DXVA issue in MPC HC with x264 video

[Phat J]

Hey everyone!
So I started having issues playing back x264 video in Media Player Classic Home Cinema. I use the DXVA option in ffdshow.

It used to play perfectly fine with 1080p video, then all of a sudden it would start dropping frames randomly every few minutes during a movie. It was really annoying, so I deleted all my video and sound drivers, and reinstalled them.

Now when I play back any HD x264 content with DXVA enabled, it crashes MPCHC when I skip through a movie. They do play back fine when I disable DVXA entirely. Is there really any performance or quality benefit to using DXVA over not?

My dual core netbook plays 1080p x264 video over DXVA with no problems, so I don't know what's going on.


Specs: Intel Quad Core 3.2ghz, Windows XP, Nvidia GeForce 1GB 9500 GT, all latest versions of MPCHC, ffdshow, and Nvidia drivers.

Thanks!

[edDV]

Time for a format-reinstall from the restore disc and re-build it.

DXVA uses the hardware decoders in the display chipset. When you turn DVXA off the CPU carries the decode load.

The NVIDIA 9500 GT should be able to take the full decode load (PureVideo HD) if DXVA is properly configured.

[jagabo]

Is there really any performance or quality benefit to using DXVA over not?

If your CPU is fast enough, no. A little less power consumption.

Try using a different file reader/splitter. Ie, use the internal source filters or external source filters.

[Phat J]

Thanks for the replies. I will mess with it a bit more with different filters and settings.
I did a reformat and reinstall of my OS a couple months ago. I usually do twice a year to clear away all the crap, but it seems premature for it to be acting up already.

I wonder if the skipping frames is the start of a hard drive going bad? My drives are at least 3 years old I believe.

[edDV]

Thanks for the replies. I will mess with it a bit more with different filters and settings.
I did a reformat and reinstall of my OS a couple months ago. I usually do twice a year to clear away all the crap, but it seems premature for it to be acting up already.

I wonder if the skipping frames is the start of a hard drive going bad? My drives are at least 3 years old I believe.

Since a laptop has one drive for the OS and all apps to share, there could be disk contention which can cause dropped frames or pauses. Close other apps and disable background tasks then see if the file continues to skip. If so it could be an issue with the file.

Even with DXVA working, a file copy with video playing from the same drive will often cause video pauses. The problem is compounded if the drive has file fragmentation.

[Phat J]

Thanks for the replies. I will mess with it a bit more with different filters and settings.
I did a reformat and reinstall of my OS a couple months ago. I usually do twice a year to clear away all the crap, but it seems premature for it to be acting up already.

I wonder if the skipping frames is the start of a hard drive going bad? My drives are at least 3 years old I believe.

Since a laptop has one drive for the OS and all apps to share, there could be disk contention which can cause dropped frames or pauses. Close other apps and disable background tasks then see if the file continues to skip. If so it could be an issue with the file.

Even with DXVA working, a file copy with video playing from the same drive will often cause video pauses. The problem is compounded if the drive has file fragmentation.

Oddly it's the laptop that plays with no issues. And it streams wirelessly from this PC 2 floors away with a weak signal!
Playback on my PC is the issue. There are 3 hard drives in it, the movies are all on their own drive away from the system files, and Windows says my drives don't need defragmenting.
It's multiple files that exhibit the problem, but all the same format (12mbs+ x264 1080p), so I'm ruling out it's the files themselves.

I'm the only one that uses the wireless network, so there would be no issue with someone else trying to stream the videos from that same drive at the same time I'm trying to watch it on my PC.

[edDV]

That PC is fast enough. Are you saying the playback skips even when the wireless access is turned off? Check for CPU activity.

[somespirit]

So I started having issues playing back x264 video in Media Player Classic Home Cinema. I use the DXVA option in ffdshow.

try using internal dxva ffmpeg decoder instead external ffdshow or you can try CoreAVC as external decoder in MPC-HomeCinema

[jagabo]

And not all codec features are supported by DXVA. And some graphics cards can play videos encoded with settings that exceed the minimums defined by DXVA.

[edDV]

Also be aware that DLNA servers often recode to lower bit rates on the fly causing significant CPU load. That is why you should first test local playback with external services turned off.

If your PC is serving DLNA, you may find hardware DXVA decoding necessary for local playback.