Lost DXVA with VC1 in MKV

[jameson_uk]

Noticed last night that a couple of things I have ripped from BD straight to MKV (streams extracted using eac3to and then muxed into MKV) are not getting hardware decoding which is causing high CPU usage. These are all where the original source is VC1 rather than H.264 (they are playing fine).

The problem is that only "WMVideo Decoder DMO" filter is being used. I have powerDVD 7.3 Ultra and Arcsoft TMT installed (I have registered all the .ax filters manually) and could not build a graph manually.

I downloaded the MPC-HC video decoder filter and got DXVA but would prefer to keep the installed codecs to a minimum.]

Is this likely to be that eac3to or MKVMerge are not setting some headers correctly and the picky Cyberlink / TMT filters are refusing to decode the video stream or is it possibly that Haali slitter is not passing on the right headers to the next filter?

[poisondeathray]

You need a hack to build the graph for cyberlink and arcsoft , JayBee made several "vc-1 tweakers" more info here:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=144625

[jameson_uk]

Ok tried the JayBee filters with varying degrees of sucess.

When using Haali and then Cyberlink VC1 decoder it did not appear to be doing any hardware acceleration (even though the option was ticked) as CPU usage was about the same as the WMVideo decoder (45-60%)

When connected up to Arcsoft HD Video decoder CPU usage did drop to around 5% but the picture was unwatchable with really bad stuttering (is 24fps 1080i source and output is set at 24fps)

I downloaded the video decoder from MPC-HC and this did cut CPU usage to around 8% and give a watchable picture. I am not sure however that this looked as good as WMVideo does.

I take it this is about it when it comes to VC1 decovers anyway? I am either stuck with high CPU usage with WMVideo or low CPU usage but not quite as good picture with MPC-HC filter? (there isn't an equivalent of CoreAVC for VC1 is there?)

[poisondeathray]

CoreAVC is working on support for cuda, so if you have a nvidia card with VP2, you should theoretically be able offload to the GPU. It's working for AVC content right now as of v1.9, but it's very beta and buggy. I don't think they have mentioned it specifically , but once they get the bugs ironed out, it should be a piece of cake to extend to VC-1 (and MPEG2), much like Donald Graft's (aka Neuron2) NV tools. His DGNV tools already do this, and supports/decodes interlaced VC-1 perfectly. It requires a GPU with VP2 (relatively new Nvidia card), and a donation to his site (i.e not free)

[jagabo]

Do you really need to free up CPU cycles while watching videos?

[Grendel007]

Hello
I have been desperately trying to play 1080p mkv movie encoded in VC-1 in MPC HC but the picture stutters.
On MPC there is no info of “DXVA playing” (it is lost) so maybe it is the reason.
When I play 1080p mkv movies encoded x264 with DXVA no problems with them.
How can I offload the processor or/and enable DXVA while playing mkv in MPC HC??
I have tried Coreavc professional codec but to no effect.(While playing the processor usage is about 55-60%)

I have a notebook with Dual Core 2.1 GHz (T4300) and Intel 4500 HD (integrated) with 2 GB RAM.
On one of the forums I read that my integrated graphic card doesn’t support ModeVC1_VLD.
Does it mean that I won’t be able to play mkv movies encoded in VC-1?
I will greatly appreciate any help

Best Regards

[poisondeathray]

did you enable vc1 (dxva) under internal filters=>transform filters in mpchc?

coreavc is for avc, not vc1

it might be that your integrated graphics doesn't support vc-1 you would have to check intel forum

also if the video was encoded but not to dxva compliant specs, that would break dxva compliance, and you would default to software decoding

[Grendel007]

Thank you poisondeathray for your quick reply.

The file is definately encoded to DVXA spec. I tried it on another PC and the info appears "DXVA playing".

So, if the card doesn't supprt VC-1, I won't be able to play it smoothly on my hardware.

Is there any external codec that could offload the CPU??

Best Regards

[poisondeathray]

Is there any external codec that could offload the CPU??

offload to what? from your tests it appears that your gpu isn't compatible, so even if you offloaded it wouldn't work. You would need to upgrade GPU

[Grendel007]

I ahve just found this info
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-4500MHD-GMA-X4500MHD.9883.0.html

Fro what I read i can coclude that 4500 HD CAN decode VC -1
Am I wrong??

Can You help me with that?

[poisondeathray]

try downloading the most recent drivers, it might help

what is your exact model? x4500HD, or 4500, or 4500HD

http://www.intel.com/technology/graphics/gma.htm?iid=tech_graphics+gma

x4500 only has partial vc-1 support

[Grendel007]

It is Intel® GMA X4500HD so it should work (shouldn't it)?

Prtial suport is only for model without HD ending.

I have the latest GPU driver.

What about Cyberlink codec. Is there anything like that for MPC HC??

So, can I be certain that this is a matter of software than hardware??

[poisondeathray]

you can't use cyberlink filters outside of the application powerdvd , even with the codec tweaks listed above (they don't work anymore)

try different mpchc build ?

or you could try different source filter (e.g. instead of haali external, try enabling internal mkv splitter (matroska) in the mpchc options, or vice-versa i.e disable internal mkv splitter)

[Grendel007]

While playing the film when I press right mouse button (in filters) I cannot see Haali media splitter. It is only down on the windows bar.

Maybe there is something wrong with that? ( I installed it together with coreavc professional).

I have changed the options and no effects so far.

[poisondeathray]

if you've tried all the combinations, I can't think of anything else

maybe try re-wrapping into .m2ts with tsmuxer

have you ever had dxva successful with that computer with vc-1? e.g. vc-1 blu-ray ?

you should read this thread too , apparently issues on xp with that chipset (what os are you using)
http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/showthread.php?t=60703

[Grendel007]

This is what I found in some forum.

"MPC-HC does not support DXVA with Intel GMA and will not support it either because Intel is refusing to release the required documentation."

"You can use the decoder from PowerDVD together with MPC."

This is the post from 2008.

Why is it impossible to apply external codec from PowerDVD??

[poisondeathray]

This is what I found in some forum.

"MPC-HC does not support DXVA with Intel GMA and will not support it either because Intel is refusing to release the required documentation."

"You can use the decoder from PowerDVD together with MPC."

This is the post from 2008.

Why is it impossible to apply external codec from PowerDVD??

yes, that's what that thread above I linked to basically says (i edited my post)

if you have powerdvd, just use powerdvd

cyberlink has locked their decoder now, so you can't use it outside of powerdvd. Apparently some very old versions work, you can dig around for those and might have some luck. none of the new ones work.

[Grendel007]

I found cyberlink codecs.

The picture don't stutter BUT the usage of CPU is up to 85 %
Do two cores are used of 85 % or is it only one.

If only one core is used, how can I emply two?

[Grendel007]

Is there any way to check that mkv encoded with VC-1 is compatible with DXVA?