you have problems enabling DXVA, please test your setup with this three videos first. If the problem is repeatable, make screenshots of your DXVA Checker and GPU-Z results and make a comment in the comment section.
test video file 1 – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya ED theme SD video with karaoke soft-sub – here (mirror*).
test video file 2 – Elfen Lied ED theme 720p with karaoke soft-sub - here (mirror*).
test video file 3 – Kanon OP theme 1080p with softsub – here.
*= may give 404 errors sometimes, so use the first link first.
TUTORIAL
Step 1.
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. Also download the MediaInfo dll file, and extract the ‘MediaInfo.dll’ file in the same directory. After that, start the program.
In the example above, I deleted the MPC-HC executables that comes with CCCP (mplayerc.exe) and put with it the new MPC-HC version (mpc-hc.exe) in its place. Just so you know, for the latest version (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.
Step 2.
Press O (or go to View —> Options) to open the Options window, that should look like below.
Step 3.
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.
Step 4.
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.
Step 5.
Go to Internal Filters section and under Source Filters, make sure Matroska and Ogg is not selected. I also recommend that MP4/MOV is disabled too. Then go to Transform Filter, and ensure that H264/AVC (DXVA) and H264/AVC (FFmpeg) are selected.
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.
Step 6.
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. 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 windows 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 CoreAVC Video Decoder, Cyberlink H.264/AVC decoder and Arcsoft Video Decoder, you should also block them here so that MPC-HC will not load them.
Step 7.
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 subtitles 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. See the demonstration here to see how a complex karaoke effect takes two times the CPU resources that is needed to to decode a high-bitrate 1080p video with multichannel lossless audio.
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 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.
Step 8.
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.
10-bit RGB option is optional. 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 manual for more information.
Step 9 (for Intel G45 GPU chipset users):-
Close MPC-HC. For users who are using this Intel GPU, open up your registry editor (regedit) with administrative privileges, and add-up the modification below:-
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Gabest\Filters\MPC Video Decoder
- Key name : CompatibilityMode
- type : DWORD
- value : 16 (Hex value)A *.reg file based on the above information is available here (thanks to 
DDDD). Unzip and double-click the *.reg file inside. You may need to provide UAC account info if asked.
This will allow G45 owners to play H.264 videos that do not conform to DXVA standards. It will not be always successful, but I estimate that at least 90% of those out-of-spec H.264 videos should be playable with G45 GPU + the registry modification above. The Quantum of Solace trailer, AIR OP theme and Planet Earth sample should work though, at least with my own tests with an Acer laptop with G45 GPU + Windows Vista OS.
Warning: messing with your registry can cause your system to be unbootable. This step is always optional. Back-up your registry before attempting this modification. Make a system restore point too just to be safe.
DXVA IN ACTION
System:- Windows 7 Ultimate + Phenom X4 9500 + 4GB RAM + nVidia 9800GT G92 512MB + nVidia Forceware 186.18
The Haruhi ending – available here (SD video)
Elfen Lied ending 720p – available here (HD video in 720p)
Kanon OP 1080p video – download from here (HD in 1080p).
WHY YOU SHOULD BUY NVIDIA GPUS & UPGRADE TO WINDOWS VISTA/7.
James Bond: Quantum of Solace trailer (mirror*) – For selected nVidia cards only with 178.24 or later drivers. The reason why you should consider nVidia cards. This video will not play in DXVA mode with ATI cards. Or either Intel G45, at least officially. To play this video with G45, the registry modification in Step 9 above has to be performed.
The ultimate video test 1 – AIR OP theme: Lia – Tori no Uta (mirror*). If your machine set-up can play this flawlessly, no videos (at least DXVA-compatible ones as detailed in the Notes section below) will faze your computer. This video will not play in DXVA mode with ATI cards. Or either Intel G45, at least officially. To play this video with G45, the registry modification in Step 9 above has to be performed.
The big chunk of the CPU usage has to do with the karaoke effect, playing the video itself takes less than 10% CPU.
The ultimate video test 2 – BBC Planet Earth: From Pole to Pole sample (mirror*). Contains the infamous waterfall and birds flyby scenes. Playable only with nVidia GPUs, and only with Windows Vista/7. Windows XP users with correct nVidia cards can only play this video using CoreAVC CUDA 2.0. This video will not play in DXVA mode with ATI cards. Or either Intel G45, at least officially. To play this video with G45, the registry modification in Step 9 above has to be performed.
*= may give 404 errors sometimes, so use the first link first.
NOTES
- I previously recommended ATI cards over nVidia, but now things has changed. First,with the release of Detonator 178.24, all qualifying cards (at least that the ones this driver supports) now officially support L5.1 videos. Second, since Catalyst 8.6, ATI has changed the way DXVA works on their cards which caused problems like macroblocking, green screens etc. and this problem will be more apparent if you use AGP cards (that’s why most users that has problems in the comment section and the boxtorrent thread usually has AGP cards). PCI-E users is also affected by this problem, but much less so than AGP users.For this, all nVidia card users should upgrade to 178.24 or later (this is the latest non-beta as of writing), grab the beta build 867 or newer and enjoy increased compatibility. For ATI users, those who has the AGP cards (HD 2xxxx and HD 3xxxx) and has problems playing videos in DXVA mode, downgrade to Catalyst 8.5 hotfix (available at http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=18 or any other similar sites). If you do not have problems, do not change anything (I even suggest that you do not change your drivers ever again). If the problem persisted, you may have to use external decoders such as the one included in PowerDVD. The changes made in Catalyst 8.6 caused MPC-HC internal DXVA decoder to not work correctly with ATI cards.
- Not all videos can be accelerated. It has to be encoded with compatible profiles. The highest profile that can be used is L4.1. More info about this can be found at http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1078122&postcount=1 and http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12728994&postcount=1. With nVidia new drivers, the cards now support L5.1 profiles though. This test video is an example where MPC-HC will now decode L5.x videos which it will not before.
- Cards that supports 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 – UVD 2 + AVP 2, Radeon HD 5xxx HD series.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Video_Decoder
nVidia:-
All GeForce 8xxx cards and IGPs except GeForce 8800GTS/GTX with G80 core. All GeForce 9xxx cards and IGPs. All GeForce 2xx cards.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVIDIA_PureVideo – any of the VP2, VP3, VP4 and VP5 GPU can be used. When buying, make sure it has at least 256MB of video RAM (512MB if you use Windows XP).
Intel:-
Intel G45 IGP: Windows Vista & 7 only (the latest drivers seems to be problem-free). The Step 9 above is necessary so that it can play out-of-DXVA-spec H.264 videos.
Card recommended (personally tested):-
GIGABYTE GV-N220OC-1GI GeForce GT 220 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card – A PureVideo4 that can accelerate H.264, VC-1, MPEG4-ASP (DiVX and XViD) and MPEG2 videos on hardware. Also support HDMI audio (multichannel LPCM) just like ATI 4xxx series.
Other cards that I have tested and works:-
- Palit NE3X262SFHD94 GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card – Retail – A PureVideo2 GPU that I currently use on my main desktop.
- GIGABYTE GV-NX84S512HP GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card – Retail – A PureVideo3 GPU on my sister’s computer.
A good website that has an excellent comparison table can be found here. Intel G45 IGP is now supported by MPC-HC internal DXVA decoder (currently only H.264), which means you do not need to use external decoders like PowerDVD 8 with MPC-HC if you want DXVA anymore.
Known issues with DXVA enabled:-
- 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 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 name, the ModeH264_VLD_NoFGT should exist and will confirm that your card and your drivers will be able to use DXVA. 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. Read here to see why I want those AGP information. To make things easier, just post your GPU-Z result screenshot.
– 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, Elfen Lied and Utawarerumono – not the Quantum of Solace trailer or the AIR OP theme either).
Click the ‘Older Comments’ link to see, well, older comments for this blog post.
Intel G41 to do H264 DXVA 2 acceleration:
test_hd_9refs_highl5.1 quantom of solace trailer :
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8100/solacempchcdxva2g41.png
Notes:
1. Intel’s ModeH264_VLD_NoFGT_ClearVideo DXVA2 is usable in MPC-HC only in Vista/7 and video driver ver. 15.11.2.1554. Other versions tried so far(including latest 15.16.5.2021) fail!
2. Use EVR output,and enable MPC-HC CompatibilityMode registry trick shown above in Step9 of the tutorial to play out of spec resolutions.
Where it can be found? And does it work under Win7?
Should work with 7 too considering he/she is using Vista.
Haali Media Splitter v. 1.9.355.21 seems to install both x86 and x64 according to the log, but once done, only the x64 files remain. How do I fix this? Should I extract the files manually from the install package and rename/move them to the install folder?
I copied and renamed the files from the install package manually. DXVA with mkv files works, but there is still no DXVA capable play of my .ts files (720p/50Hz as broadcast via DVB-T). All this work for no gain. :-/
Does your .ts videos play fine without DXVA?
Well, the problem is, I have only found 2 players able to play the .ts files. DVBViewer (with DivX codec (works always) or ATI video codec (and the ATI one errors often)). Also, VLC can play them. ffdshow can decode them but is too slow (can’t manage 720p/50Hz). But all of them are software codecs.
An additional problem is that the audio isn’t normal AAC but requires a special codec (DivX AAC Decoder works). Without that audio codec, sound is at best silent or worst, high-pitched bleeps and something weird. It doesn’t seem as if MPC-HC is able to decode the audio stream. Not even if I make it prefer the DivX AAC Decoder (MPC-HC refuses to use DivX AAC Decoder, it simply disables audio completely if it can’t find an internal codec to decode the sound with). Not disabling mpeg/aac audio capabilities in MPC-HC makes it attempt to decode the AAC audio stream as MPEG-1(!)
Decoding the H264 .ts video stream with DXVA enabled almost works. Problem is severe stuttering (seems like frames are displayed in wrong order). Disabling DXVA (ffmpeg software only) decodes H264 nicely and without stuttering.
Using the MPC-HC H264 codec in DVBViewer to watch live broadcasts causes severe video corruptions. The top of the video seems ok, but gets worse moving down the image with the bottom being only green.
My point is that the DVB-T HD broadcast in Denmark (and possibly many other countries) cannot be decoded by most h264 codecs.
The best I managed with MPC-HC was software-ffmpeg video decode and no audio decode.
Can you make a sample of that particular .ts stream? Forcing DivX AAC Decoder here will make MPC-HC use it for my AAC video files.
What is your ATI video card model? I believe that your DVB-T HD broadcast will use interlaced videos so your GPU must be powerful enough for it.
It seems when I cut it up, DXVA video playback seems fluid enough (until I manually seek), but sound is detected as AAC (but is otherwise silent). An MPEG-1 track is apparently present, but cannot be played (only noise).
I have a smallish HD sample of about 10-11MB. Video part plays ok, but audio doesn’t work. It seems the wrongly detected audio is can cause video to run too fast or not at all.
http://www.ege.cc/files/DRHD.ts
I am using the ATI 5870. Currently, GPU’s don’t get faster than that.
The DVB-T HD broadcast is 720p/50Hz. It is not interlaced and it is 50 complete 1280×720 frames per second.
As I have installed the beta of MPC-HD, is there also a beta release of the MPC-HC codecs? It would be nice to test if MPC-HC H264 DXVA codec is working with DVBViewer.
Video playback of that sample is fluid enough here even when seeking, whether DXVA is used or not. But the audio won’t play even when I use DiVX AAC Decoder. Even the second audio stream (MPEG) won’t play.
Does the audio play well in the original stream where you cut it from?
The audio plays perfectly in DVBViewer using DivX AAC Decoder and VLC also plays the sample perfectly.
If the audio is misdetected as being MPEG-1, corrupted noise is played and the speed of the video suffers greatly in MPC-HC. The stream I have presented does not trigger that error. I have a 5GB ts that triggers it a lot, but I haven’t been able to extract part of it and reproduced the problem.
But as the video plays normally even with DXVA enabled (except in my 5GB ts when I seek), I would like to test this codec in DVBViewer. Currently I only have the final 1249 release of the codecs and it cannot handle the DVB-T stream in DVBViewer. My hope is that the beta codecs can.
Your DRHD.ts sample has also no sound output with MPC-HC here. But it works pretty well with Splash Lite 1.2: http://www.mirillis.com/splash.html
It would make sense that Splash Lite can play the sample perfectly seeing as it advertises being able to handle DVB-T HD streams.
I just tested Splash Lite and it is able to decode my HD channel properly, with sound. Also, it is able to use ATI avivo (hardware accel.) and uses about 0.4 to 1.2% cpu. So it is possible…
Splash Lite doesn’t allow me to make custom channel lists, though. :-/
If you want to test stand-alone filters latest beta version, go to http://www.xvidvideo.ru/2009-10-22-10-49-14/cat_view/6-media-player-classic-homecinema/18—-standalone-filters-mpc-hc/19-standalone-filters-mpc-hc-x86.html
Thank you for the link. I installed MpaDecFilter.ax, MPCVideoDec.ax and VSFilter.dll with regsvr32 but they cannot handle the DVB-T stream (great corruptions). It is the same experience with ffdshow DXVA (shares codebase with MPC-HC DXVA codecs). Just strange that MPC-HC can decode the .ts stream, but the codecs cannot handle the stream. I guess MPC-HC performs stream magic differently than DVBViewer (my choice of player).
Eventually DXVA support for HD DVB-T will arive, I hope… I’d prefer not having to rely on Splash Lite as the sole provider…
[...] this website out [...]
This is by far the most straight forward Guide Ive seen on the net to accelerating H.64 files in 1920X1080 using little to no CPU power.I’m using a combination of players depending on the size of the file after trans coding and 11gb File I’m able to play it using 20% cpu with windows media player in win 7 home edition…..I was also able to play the larger file from your link page with ease….This tutorial will allow you play virtually any HD formatted file with gpu acceleration. Thanks for sharing..
I’m using the ATI 10.2 driver with a 4870…..windows 7 home edition….A’s trans coder….Black edition 5400+ 3.1 cpu…..MSI 580x crossfire board….players media center home center classic…windows media player…..
Every thing so far has been a big help but when I get to ” step: 8 ” , all my options are greyed out and I cant change them. I have tried it with no movie or with a movie, still greyed out. What is the problem.
It all seemed to have worked great as I am able to watch 720p now flawless and the 1080 is also working with no frame drop but Im getting a bad audio stutter. I went into options and clicked downsize audio sample which reduced the stutter but I still have one. Im using a garbage on board sound chip do I need to upgrade to an actual sound card to fix this issue, I planned on it anyways. Also can you get Dolby if your using a 3.5 out to an audio receiver or do you need an optical out. Thanks for everything! dk
I forgot to to add this, in 720 playback my cpu is barely being used about 30% but in 1080 its at 100% but no frame drops, just the stutter. I also am on an ancient system, I have a AMD 2800+ Sempron 2.0 ghz ( I think ancient lmao ), 2 gis ram and a Radeon HD3650. So Im just curious,
1. Why cant I get the renderer options to change because their greyed out?
2. In 1080 playback CPU is 100%, is it because my PC is to old?
3. Can I get rid of the audio stutter in 1080 playback and if I get a good sound card can I get dolby surround out ( optical or 3.5 ) to my home theater with no stutter 1080?
Thanks again,dk.
I fixed the audio stutter by closing my web browser. I cant have any programs running or I get the stutter. Any advice would be super!!
Did you use Windows XP as indicated with your browser string? What renderer did you use? Overlay mixer or VMR9? If it was the former, Step 8 did not apply.
Did DXVA enabled when playing those 1080p videos (check bottom right corner of MPC-HC window)? If yes maybe the 1080p videos you have high bitrates. Even with DXVA on, a Blu-ray direct rip (no reencode) has high enough bitrates to cause a Pentium Dual-Core class CPUs (like E2200) to reach dual-digit CPU usage just to do video bitstream formatting, before other things like audio decoding etc. So I imagine that your old CPU may have problem with 1080p streams with Blu-ray bitrates.
Im using xp, vmr 9 as you told me to select and I will try diff. sources of 1080. The clip Im using came from a Microsoft website. Im not sure of the encoding yet. Ill let you know ASAP. Thanks.
The DVXA feature works excellent in my opinion, either directly via mpc-hc, or via the recent ffdshow-build.
So… Does anyone happen to know if there is a codec, a codec-package, an application or whatever to use this DXVA-Feature to ENCODE h264 videos?? Because this performance gain in encoding would be simply awesome I guess.
You can already use Avisynth DirectShowSource to load DXVA decoders during x264 (or any other format) encoding process.
Oh, ok
. And how “exactly” does this work? Are there any guides on the internet?
You should visit doom9 forum and start learning Avisynth-assisted encoding.
In case you have an ATI card, there’s A’s Video Converter GUI using ATI’s AVIVO video encoder here:
http://bluesky23.hp.infoseek.co.jp/en/index.html#AsVideoConv
Thank you, PeterK!
I already read about it, but the problem is, this program or the avivo feature either works with X… ati cards or with 4600 and 4800 cards, as for the avivo hd feature.
an although my brave little sapphire hd3850 does have the avivo feature listed in the catalyst control center (driver and ccc version 9.13), I’m not able to use “a’s video converter” or the “avivo hd transcoder”
Excuse me Damien, 9.13 must be a typo, there are only 12 months a year (9.1-9.12).
But the AVIVO converters up to Catalyst 9.10 were all broken and buggy. Install Catalyst 9.11 or later and most important install one of the latest AVIVO packs (= xcode) too. I’ve just installed Catalyst 10.2 on my XP with HD 3450 and A’s Video Converter works like a charm. You can even convert things like Killa.sampla with L5.1 and 16 Refs with the DivX7 H.264 decoder plus the GPU encoding.
Oh, sure, sorry, of course it was 9.12.
Sooo, now I got the 10.1 catalyst-package (most up-to-date for my agp hd3850 by sapphire). So far, a’s video converter at least runs, because with the 9.12 version, it didn’t even start.
So now I’ll try and see what’s possible. Thank you again, PeterK!
Doesn’t work.
( All it says is “(failed)” at the percentage column. That’s it. 
( Tried different renderers, settings, profiles, nothing worked. Even the ATI support confirmed that the avivo xcode feature is working with my hd3850 any my driver version 10.1. 
So what am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?
Well, now it works, but only with WMV-Files as source, and WITHOUT any GPU acceleration, and also as slow as before…
(
Too many reasons are possible why things don’t work for you. I use the DivX7 H.264 decoder, the CyberLink PDVD9 MPEG2 decoder and the WMViedeo Decoder DMO. Click on Edit for decoders and mark those in the list that you want to make available for selection. Then select the decoder of your choice under settings before you open the source video. Also edit and select a profile for H.264 and AAC sound for the output file. Tick GPU acceleration. After loading the source video into the list check that line for the correct Profile, Decoder and GPU settings again and change them if necessary. Don’t use DXVA decoding if your video is out-of-spec (L5 or >4refs). CPU decoding and GPU encoding works best together. Good luck, but I can’t make any better suggestions.
My profile: Standard=H.264(Generic), Quality=100, Bitrate=20000, Peak=30000, GOP=Auto, B-Frames=2, Size=1920*Auto, Aspect=Auto, DeInt=Auto, Audio=MPEG4 AAC, Channel=Auto, SampleRate=48000, Bitrate=160.
Finally finally finally, it works!
Screwed something up with the haali splitter, unfortunately, but now it works. Four to six times faster. 
Hey, that’s GREAT !! Although there are still some bugs in A’s Video Converter or the AVIVO package because sometimes it doesn’t want to start encoding and sometimes it does with the same files. And also not all audio streams are supported yet. So we will have to wait for the next updates and hope for fixes.
Thank you so much for writing this article.
Just built an HTPC with an old Athlon X2 3800 and Nivida 9500 and using MPC i was getting dropped frames and CPU at 95% – was really starting to think that either this wasnt working or my hardware wasnt up to the job.
After the guide i can play the plant earth sample with no dropped frame , bicubic at .75 with combined filters ( shapren and another ) CPU is running at 25% approx.
This is awesome , thanks – its really not straightforward to get this working.
Hi ranpha! Thank you very much x this guide!A question x you: What is the best H.264 decoder x ATI user?MPC or new ffdshow DXVA video decoder?
The ffdshow DXVA decoder is the same one like MPC-HC decoder.
[...] series agp de 512mb stie cineva ce draq sa ai fac imi scapa ceva? va multumesc incearca asa Watching h.264 videos using DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) __________________ 1AM2 sys: X2 5200+@3GHz 65W | HR-01 Plus | MSI K9A2 CF | 2×2Gb A-Data Vitesta [...]
how can I see the mpc properties with graph like on the “DXVA IN ACTION”
Process Explorer – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
I’ve been following these comments and was hoping for some further clarification.
I have a Geforce 8800M GTX version 186.81 and haven’t been able to update to the 19x.xx line.
But even if I was able to update the driver, is this card a G80 and therefore not have the required PureVideo 2 ASIC to use CUDA acceleration?
Use GPU-Z and DXVA Checker to see whether your GPU supports bitstream decoding.
The nVida driver for Windows 7 can be obtained at http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_195.62_whql.html but you can use http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ for updated desktop-derived drivers if that driver above doesn’t install.
I’m watching Transformers 2 Blu-ray on my laptop, 15.4′ 1366*768, T4200 2G RAM, nForce 130M, Windows XP SP2.
Can you tell me how I can tweak my MPC-HC to get the same experience as a HDTV?
Does what type of renderer I use tell a difference? I’m pretty sure 130M supports DXVA and is enabled.
The frame rate shows 24. Is this what it’s supposed to be?
The movies runs just fine. But I think the picture quality could be better.
The best way to get the best HD experience with your Blu-ray disc is to connect your laptop to a FullHD monitor/television. Laptop monitors simply doesn’t cut it if you want the best picture quality.
Is it my illusion that I felt the picture quality became better after installed Direct X End-User Runtime?
I do not think an updated DirectX runtime increase PQ. You install the February 2010 version?
can DXVA use vsfilter instead of the mpc-hc one?
DirectVobSub cannot be used with DXVA. MPC-HC internal subtitle engine and DirectVobSub shared plenty of codes though.
http://www.xvidvideo.ru/media-player-classic-home-cinema-x86-x64/media-player-classic-homecinema-x86-x64-svn-1623.html
MPC-HC SVN 1623, fix for MPEG splitter seeking bug.
http://www.xvidvideo.ru/media-player-classic-home-cinema-x86-x64/media-player-classic-homecinema-x86-x64-svn-1613.html
MPC-HC SVN 1613.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=0cef8180-e94a-4f56-b157-5ab8109cb4f5
DirectX Redist End-User Runtimes February 2010 released. Ranpha, please update the DirectX Redist link to point to this one.
[...] RAM ca sa am macar 1Gb. Credeti ca e suficient? despre partea de decodare citesti aici: Watching h.264 videos using DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA). placa mai ieftina si mai buna pentru filme e asta: MSI GeForce 210 512MB DDR2 64-bit Placa video – [...]
Can the ATI HD5000 cards accelerate ALL the videos here?
With MPC-HC internal filters, probably cannot.
What do you mean? Do I need to install additional filters or codec packs?
And is this only limited to MPC-HC, I mean, can I somehow GPU-accelerate these videos on an HD5770 with other media players like KMPlayer, etc? Sorry, I am a beginner.
read http://zachsaw.blogspot.com/2009/08/watching-hd-video-in-mpc-hc-dxva-for.html for more information.
Good to post that stuff!
I was wondering how can i get the ArcSoft decoder to work out of the box ,because I have ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 3 , but that decoder doesn’t appear in the decoder’s list ,when I try to add an external decoder in MPC_HC.
I tried to use the HD pack 2.3 and 2.2 but somehow ,the ArcSoft decoder there comes with the ArcSoft inslaller too, so my ArcSoft player didn’t work anymore after installing that stuff.I guess it was messed up by the second ArcSoft installer. Any way ,the Arcsoft decoder appeared in the list ,now ,but I still couldn’t get it to work to check out if it increases the DXVA limits.
I noticed that Haali Media Splitter added a 64-bit version. Anyone try this with MPC-HC x64?
It should work just fine. Haali Media Sp;litter 64-bit that’s it.
Interesting… maybe it’s not actually out yet. When I downloaded it, it wants to install in my x86 Program Files directory.
I have a x1950 pro agp. How can i get the special function for high def playback to work????
ATI x1950 do not have H.264 bitstreaming support.
Man thats to bad, thanks for letting me know though. Just out of curiosity Which AGP card will play 1080p soothly with a p4 3.02 Ghz Processor? thanks !!!
Any HD3xxx/HD4xxx AGP cards from ATI will do, provided that your videos are Blu-ray spec compliant.
I bought a hd 3850 and still having a few probs with high def, its late at night here and will and make it better with your guide tommorow
I read this guide and the MPC sourceforge website and then went out and bought the last Sapphire Radeon 4650 AGP available in my city to convert an old p4 2.4 ghz, 1 gig ddr sdram, 76 gig WD ATA hdd, 350 Watt PSU, and it was really hard to find and took quite a drive!
I then used this guide to set it up, tested all the videos, and it’s run flawlessly. Now i can watch most things with dxva only one I’ve had troubles with is 300 1080p bluray. If you read the MPC website they say specifically that only 4600+ video cards support dxva now, so ranpha unfortunately lied to you :[ if you just recently purchased that card you should try to go back and exchange it for the 4650 series and you wont be disappointed.
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/DXVASupport.html
“Unfortunately the MPC-HC decoder only supports the “bitstream mode” at this stage, which means that only the most recent graphic cards are supported”
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Video_Decoder
you must purchase a card with UVD 2.0+ support, which the 3xxx series does not. unfortunate you got bad info, i hope this helps you.
best of luck.
There’s nowhere in MPC-HC website that say that only ATI HD4xxx are supported. All UVD GPUs like HD2xxx and HD3xxx are supported too. And even with UVD2.2 GPU, it still cannot play out-of-spec H.264 videos properly with MPC-HC internal decoders.