MPCHC w/ Cyberlink Codec: Playback issues

Video playback in Windows
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pest
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:14 pm

MPCHC w/ Cyberlink Codec: Playback issues

Post by pest »

Hello!

I received my fit-pc2 ( Intel Atom Z530 1.6GHz) w/ Ubuntu just yesterday. So far everything seemed fine but video playback in Ubuntu had quite some problems, starting from display errors in fullscreen mode (mplayer) to various strange (flickering..) output.

After I'm not exactly THAT much into Linux I've decided to install WinXP SP3 and go on testing. Installed it from a USB stick, downloaded and installed all drivers plus PowerDVD 9 and the latest Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

MPCHC Settings:
Output: Overlay Mixer
Internal filters for h264 etc disabled
External filters: Cyberlink h264 w/ DXVA turned on

The device is attached to a Samsung 46" LED TV through HDMI running 1920x1080.

Ok, so far everything was going well and it seemed a lot more stable. I've tried playing the same video files and it worked out in almost no case really. As soon as I enter fullscreen mode I have some trouble in both picture quality and playback speed. This happens to 1080p h264 mkv files mainly but also 720p. The most annoying is I can see some horizontal lines in fast(er) scenes in the upper half of the screen, pressing pause they disappear though. I've tried some xvid avis at lower resoltuions and still had (far less but still) some horizontal lines in fullscreen mode. If the player window is fit to the size of the screen, yet not in fullscreen mode, the videos play fine. Basically DXVA seems to be working since CPU load during playback is low as 20%.

I found out if I lower the resolution to any other than 1920x1080 I do not have these errors, not even in fullscreen mode.

After I could not really find much help in the posts in this forum I decided to test using Windows 7 Pro because it's supposed to have better DXVA(2) support. Now after installing OS and drivers I can only switch between 800x600 and 1024x768 and the OS tells about 1|2 screens attached. Drivers are properly installed, I've checked that already.

So would there happen to be anyone who's solved that kind of problems before? I can not test those things on a TFT monitor or something because besides the TV I only own an old CRT.

The same files play fine on my laptop using ffdshow with libavcodec btw.

Any help is appreciated!!

irads

Re: MPCHC w/ Cyberlink Codec: Playback issues

Post by irads »

For Windows 7 resolution check http://fit-pc2.com/wiki/index.php?title ... _Windows_7

The tearing artifacts in full-HD have been observed. This is driver dependent. You may check if the IEGD driver is suitable for your needs - the artifacts have not been observed with that driver. Also, reducing color depth to 16bit reduces these artifacts significantly. Hopefully, in future GMA500 drivers this issue will be resolved.

pest
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:14 pm

Re: MPCHC w/ Cyberlink Codec: Playback issues

Post by pest »

Thanks for the hint on Win7: settings worked though playback of normal video files as well as h264 ones was aweful slow. Then again I didn't notice any glitches on the screen.. hehe.

Ok, while I'm again installing WinXP SP3 at the moment, I noticed some graphic errors on my screen in setup. I was not sure if it was just an error in the first installation so I didn't mention it before: When setup starts in text mode (blue background) you first have that screen that's preparing some files where you can add RAID drivers via F6. This one's showing fine. After that the screen goes all black like usual but comes back flickering so you almost can't read anything. The screen does also not refresh properly so I have to switch channels on TV and back to see the next flickering screen after I pressed a key. After formatting the disk and copying the first setup files, the device reboots and goes to that graphic setup part with all that advertisment text on... from this part on it's working just fine. It's no big deal cause I don't plan to install XP again any day soon but you might want to check that.

I've made a few secs video with some digital camera which I can try to upload if you wish.

//EDIT:
Following setup seems to perfectly work for now:
  • Windows XP SP3
    IEGD graphic drivers
    1920x1080 w/ 16bit color setting
    DirectX: latest redist from MS
    MPC:HC latest version to date
    PowerDVD9 OEM for codec
IEGD w/ 32bit:
  • Correct speed for playback in fullscreen mode
    no horizontal lines
    some huge artefacts flicker up from time to time
GMA500 w/ 32bit:
  • Incorrect speed for playback in fullscreen mode
    horizontal lines
    no artefacts noticed
I haven't tried the GMA500 with 16bit though.

//EDIT2:
After everything is fine on WinXP now I stumbled upon another problem: playback of video files using subtitles doesn't seem to be a very common thing in DXVA environment. However, MPCHC is supposed to play using the following settings:
  • Internal DXVA filter
    Haali Media Splitter
    Internal Subtitle rendering engine
    Output in VMR9 (renderless) or EVR custom even
I was not able to get that config play external or mkv internal subtitles. If I add the internal h264 ffmpeg filter, this config will work but due to software processing the file's only playing very slowly.

I've wasted a couple of hours reading and trying to get it work but I somehow can't. Might this be a driver issue or something? Any experience about this is welcome.

pest
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Nov 08, 2009 6:14 pm

Re: MPCHC w/ Cyberlink Codec: Playback issues

Post by pest »

Hello,

I have news for that subtitle problem: Displaying subtitles works in the following setup:
  • Windows 7 Pro
    MPC HC latest
    DXVA through MPC HC
    Output: EVR Custom
But playback is too slow even though RAM and CPU are 40-70% max means it displays correctly but you still can't watch it.

Same or similar setup will not work in Windows XP. Is there a difference between the Intel drivers? Also WinXP will crash with a BSOD soon as I try to use DXVA with NOT the IEGD driver, be it through MPC directly or the PowerDVD one and both on 16 and 32bit.

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