Cyberlink H.264 codec and ATI HD3450 stutter for H.264 HDTV

[thenewguy1979]

I used the latest Cyberlink H.264 decoder (CyberLink PowerDVD8 v.2.2.0.624 CE ) as my codec for H.264 but it stutter very badly on HD channel with H.264 on Dish Network.

Stutter is probably the wrong word as picture will freeze and sound would go on when playing these channel.

I'm using this codec along with my ATI HD3450 video card.

I tried editing registry and increase numbuffer to 40 but still no go.

Does anyone have any advice. Perhaps what other codec I should used with this video card for H.264.

BTW, I using default video renderer. Thanks

[swats]

Are you using the Beta Demux filter in the Beta forum? If not, give it a try. It worked for me with PowerDVD. Also, don't use the PowerDVD audio decoder-- it doesn't work. Use the ArcSoft.

[thenewguy1979]

Still have problem here. Picture would play fine, sometimes up to 1 minutes then boom. Picture crash/hang while audio continue. Only happen on H.264 channel.

Does anyone with an ATI HD3450 card using the cyberlink 8 H.264 decoder at the moment? If yes, do you have the same problem

Also, with the ATI and Cyberlink I cannot use FSE else I get no picture or codec error when watching H.264 channel in full screen.

Thanks

[jerryt]

How does Arcsoft Video Decoder work?

I have h.264 from r5000-hd and plays fine with Arcsoft and Nvidia 8600 GTS, other filters work if you do both the demux buffer hacks.

[thenewguy1979]

Not yet, does that codec support H.264 hardware acceleration for the ATI card?

I know CoreAVC and Motionconcept does not.

[jerryt]

HA in Vista requires EVR, which is not supported in Sage.
In XP HA should work with VMR9, but I have Vista so I can't verify.

I get smooth playback without HA. Sometimes HA is the problem. Enter filter property page and try toggling HA on and off. See what works for you.

[ryttingm]

I have an ati 3450 and WindowsXP. Currently the SageTv Demux does not play nicely with the cyberlink powerdvd 8 h264 decoder. You have a couple of choices.

1. Use the arcsoft video/audo decoders. The seem to play nice with the SageTv demux. My system does not seem very stable in this configuration, however, with constant hangs and lockups. It may work flawlessly for a day or two, then I'll have to reboot.
2. Use the beta demux, powerdvd video, and arcsoft audo (the beta demux still does not like talking to the powerdvd audio decoder). Unfortunately, the beta demux seems to have issues with the timeline not moving while watching a show so you can lose your place in a hurry.
3. Turn of Hardware Acceleration. This requires having some high end hardware so YMMV.
4. Use a custom demux. This can be accomplished by a registry setting that can be found by searching the forums. I was successful using the Haali Media Splitter. The big downside is that many available splitters/demuxs do not support playback of actively recording files including the Haali Media Splitter. Works great for shows already recording, not so good for timeshifting.

In short, I'm still waiting for a solution that works in all cases for h264 playback in SageTV on windowsXP and my ati 3450.

-Mike

[thenewguy1979]

I'm currently using the defualt renderer and it should be VMR7. Hardware acceleration is on as CPU usages drop to 10%. However it crash/freeze after 1 minutes or less as mention.

BTW, how do I enter the filter properties page in Sagetv? I want to disable HA for cyberlink codec to see if it make a differences.

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by thenewguy1979

how do I enter the filter properties page.

Directshow filter manager

or

configuration page of PowerDVD

[thenewguy1979]

Okay just install the arcsoft H.264 decoder. However did not explicitly see any mentioned of Arcssoft H.264 Codec/Decoder under filter manager.

Is it listed as a different name?

[jerryt]

Arcsoft Video Decoder

[Steve52]

Will the Arcsoft audio decoder pass SPDIF?

[swats]

Originally Posted by Steve52

Will the Arcsoft audio decoder pass SPDIF?

Yes. Although if you are using HD-PVR as your h.264 source it will still be 2 channel.

[thenewguy1979]

Okay I solved my problem or at least make it much better.

I downloaded the latest ATI Catalyst driver version 8.6 dated 9/13/08
Disable pulldown detection and manually set deinterlacer to vector mode under the catalyst control panel. This resolve 98% of my crashes.

However, picture still slightly stutter. I then changed numbuffer to 120 from default of 40.

Now H.264 channel are very watchable. Only once a while do the picture freeze which can be easily fix by refreshing the video, pressing Live TV, in my case.

Hope this help someone else with similiar problem.

[reeven]

Use this one:

CyberLink.H264.Decoder.v2.2.1114

is better than even Arcsoft latest version.