HD MPEG2 playback

[saucer]

Hello all,

I am learning as much as I can from the web regarding mpegs, but I'm off to a slow start. I own an entertainment simulation company and hope to begin animating my own rides within the next year or so, but thus far I have been "borrowing" :P video from popular video games and adapting them to make great rides. Things have been pretty simple so far, editing in standard defintion and using a REAL Magic Xcard decoder and a fairly low end pc to display the roughly 400MB files via software written specifically for simulator applications. I have been in contact with the company behind the software to make sure the program will be able to play HD MPEG2 files, as I am in the process of upgrading my AV end of the business to HD, and they believe it should work with no problem as long as my pc is powerful enough.

So, I have successfully created my first high definition ride thanks to the newly released Blackmagic Intensity Pro and Adobe PP2, but I am having problems figuring out how to play such a large file without too much trial and error involved in building a new pc. (The pc I currently use with the sim isn't great, but I thought it a file under 1GB or so... it's running an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ @ 1.49Ghz with 1GB of RAM--can't remember what kind--and Windows XP pro.) This pc plays MPEGS up to about 400MB without any problems, but cannot seem to run the SD version of the HD ride I have recently made, even though I have compressed it down to nearly half the size of the rides I have been using thus far. I captured and edited the ride in HD, but I downconverted it to SD to see if it will play until I can afford a new HD projector. I have been pretty much adhering to the basic compression and encoding settings provided in Adobe Premier Pro 2, and am unaware of what other variables may be keeping the new MPEG from playing. I resized the HD image down to 720x480--the same ratio of the other rides--and have used the same MainConcept codec for every ride I have produced. What could be causing this new ride from playing smoothly when it is a fraction of the size of other I have produced in the past?

I am also looking for some advice on building a new pc for the upgrade to HD if necessary. The company that produces the software for these simulators has informed me that I can bypass the weaker Xcard and play the MPEGS through a better dual head video card, taking advantage of Microsoft's Directshow. In the application of decoding MPEGS, is most of the burden put on the CPU/RAM or on the video card? If I stick with a decoder card, will the CPU handle most of the processing, or should I buy a video card that boasts HD compatibility? I have compressed this new video down to 200MB, trying to get it to play on my current pc, but I would like to run much better quality MPEGS when I upgrade to HD - as large as a basic pc could handle. I know my XBox 360 plays HD movies that are roughly 5GB in size, but I'm not sure what the bit rate is. So, I'm assuming a modest pc could handle HD MPEGS somewhere near that size...

[jman98]

File size is not your problem. An AMD Athlon XP 1800+ CPU should be able to handle MPEG-2 with no real problems. Certainly 1280x720 footage would be OK on this CPU.
Your playback issues may be related to how you downsized to 720x480. If your original HD footage is interlaced, you'll very often have motion issues when downsizing. I don't do downsizing, so perhaps some of our more experienced downsizers here can offer suggestions on ways to minimize this kind of problem.

If this helps you any, my Athlon XP 3200+ CPU can handle 1080p MPEG-2 footage with no problems. Getting a special video card to offload the video processing won't help if your problem is in downsizing. You don't anywhere say what resolution your original footage is. 1280x720 should be OK on the 1800+ CPU, but I honestly don't know if it's powerful enough to keep up with 1080i/p footage. My 3200+ CPU is, but yours may not be.

[saucer]

From what I've been told by the company that makes my sim software, I guess I will have to disable the hardware acceleration on a video card, and use my CPU for the decoding like you mentioned. Not sure how to do this though... And so far, I've only tried to play the video through the Xcard decoder, which is like 5 years old, and may not be able to handle the file for some reason. I will have to see if it can play via Directshow and a regular video card now that I'm reassured the CPU can handle it. Do I somehow disable the acceleration in the video card's control panel? I've checked my Catalyst Control Center here at home for such an option, but no luck...

Sorry I forgot to mention the original file attributes - I was trying to keep my post as short as possible to not overwhelm anyone. I captured the original video in 720p @60fps, and then compressed it to 720x480 progressive at 30fps, so I don't think interlacing would be an issue here... I figured halving the framerate would help with the file size, but I could be completely wrong. Should I have kept it the same?

[Soopafresh]

You can also use a hardware decoder card, like the MYHD MDP-130 - around $160 or so. That'll eliminate any CPU bottleneck for HD, IF you play MPEG files through it.

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Products/Video/mdp130.asp


If you're going to monitor it on a DVI connection, get the DVI daughter card.


I can play 1080i on my dog slow system with 10% CPU utilization through the MYHD card.

[saucer]

Cool, thanks for the info Soopa. I was looking into getting a similar decoder card with HDMI, but I can't find one for sale in the US. So with your experience, a decoder card will play a large HD file? Or are you using it as a tuner card in your pc? I'm not clear on the different ways the video is processed, but I am trying to play files stored on my hard disk, which may be more demanding than simply passing a signal through.

[edDV]

Cool, thanks for the info Soopa. I was looking into getting a similar decoder card with HDMI, but I can't find one for sale in the US. So with your experience, a decoder card will play a large HD file? Or are you using it as a tuner card in your pc? I'm not clear on the different ways the video is processed, but I am trying to play files stored on my hard disk, which may be more demanding than simply passing a signal through.

To play HD MPeg2 and some MPeg4 (assisted) you need a display card with Purevideo (NVidia) or AVIVO (ATI) technology. Performance varies by card and settings. Read the details.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo.html
http://ati.amd.com/technology/Avivo/index.html

[Soopafresh]

It was designed to record over the air and unencrypted HD cable programs, but it will also play MPEG2 back through it. You'll still probably need to do HDMI capture, then convert your video to HD MPEG2 Transport Stream. Easy to do - https://forum.videohelp.com/topic324969.html

And like ed wrote, other cards have some of these capabilities. I'm just recommending from my own personal experience.

[edDV]

HDMI out on computer cards is rare and falling from favor. DVI to HDMI cables are the current answer.

Future cards will be using another technology.

[saucer]

To play HD MPeg2 and some MPeg4 (assisted) you need a display card with Purevideo (NVidia) or AVIVO (ATI) technology. Performance varies by card and settings. Read the details.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo.html
http://ati.amd.com/technology/Avivo/index.html

Okay, I wasn't sure if all the HD advertising I've seen lately on "over-the-counter" cards was an actually technology, or just a bit of a gimmick to coincide with the new age of HD in home theater and such. So you're thinking a newer video card with HD technology will handle large HD MPEG files with no problem?

[saucer]

It was designed to record over the air and unencrypted HD cable programs, but it will also play MPEG2 back through it. You'll still probably need to do HDMI capture, then convert your video to HD MPEG2 Transport Stream. Easy to do - https://forum.videohelp.com/topic324969.html

And like ed wrote, other cards have some of these capabilities. I'm just recommending from my own personal experience.

Is there any way you could simply describe what a transport stream is? The description rollover is Greek to me

[saucer]

HDMI out on computer cards is rare and falling from favor. DVI to HDMI cables are the current answer.

Future cards will be using another technology.

Yeah, I was pricing cables and came across some DVI to HDMI calbes and adapters - that would definitely give me more options on a new video card. The link I gave was the only card I could find with HDMI! Has HDCP destroyed the demand?

What about RGB for HD? I've yet to find a definitive answer on its quality vs that of DVI? The projector I bought only has RGB, Component and HDMI inputs and I'm looking at 50' of cable, so I dunno which will give me the best bang for my buck.

[edDV]

Your ATI x1950 cards should handle MPeg2 HD (not necessarilly MPeg4).

Read up on player settings to access AVIVO playback acceleration.

[saucer]

Your ATI x1950 cards should handle MPeg2 HD (not necessarilly MPeg4).

Read up on player settings to access AVIVO playback acceleration.

Oh yeah--I hope I didn't confuse you. My x1950s are on my home "studio" pc and run everything just fine. I'm having problems trying to figure out the minimum requirements for my pc that runs the simulator. I have a shopping cart full of parts for a new build on Newegg.com right now... I'm just trying to see if a totally new pc is necessary.

[Soopafresh]

Is there any way you could simply describe what a transport stream is? The description rollover is Greek to me confused


Sure. Transport Streams are very popular in the HD world. Simply put, they're just (usually) MPEG2 files which have been formatted for broadcasting over the air or cable. They contain additional information in them to keep the A/V synced for broadcasting. Some of them can carry additional "sub channels" or PIDs (the techie term). They're still MPEG2s, just a bit "special". The link I pointed you to demonstrates a simple method of converting your MPEG2 to Transport Stream format - the process only takes a few minutes.

Certain hardware decoders only accept transport streams, hence the reason I brought it up.