Hardware Decoding?

[wammer23]

I purchased a Radeon HD 4350 to add hardware decoding of Blu-Ray and
h.264

The blu-ray decoding works great (CPU utilization is around 8 to 10% while watching blu-ray).

The h.264 however doesn't seem to be using the hardware decoding of the new radeon. cpu utilization is around 75% while watching HD content via my HDPVR and the latest SageTV beta.

How do you get sage to use the radeon's h.264 hardware decoding?

[kbyrd]

If you're doing this in sage, there are two different settings for the video decoder. One for mpeg4, one for DVD. In the audio/video settings menu, make sure you're using the same encoder as your DVD setting.

[Clift]

That's not quite right. The MPEG4 setting in SageTV is for videos. In order to set up which decoder gets used, you have to set it in the sage.properties file. Wammer23, do you have ArcSoft TotalMedia extreme installed?

[wammer23]

Yes, and in the sage properties file the h.264 is set to ArcSoft Video Decoder. I also have Cyberlink PowerDVD 7 which came bundled with my Blu-ray drive.

My radeon hd 4350 supports full h.264 encoding.

[Clift]

Okay it should be working... There are some little quirks and tips/tricks you may look that may be yor stumbling block.

What OS are you using? XP or Vista
What version of SageTV? 6.4 or 6.5.x Beta
What renderer are you using? Overlay, VMR9 or EVR
Do you have FSE (Full Screen Exclusive) Enabled?
Have you made sure that hardware acceleration is turned on? To do this you have to launch TotalMedia Extreme and choose the watch AVCHD option. Thsi will Launch Total Media Theatre. Once that's launched, you need to right click on the movie pane and go to setup or configuration (I don't remember exactly what it says). On the Video Tab there's an option for hardware acceleration. Make sure that checkbox is checked. If it's already checked then try this:

Download Directshow Filter Manager (http://www.softella.com/dsfm/index.en.htm). When you launch DSFM find the filter called ArcSoft Video Decoder, double click on it, then go to filter settings and make sure DXVA is checked. If you are uding XP, make sure DXVA 1.0 is checked and if you are using Vista, DXVA 2.0... Toggle them both off if they are already on, then save, exit out and restart DSFM... Find the Arcsoft filter again and go to filter settings and select only the one you want (DXVA 1.0 or DXVA 2.0 depending on your OS). Now exit out and either restart or log out then log back in (I'm not sure this is necesary but it can't hurt). Restart SageTV and see. Hopefully it works out.

If not, you might need to enable debug_logging to check it out further or there may be a Catalyst driver issue. Post back with your results.

[wammer23]

What OS are you using? XP or Vista: Vista 32 Ultimate
What version of SageTV? 6.4 or 6.5.x Beta: 6.5.x Beta (latest version)
What renderer are you using? Overlay, VMR9 or EVR: EVR
Do you have FSE (Full Screen Exclusive) Enabled?: YES

Harware acceleration is turned ON in TME.

I downloaded DirectShow Filter Manager and neither DXVA 2 or 1 was enabled, I enabled 2.0, rebooted, no change.

I tried to download the lates driver for Radeon but ATI site is not working at the moment.

FYI: this doesn't seem to be a Sage only issue as my cpu utilization was the same when viewing in TME.

I enabled debug logging. Where is the output file for me to post?

Thanks so much for your help!

wes

[wammer23]

FIXED! I downloaded and installed the latest graphics driver and catlyst suite and now my cpu utilization while watching sage in HD is around 8-10%.

AWESOME! Thanks for all your help.

wes

[wammer23]

Ok, so I fixed the issue and now have full hardware decoding but the kicker is the video is not as good as it was when the cpu was doing all the work.

If I switch my Dishnetwork box to 720p, my cpu utilization drops to around 50-60% with a really nice picture. I guess I'll just stick with that for now.

Any ideas on why the video is not as good with the radeon doing the work? It looks fine as long as the actors are standing still, but when they move it looks a little bit jerky or non-fluid.