PureVideo Hardware Accelerated Deinterlacing

[Taddeusz]

My setup is still only standard definition. I'm running SageTV 6.0.19 with the latest video driver and PureVideo trial (for the time being) on a 7600GS at a screen resolution of 1024x768. I'm running in VRM9 3D mode. I've noticed lately that if I have deinterlacing on Automatic it it selects "Video" as the deinterlace mode. Smart deinterlacing of course does the choppy video playback. This is using "Nvidia Video Decoder." When it is in Video deinterlacing mode it looks like it is in half resolution.

If I select "Nvidia Post Processor" as my decoder video playback looks great and properly deinterlaced but CPU usage is around 40% because it's in software mode. According to Nvidia's information on PureVideo my card should support all features for SD video but something just isn't working right.

If anyone knows how I should configure this let me know. It's bugging me that I can't seem to get the full usage out of my card in hardware mode.

[mothbhai]

I have the same issues. There seem to be some suggestions on how to improve deinterlacing and stuttering (via HW acceleration) for HD, but for SD, I have not found any posts. Someone please help.

[djseto]

Are you sure SageTV is using the PureVideo Codec? Do you get the PureVideo icon on your task bar during playback?

[cmcquistion]

I found a few tips, here in the forums, from other threads. Here is what I've done:

Run "regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\SageTV\Common\stvm2vd.ax"" to unregister Sage decoder.

Run DECCHECK and Nvidia as default decoder.

Set Nvidia decoder to Content Default Aspect Ratio, Hardware Accelleration, Automatic De-interlacing control, VMR Pixel Adaptive, and Prefer VMR9. Set Nvidia driver to use Inverse Telecine.

Configure SageTV to use Default decoders, Default Renderer (which is VRM7), Default Audio, etc. (VRM9 works for SD, but is not smooth on high bitrate HD content, on my system, with 8800GT.)

Modify Registry with "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Frey Technologies\SageTV\DirectX9\YUVMixing=0" (This fixes strange problem with interlacing when running VRM9, but VMR9 still wasn't powerful enough for HD content on my system)

[Mitch G]

I've been using post processing as well but introduces problems for me when doing commercial skip.
So, I think I want to try these tweaks (and thanks for compiling them).
But, before I do, I want to ask a few questions to make sure I don't screw up the system. I'm not a windows expert so forgive the stupid questions.

1) Make a backup copy of the registry in case something gets screwed up.

2) Run "regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\SageTV\Common\stvm2vd.ax"" to unregister Sage decoder.

3) Run DECCHECK and Nvidia as default decoder.
QUESTION: What does this mean? Is DECCHECK a command through which I identify Nvidia as the default decoder?

4) Set Nvidia decoder to Content Default Aspect Ratio, Hardware Accelleration, Automatic De-interlacing control, VMR Pixel Adaptive, and Prefer VMR9. Set Nvidia driver to use Inverse Telecine.
QUESTION: This is done where? What command?

5) Configure SageTV to use Default decoders, Default Renderer (which is VRM7), Default Audio, etc. (VRM9 works for SD, but is not smooth on high bitrate HD content, on my system, with 8800GT.)
QUESTION/CLARIFICATION: So you're saying in SageTV to set it for default this and default that instead of the VRM9 and "Nvidia Post Processing" or "Nvidia Decoder" etc. Right?

6) Modify Registry with "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Frey Technologies\SageTV\DirectX9\YUVMixing=0" (This fixes strange problem with interlacing when running VRM9, but VMR9 still wasn't powerful enough for HD content on my system)
QUESTION: Is this something one would do only if still experiencing problems?


Thanks,


Mitch

[cmcquistion]

Originally Posted by Mitch G

I've been using post processing as well but introduces problems for me when doing commercial skip.
So, I think I want to try these tweaks (and thanks for compiling them).
But, before I do, I want to ask a few questions to make sure I don't screw up the system. I'm not a windows expert so forgive the stupid questions.

1) Make a backup copy of the registry in case something gets screwed up.

2) Run "regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\SageTV\Common\stvm2vd.ax"" to unregister Sage decoder.

3) Run DECCHECK and Nvidia as default decoder.
QUESTION: What does this mean? Is DECCHECK a command through which I identify Nvidia as the default decoder?

4) Set Nvidia decoder to Content Default Aspect Ratio, Hardware Accelleration, Automatic De-interlacing control, VMR Pixel Adaptive, and Prefer VMR9. Set Nvidia driver to use Inverse Telecine.
QUESTION: This is done where? What command?

5) Configure SageTV to use Default decoders, Default Renderer (which is VRM7), Default Audio, etc. (VRM9 works for SD, but is not smooth on high bitrate HD content, on my system, with 8800GT.)
QUESTION/CLARIFICATION: So you're saying in SageTV to set it for default this and default that instead of the VRM9 and "Nvidia Post Processing" or "Nvidia Decoder" etc. Right?

6) Modify Registry with "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Frey Technologies\SageTV\DirectX9\YUVMixing=0" (This fixes strange problem with interlacing when running VRM9, but VMR9 still wasn't powerful enough for HD content on my system)
QUESTION: Is this something one would do only if still experiencing problems?


Thanks,


Mitch

Good point. You should probably make a backup of the registry before you start.

DECCHECK is the program you can download. It is the Decoder Check Utility that tells you what decoder is the Windows default. You can use it to change the default decoder or just make sure that Nvidia is set to be the default decoder.

When you're playing a video, and it is using the Nvidia decoder, you will have a little Nvidia icon in your system tray. Double click to open it. From here, you can set those settings that I specified above.

To turn on Inverse Telecine, you will need to go into the Nvidia Control Panel (right click on your Desktop and click Nvidia Control Panel.) From here, click "Adjust video color settings." Next, click on the Tab that says "Enhancements". Now, put a check in the box next to "Use inverse telecine".

Yes, set Sage TV to use the default renderer (which will use VRM7), and default video and audio decoder. As long as you've set Windows to use Nvidia as the Windows default decoders and you've unregistered that troublesome SageTV decoder, this should work.

That registry change is only necessary if you want to use VRM9. It fixes a de-interlacing problem that happens in VRM9. I did this and I could then use VRM9 for standard definition TV and DVD playback, but HD playback was still a little choppy on high bitrate 1080i content. This was with a 3 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, and 8800GT video card, so it isn't a horsepower problem, it is some kind of software or decoder issue. Setting the rendering preference to default, which uses VRM7, cleared up any performance lag. I don't get the transparent menus, but I do get excellent color and black level (better than overlay) and excellent performance.

*EDIT* I also used this thread to tweak my decoders and filters. I am NOT using AC3 filter, but I was able to tweak everything so my MPG and TS files are playing back with a minimal number of filters and decoders and only the ones I want (Nvidia). I'm not sure it really helped anything, but it gave me a better grasp on how the decoders and filters interact. I was NOT able to get VRM9 playback perfectly smooth on high bitrate 1080i content, even using Full Screen Exclusive mode. It is smooth for standard definition TV and DVD playback with VRM9, though.

[TechBill]

I hope you don't mind me jumping in on this thread since my question is about PureVideo and since I notice you are using it on your SageTV and I wanted to ask you about it.

I am wanting to get PureVideo that can do HD but when I was reading Nivida page about the PureVideo, It explained about the PureVideo and PureVideoHD.

So I went to the Nvidia store thinking I could purchase PureVideoHD but instead I saw they listed was 3 different PureVideo package which are Bronze, Gold and Platinum but I didn't see any PureVideoHD so I wanted to ask which one did you get or is there a PureVideoHD and where could I purchase that at?


Thank you
Bill

[Mitch G]

That little unregistering the default decoder was the critical piece for me.
Just doing that and making sure the nvidia decoder was the default in DECCHECK fixed all my video problems. This thread should be made a sticky.

Great job and thanks again,


Mitch

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by TechBill

So I went to the Nvidia store thinking I could purchase PureVideoHD but instead I saw they listed was 3 different PureVideo package which are Bronze, Gold and Platinum but I didn't see any PureVideoHD so I wanted to ask which one did you get or is there a PureVideoHD and where could I purchase that at?

There is no PurevideoHD decoder. Nvidia is no longer developing their decoder. The last version is almost 2 years old. It was merely a stopgap solution until the major DVD player makers optimized their decoders to be hardware accelerated on Nvidia hardware.

As far as the differences between the version of PureVideo go. The differences have to do with the audio decoding. If all you're going to be doing is SPDIF passthrough don't worry about getting more than the bronze. Silver gets you 5.1ch AC3 decoding and Gold gets you DTS decoding.

Personally, I would give up on Purevideo and look elsewhere such as Cyberlink's PowerDVD decoder. Since the PureVideo decoder is no longer being developed it has no official Vista support and never will. It's a dead-end product that Nvidia is still making a few pennies off of. Really, it's such an old product they should just start giving it away.

[TechBill]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

There is no PurevideoHD decoder. Nvidia is no longer developing their decoder. The last version is almost 2 years old. It was merely a stopgap solution until the major DVD player makers optimized their decoders to be hardware accelerated on Nvidia hardware.

As far as the differences between the version of PureVideo go. The differences have to do with the audio decoding. If all you're going to be doing is SPDIF passthrough don't worry about getting more than the bronze. Silver gets you 5.1ch AC3 decoding and Gold gets you DTS decoding.

Personally, I would give up on Purevideo and look elsewhere such as Cyberlink's PowerDVD decoder. Since the PureVideo decoder is no longer being developed it has no official Vista support and never will. It's a dead-end product that Nvidia is still making a few pennies off of. Really, it's such an old product they should just start giving it away.

Oh thank you for the information, I didn't know they stop developing on it so I will stick with my Cyberlink decoder. It a Cyberlink Delxue 7 but I haven't upgraded to their newest one yet so I proabably will upgrade it then or check around to see if there a better decoder out there.

Thanks again
Bill

[Polypro]

FWIW, I don't notice a major difference between Cyberlink and Nvidia decoders...on Vista, "Smart" even works fine.

P

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

There is no PurevideoHD decoder. Nvidia is no longer developing their decoder. The last version is almost 2 years old. It was merely a stopgap solution until the major DVD player makers optimized their decoders to be hardware accelerated on Nvidia hardware.

As far as the differences between the version of PureVideo go. The differences have to do with the audio decoding. If all you're going to be doing is SPDIF passthrough don't worry about getting more than the bronze. Silver gets you 5.1ch AC3 decoding and Gold gets you DTS decoding.

Personally, I would give up on Purevideo and look elsewhere such as Cyberlink's PowerDVD decoder. Since the PureVideo decoder is no longer being developed it has no official Vista support and never will. It's a dead-end product that Nvidia is still making a few pennies off of. Really, it's such an old product they should just start giving it away.

Not true. Well, not true in a month or so. I talked with Nvidia at CES and reamed them over how poor the purevideo support was with all the usual codec vendors. They said they will be releasing their own mpeg2, vc-1 and h.264 codec, bundled with their drivers in a couple months, so you won't have to use powerdvd etc... Apparently there have been issues with 3wrd parties doing the right thing with purevideo HD, and they are taking matters into their own hands now.

[cmcquistion]

The Nvidia DVD decoder DOES HD decoding, so you don't have to use a different decoder or anything. The Nvidia decoder does it all. It is a pretty good decoder, in my experience, when used on Nvidia video cards.

[Mitch G]

Follow up question.
I found that if I change SageTV to load at windows startup - which makes it run as a service owned by SYSTEM as opposed to being an application being owned by my single existing user (who I called Media Server), then video is messed up. It's basically a black screen unless I click on the screen and then it shows momentarily and then goes black again.
So, any suggestions for what to do about this? I would prefer setting it up as service.

Thanks,


Mitch

[Taddeusz]

Set the service to run as a user with Administrator rights.

[Polypro]

Originally Posted by mikesm

Not true. Well, not true in a month or so. I talked with Nvidia at CES and reamed them over how poor the purevideo support was with all the usual codec vendors. They said they will be releasing their own mpeg2, vc-1 and h.264 codec, bundled with their drivers in a couple months, so you won't have to use powerdvd etc... Apparently there have been issues with 3wrd parties doing the right thing with purevideo HD, and they are taking matters into their own hands now.

Like AMD/ATI does with UVD...pretty cool. I've always liked the NV Decoder. Back in the day they used to stay on top of it well, too...1.059 to 1.223 in about 18 months. Still works great on Vista, better than XP because "Smart" is fine on Vista.

P

[TechBill]

I am not putting down PureVideo at all. I am a big fan of Nvidia card when it come to gaming.

But I was thinking since PureVideo Decoder is 50 dollar and the Cyberlink Ultra upgrade is only 60 dollar for me which come with DVD player and it have Blu-ray and HD-DVD support that I thought I might as well be better off spending extra 10 dollar for the latest decoder.

Also I am using Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H motherboard which have onboard ATI 1250 video chipset for my HTPC so I figured since PureVideo is more tweaked toward the Nvidia chipset that I might be better off getting Cyberlink Ultra which is tweak for both video chipsets.


Bill

[cmcquistion]

Originally Posted by TechBill

I am not putting down PureVideo at all. I am a big fan of Nvidia card when it come to gaming.

But I was thinking since PureVideo Decoder is 50 dollar and the Cyberlink Ultra upgrade is only 60 dollar for me which come with DVD player and it have Blu-ray and HD-DVD support that I thought I might as well be better off spending extra 10 dollar for the latest decoder.

Also I am using Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H motherboard which have onboard ATI 1250 video chipset for my HTPC so I figured since PureVideo is more tweaked toward the Nvidia chipset that I might be better off getting Cyberlink Ultra which is tweak for both video chipsets.


Bill

Good points. I have the Purevideo decoder, $20 version from way back when. I pass SPDIF from my computer to my receiver, so the cheap version of the Purevideo decoder is fine for that.