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  1. Member
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    Hi - I've been testing a number (about 20 so far) of video converters with a view to finding the one that produces the best h265 compression at the fastest process time. I have encountered some issues - like products claiming they support particular graphics cards then in the settings you can't enable acceleration. Also ones where acceleration is enabled but the process times suggest it isn't really (like 5+ hours for a 45 minute video.) Most of my trials are demo versions, but I actually bought Xilisoft HD converter. I also bought an AMD graphics card (not realising it doesn't support h265) to use with it. This combination works well for h264 encoding, but when I then bought an nvidia geforce gtx960 which does support h265 and is on Xilisoft's supported list I found the program doesn't actually recognise it for accelerated encoding (I have an ongoing email discussion with Xilisoft about this and am looking elsewhere in the mean time.) The one's I've tested are ACDSee, Xilisoft HD, Xilisoft Ultimate, Brorsoft, Pavtube, VideoSolo, VideoSolo Ultimate, Winx HD, HD Video, Hybrid, AVS, Wondershare, StaxRip, Apowersoft, MacHD, Videomate, Smart converter pro, Vidcoder, Media Recode & Media Coder. Does anybody have a suggestion - I'm happy to pay for software, but not hundreds of pounds/dollars.

    Thanks
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  2. I'm currently using DVDFab, not very cheap but very fast in GPU conversion. It works fine with a GTX960 (it was my previous video card).
    Some freeware are also competitive but less easy to use as Hybrid, Staxrip or MediaCoder.
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    I had just tried the trial version of DVDFab before seeing your post - but although it sees my GTX960 it doesn't think it can encode either h264 or h265 using it. Only decode h264. I have the latest driver (23.21.13.9077) installed for the card. The extent to which the different programs see/don't see the card is frustrating! Nvidia control panel shows Cuda is operational on the card.
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  4. Originally Posted by Wolluf View Post
    I had just tried the trial version of DVDFab before seeing your post - but although it sees my GTX960 it doesn't think it can encode either h264 or h265 using it. Only decode h264. I have the latest driver (23.21.13.9077) installed for the card. The extent to which the different programs see/don't see the card is frustrating! Nvidia control panel shows Cuda is operational on the card.
    I've had this kind of issues when I was testing a lot of conversion softwares, in fact it was a mess in my system, so I had to re-install it (windows 10) then downloaded the last drivers from Nvidia and reinstall only DvdFab and it's working fine since. Did you check in DVDFab (common parameters tab), Codec A/V all must be set to CUDA ?
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    Yes to the parameters - if I set it to CUDA, the program tells me its not available and resets it to software. The machine I'm running it on has only had a fresh copy of windows 10 recently, but I have obviously installed lots of other converters, so it might be worth a clean install again. DVDFab shows this list of supported video codecs CUDA_MODE_H264
    CUDA_MODE_VC1 CUDA_MODE_MPEG2 DXVA_MODE_H264 DXVA_MODE_VC1 DXVA_MODE_MPEG2 for Graphics Chipset :
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 Driver Version: 23.21.13.9077. One thing I wondered might be confusing it - the machine has an AMD processor with onboard graphics. I know at least one other converter is picking up both graphics - it shows at the bottom of its window. The install of 10 was with the onboard graphics - I added the card later, so possibly a clean install with the card might be better. I'll post back if/when I try this.

    Re X media recode - I left out the X on my list - I have tried it, it does recognise the card & acceleration is activated but conversion time painfully slow
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    Bit more on DVDFab - just installed it on my main machine which has an AMD graphics card that definitely supports acceleration for h264 encoding, because I have been using Xilisoft with it successfully. But DVDFab says h264 encoding is not available, just decoding. So there's obviously something going on with DVDFab - my main machine has loads of stuff installed on it!
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  7. Get your head around staxrip you will not look back for gpu encoding
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    Have just tried staxrip (after finding some help on the web) and it failed with H.265/HEVC isn't supported by the graphics card. So I think I will definitely try the clean install approach before continuing either with DVDFab or Staxrip. The card is new and drivers install ok, and nvidia control panel shows CUDA is operational, so I think the card is ok. Something is confusing the conversion software(s)
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  9. Are you sure it's a Maxwell2 card ? Open up gpu-z select the card and what does it say ?

    Some vendors rebadge older generation cards . It has to say "GM20x" where x is some number in the GPU field in gpu-z . If it says "GM10x" it's a 1st generation Maxwell and does not support HEVC encoding

    The drivers have to match the nvenc version in the rough timeframe that the software GUI was released. If you download say, a newer, recent staxrip or hybrid , you need to use matching forceware driver from nvidia. An older one or newer one means nvenc won't work - but that usually means not working at all, so not even h264 encoding

    Cuda is not used for the most part for nvenc encoding. The encoding is mostly done on a separate part of the card. (Some limited operations can use cuda cores) . So if "cuda" is operational, that doesn't necessarily mean anything for encoding
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    Thanks for all the useful info. gpu-z says its a GM206. My staxrip executable is dated September 2017 - my nvidia drivers are January 2018, and h264 encoding doesn't work either, so presumably I need an older nvidia driver?
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  11. Originally Posted by Wolluf View Post
    Thanks for all the useful info. gpu-z says its a GM206. My staxrip executable is dated September 2017 - my nvidia drivers are January 2018, and h264 encoding doesn't work either, so presumably I need an older nvidia driver?
    very likely that's the reason


    Both staxrip and hybrid use nvencc from rigaya . They are front ends or GUI's, but nvencc does the actual encoding when using nvidia gpu encoding . If you dig around in the staxrip or hybrid folder structure you can probably find out what version it's using

    In the "old" folder, you can find various archived older versions of nvencc, along with the date of the release . You would need the nvidia driver around that same timeframe, so you have to dig around the web to find older archived driver releases for nvidia
    https://onedrive.live.com/?id=6BDD4375AC8933C6%212293&cid=6BDD4375AC8933C6

    I don't use staxrip or hybrid, but another way might be to drop in the updated nvencc files if you want the use the newest versions and drivers. But it might not work if some parts of the GUI are looking in different directories

    Or if you wanted to use the newest version, with the newest driver, another way is to use nvencc directly, but it requires commandline usage. You're not "missing" that much, there are only minor changes for each version release. If you wanted to know exactly what was changed for each point release you can have a look on github and there will be a summary of changes for each version
    https://github.com/rigaya/NVEnc/releases
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    Ok - I had already dropped in updated nvenc files as per advice from another site - the executable was dated this month. So I have put back the older (Sep 2017) version and installed a driver from the same month and it still fails. I am going to put a clean version of windows 10 on the machine (I'll use a different drive, image it before I start installing anything, so I can quickly go back to a clean slate.) Then I'll try installing nvidia drivers from the same timeframe as the staxrip/nvenc software and try again. Same for DVDFab and perhaps Xilisoft which I have been using successfully with h264 encoding on AMD graphics on a different machine. I'll try each on a clean install. Then I'll shoot myself if I get nowhere! Thanks again for all the advice & information.
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    Update - clean install, windows 10 installed nvidia drivers from October 2017, so I tried staxrip with those - still no good. Same for DVDFab. Not sure where to go from here (other than just keep trying different versions of the driver.) Although some of the conversion programs have recognised the card, none have used it to any effect (ie, they encode very slowly) so whether they are actually using acceleration or not is a moot point. One other snippet - one of the first programs I tried was wondershare. I bought an AMD card which was on its supported list (not knowing AMD cards didn't support h265,) but Wondershare didn't recognise it anyway. Shortly after I discovered Xilisoft does recognise the card, so I bought it (xilisoft - its the only one I've bough so far, rest are demos or freeware.) Then I found out about the lack of h265 and bought the GTX960 - which Xilisoft didn't recognise, starting me on the others I mentioned at the top. The snippet is I have been checking Wondershare, just to see if anything changed, and yesterday it suddenly started seeing my AMD card. No idea why. On the other machine it still doesn't see the GTX960 of course!
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  14. If you have both amd and nvidia card simultaneously installed, it might be confusing the programs

    You can set the GPU device id with nvencc , but I don't know if any of the GUI's allow you to override or select. They might be autodetecting incorrectly

    Or try installing with 1 nvidia card only (take out the amd card)
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  15. The latest version of Staxrip is Feb 2018 and has updated Nvenc. (Not the latest but updated). I'm using the Nvenc 3.30 from here. Not sure why you are using Sep 2017 of Staxrip. It recognizes my GTX 1060 no problem. Using Nvidia driver version 390.77
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    The latest version of Staxrip is Feb 2018
    But your link is to where I downloaded it from, which if you look is dated 23rd September 2017. I also used nvenc 3.3 and originally 390.77 for nvidia drivers. That's the setup I had the problem with and have been trying various other versions of nvidia drivers (and nvenc) but all fail.

    Or try installing with 1 nvidia card only (take out the amd card)
    The machine I'm testing on has onboard AMD graphics. My main machine currently has an AMD card. I have tried the nvidia card here as well (though I don't like testing on this machine) but not with as many converters. All fail also - though I haven't tried staxrip on this combination. As I mentioned above, wondershare did suddenly start seeing my AMD card on this main machine when it hadn't. So I am tempted to put the nvidia back in to see if it picks up that too. I can't find anything that will definitively tell me the gpu acceleration is actually working on the card. The gpu-z program you linked suggests its ok, as does the nvidia control panel. Have also been trying media coder which also uses nvenc - that says it detetects nvenc enabled card, but then fails with encoder missing or couldn't start.
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    The error I get from staxrip/nvenc is

    NVEnc Error (1.7.0.0)

    H.265/HEVC isn't supported by the graphics card.

    StaxRip.ErrorAbortException: H.265/HEVC isn't supported by the graphics card.
    at StaxRip.NVEnc.Encode() in D:\Projekte\VS\VB\StaxRip\Encoding\NVEnc.vb:line 72
    at StaxRip.GlobalClass.ProcessVideo() in D:\Projekte\VS\VB\StaxRip\General\GlobalClass.vb:l ine 225
    at System.Threading.Tasks.Parallel.<>c__DisplayClass4 _0.<Invoke>b__0()
    --- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
    at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatch Info.Throw()
    at StaxRip.GlobalClass.ProcessJob(String jobPath) in D:\Projekte\VS\VB\StaxRip\General\GlobalClass.vb:l ine 137
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    Looks like I have bought a fake card! That's what gpu-z look-up feature says - apparently an older chip with a dodgy bios made to look like a gtx960 - oh well that it was off ebay (though I have bought hundreds of computer parts with no problems.) Thanks for all suggestions, I think this is now closed.
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  19. I didn't link it, the forum does that automatically. Get the beta Staxrip from here. Sorry that you got scammed.
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  20. Hi,

    you are right, most of the demo/free versions you named are sh*t

    a dumb question are u using the 64 bit version of windows 10 with a fast CPU and much (16 better 32 GB) fast RAM ?

    you should check that one A's Video Converter because
    • worked for me long before DVDFab my registered did
    • supports 4K conversions at reasonable speeds like 40-60 frames/sec
    • and it's free/donation ware

    cheers mate
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    Update. Got my money back from Ebay seller, bought another GTX960, which works! Staxrip seems pretty fast using it (5 minutes for 1.5 hour episode of Endeavour from H264 to H265.) DVDFab does recognise it, but still pretty slow. Xilisoft slower than staxrip for single encode, but better if using all 4 cores at once - though there is some issue with their h265 encoding - sometimes get jerky or missing video! Still getting to grips with staxrip. Media coder 64 bit ok too - though not as fast as staxrip. Wondershare recognises the card but still won't allow gpu acceleration. I'll have a look at A's Video converter as still very experimental stage and learning (like bitrate on h265 encode can be much lower than h264 and still be good quality.)
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  22. Member Bernix's Avatar
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    Why don't you invested your money to nvidia 10 series? Less power consumption richest NVENC HEVC features (but not 1030). If you want fully utilized NVENC HEVC, use ffmpeg. And if you are looking for quality use "2pass" encoding. But most Gui do not use full potential of NVENC HEVC, as ffmpeg does. Just some quality (LQ or HQ) average and max bitrate, sometimes number of reference frames and sometimes constant quality which is completly different from x265. But never saw all features available in any gui.

    https://files.videohelp.com/u/255952/hevc_nvenc.txt
    the link above is from my 1050ti supported features in ffmpeg, so it will be bit different than yours.

    Bernix
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    960 I bought was considerably cheaper than cheapest 10 series that supports HEVC (I was aiming for a cost effective solution that gives me reasonably small good quality video files - without taking hours to process.) I think 960 was first card to fully support HEVC so I thought it would be best cost/feature option. So far using staxrip and nvenc its doing what I hoped for. I will probably never fathom all the setting in staxrip (and most of my experimentation has resulted in an error code when it starts encoding) but I have found settings that I'm reasonably happy with - I will keep trying others. Have about 500 files to convert.
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    Originally Posted by Wolluf View Post
    I will probably never fathom all the setting in staxrip (and most of my experimentation has resulted in an error code when it starts encoding) but I have found settings that I'm reasonably happy with
    that's because GPU encoding is limited and not able to use all the CPU options being displayed
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  25. Member Bernix's Avatar
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    Hi,
    the price is almost same. GTX 960 is little (very little) bit faster that is only advantage. At same price with GTX 1050 ti. And it is not always true. Not sure how effective speed affects gpu video encoding. There is dedicated chip for it.
    Disadvantages
    Older architecture, TDP 120w vs 75w that is 45w difference. Lower maximum resolution. Because of older architecture less featured in NVENC. And much more.

    I think you made mistake to get this card for gpu encoding videos.

    Bernix
    Last edited by Bernix; 8th Mar 2018 at 06:19. Reason: make - made
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    I think you made mistake to get this card for gpu encoding videos.
    You may well be right. As I said at the top of this thread, its been a learning curve. I should probably have come to a forum like this before I started, but I didn't! However, I do have a PC that will encode & compress my video files in a reasonable time per file, so I'm happy for the moment.
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  27. I've been using wondershare video converter for several years using my GTX 970. However, I've only done h.264 because my client devices can't play h.265. Though I've just purchased an apple tv 4k which can do h.265 so I may start encoding in h.265 once I update all my client devices. I play everything from a NAS.

    With wondershare, I've noticed for some reason that .mp4 accelerated encoding is significantly faster than .mkv for some reason. I didn't think it would matter, but just something for you to try.

    If you want to see if hardware encoding is working in windows 10, just press ctrl-alt-del to open task manager. On performance--> GPU tab windows 10 added a graph for video encoding separate from the normal gpu graph, it should be maxing at at 100% during encoding.

    I'll try an encode tonight with h.265 to see if it works with my 970. I'll compare it to my Ryzen 1600 which encodes fairly quick for a CPU. Most movies only take 40 minutes with my overclocked Ryzen, GPU encoding isn't much faster at about 20minutes. For reference my old i7 920 which took about 90 minutes. I wonder if I get the upcoming Ryzen 2700 if it can get it under 30 minutes, then GPU encoding wouldn't even be worth it.
    Last edited by gggplaya; 10th Apr 2018 at 09:49.
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  28. Did a few tests and Wondershare does not do any GPU accelerated HVEC H.265 encoding.

    It will only do CPU encoding, which takes about 1.5-2 hours per movie at full 6 Core 12 thread cpu loaded to 100% on my Ryzen 1600. That's from a blu-ray rip to 3000kbps HVEC MKV.

    The same movie utilizing GPU acceleration from my Geforce 970 and doing h.264 MKV only takes 10-15 minutes per movie at 6000kbps. The same using the CPU takes about 20-30 minutes.

    I'm going to compare the quality of the h.265 to the h.264. If it's the same but at half the space, I may upgrade to the ryzen 2700 when it comes out, which has 8 cores and 16 threads. See if that improves the time at all.
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  29. Member jeffshead's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Bernix View Post
    Why don't you invested your money to nvidia 10 series? Less power consumption richest NVENC HEVC features (but not 1030). If you want fully utilized NVENC HEVC, use ffmpeg. And if you are looking for quality use "2pass" encoding. But most Gui do not use full potential of NVENC HEVC, as ffmpeg does. Just some quality (LQ or HQ) average and max bitrate, sometimes number of reference frames and sometimes constant quality which is completly different from x265. But never saw all features available in any gui.

    https://files.videohelp.com/u/255952/hevc_nvenc.txt
    the link above is from my 1050ti supported features in ffmpeg, so it will be bit different than yours.

    Bernix
    I need help. I've never used GPU encoding. Since updating to Kodi 18, Kodi will not play any of my AVI's. I went out and bought a GTX 1060 card to re-encode all of my AVI's to h.265 MKV's. I am thinking it would be better to install the card in the file server (Windows Server 2012 R2) that contains all of my video files, versus installing it on a different PC on the network.

    If I install the card in the server, will the driver for Win8.1 work and do I need to also install all of the NVIDA software stuff that comes with the driver download or can I just install the card, reboot and use the device manager to install only the driver? I plan on using the portable version of ffmpeg. I'm trying to keep the server clean by avoiding installing unneeded software and I actually plan on removing the video card once I finish converting my AVI's.

    UPDATE: I installed the card in the server with the latest NVIDIA driver for Win7-10 and it worked!
    Last edited by jeffshead; 3rd Feb 2019 at 14:23.
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