NVIDIA hardware acceleration for h.264 - which codec?

[shewhorn]

Okay...

I've almost got all the issues ironed out in my new system. Here's the details:

The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H. It has an NVIDIA 9400 chipset with integrated graphics which does support h.264 hardware acceleration (I'm playing back streams recorded by an HD-PVR).

I have tried:

CoreAVC
ffdshow
PureVideo

I've also tried the DIVX h.264 decoder.

Now, with the DIVX h.264 decoder playback was a bit choppy with my processor which is an e5200 (default clock speed is 2.5 GHz). Overclocking to 2.9 GHz seems to render smooth playback BUT... I'd rather use the hardware acceleration in the 9400 chipset (it's the reason I chose that mobo) as I'm doing passive cooling on the processor (even OCed the max temp I've seen so far is 42ºC which is nothing to worry about but I'd rather let the GPU do that work). With the CoreAVC, ffdshow, and PureVideo I can verify that they are using hardware acceleration based upon what the processor is doing (well... that's an assumption but if it's wrong I'm sure someone will correct me :-) ). With those codecs processor utilization is around 20%. If I switch to the DIVX H.264 decoder processor utilization jumps up to 80%+.

The problem I'm running into is that the playback using the CUDA based decoders stutters. Does anyone have any suggestions here?

I have changed NumBuffers to 0x100 and BufferSize to 0x20000 but it didn't make any difference. FWIW I'm running in FSE mode with hardware acceleration enabled.

Question... when using the PureVideo decoder I set the MPEG2 decoder to PureVideo. There's also a setting for h.264 but the PureVideo codec doesn't show up. There's clearly a difference when switching between PureVideo and other decoders for MPEG2 so I assume it's doing something but I'm a bit curious as to why I'm not seeing something in the h.264 menu as well.

More info on my setup:
OS = Windows 7 RC 32 bit
Processor = Intel e5200
RAM = 4 gigs
SageTV version is the most recent beta
NVIDIA drivers are version 186.18 (most recent)

Any suggestions for tweaking things to get the h.264 working smoothly? I've done search upon search but haven't found any solutions as of yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Joe

[gplasky]

ffdshow is purely a software decoder so no way is that doing hardware. PowerDVD v8 is what I use and works great. Purevideo is NOT a h.264 decoder. I think the latest CoreAVC is suppose to do hardware acceleration.
CoreAVC requirements:

1080p video at 24-30 frames per second
CPU - 2.8 GHz or faster Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent AMD processor
RAM - At least 1GB of RAM
GPU - 256MB or greater video card
OS - Windows 98, 2000, XP, Vista

GPU Requirements for NVIDIA CUDA:*
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260/280/290/295, 9800, 9600, 9500, 8800 GT, 8800 GTS 512, 8700, 8600, 8500, 8400, Tesla S1070/C1060, Quadro FX 3700, Quadro FX 3600M, Quadro FX 1700/FX 570/ NVS 320M/FX 1600M/FX 570M/FX 370/NVS 290/NVS 140M/NVS 135M/FX 360M/NVS 130M and higher.

* You will also need drivers 182.05 or higher from NVIDIA


In the CoreAVC settings you need to set this setting:
Prefer CUDA acceleration
If this option is on the decoder will attempt to accelerate H.264 decoding by utilising your graphics card. This option is only available if you have a NVIDIA CUDA compatible video card and driver installed. Not all streams can be decoded using hardware acceleration. Changes to this option may not take effect until playback is restarted.

- Off: do not attempt to use CUDA video decoding.
- On: use CUDA video decoding if the current input video is compatible.

CUDA Tray Icon States
When both the 'Use tray Icon' and 'Prefer CUDA acceleration' options are enabled, the tray icon will show the current state if CUDA being used or not.

- Blue – CUDA not in use.
- Green – CUDA in use.

Gerry

[Fuzzy]

I believe Cyberlink and Arcsoft H.264 decoders both do hardware accelleration on NVidia or ATI.

[shewhorn]

Hi Gerry,

Thanks for the info!

Originally Posted by gplasky

ffdshow is purely a software decoder so no way is that doing hardware.

Interesting. Processor utilization is clearly much lower when using ffdshow (less than 20% at the default clock speed) as compared to the DIVX h.264 decoder which is 80%+ (and rendering smooth video for the most part when overclocked to 2.9 GHz). So I'm curious to know what's going on? ffdshow uses DirectShow. Is there any mechanism by which DirectShow can use hardware acceleration? If it's purely software then it would appear that it's MUCH more efficient than the DIVX codec which is definitely not hardware accelerated. Of course, seeing as the output of ffdshow skips and stutters it's a pretty moot point. LOL (perhaps it's a bit TOO efficient).

PowerDVD v8 is what I use and works great.

Thanks... I'm downloading a trial of v9 right now.

Purevideo is NOT a h.264 decoder.

Looks like they've added support:

"H.264, WMV/VC-1, and MPEG-4 Hardware Acceleration
NVIDIA PureVideo provides ultra-smooth playback of H.264, WMV/VC-1 and MPEG-4 HD and SD videos with minimal CPU usage."

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo.html

I might be misunderstanding this but that's from the horse's mouth.

I think the latest CoreAVC is suppose to do hardware acceleration.

Yes, it supports CUDA. Performance wise my system is more than adequate however upon closer inspection the 9400 is not listed as being supported even though it installed and "works" in so much as it plays back video but it looks bad ( there is a dramatic difference in CPU utilization when checking and unchecking "prefer hardware acceleration" in the setup panel).


To clarify my understanding of things and to add some thoughts on the NVIDIA PureVideo package (I may be chasing Red Herrings here)... So the MPEG 2 Decoder setting, is this supposed to have any impact on H.264 playback? Changing it would seem to make a difference and the H.264 stream is embedded in the MPEG2 file format. Of course... a dedicated setting for the H.264 decoder would seem to suggest that when playing back an H.264 stream that is what gets used (that makes intuitive sense but I don't know what the internal signal flow is as this is new to me). Changing the MPEG 2 decoder when playing back an H.264 stream does seem to make a difference in processor utilization. I'll have to double check and pay closer attention.

Now on the PureVideo... when playing back an MPEG2 high def stream recorded from a cable input (Clear QAM) processor utilization hovers around 60% when set to PureVideo or SageTV. When set to "default" (which begs the question... how do I figure out what the deafult decoder is) processor utilization drops to around 15% +/- 5%.

Cheers, Joe

[Clift]

Joe,

Just use the ArcSoft Video Decoder that came with the HD-PVR. If you install Total Media Extreme, then you should have this decoder available within SageTv to choose.

[Clift]

"H.264, WMV/VC-1, and MPEG-4 Hardware Acceleration
NVIDIA PureVideo provides ultra-smooth playback of H.264, WMV/VC-1 and MPEG-4 HD and SD videos with minimal CPU usage."

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo.html

I might be misunderstanding this but that's from the horse's mouth.

Joe,

Purevideo HD is not purevideo decoder. Purevideo HD refers to DXVA implementation found in 3rd party decoders such as Cyberlink H.264/AVC Decoder and ArcSoft Video Decoder.

[shewhorn]

Originally Posted by Clift

Joe,

Just use the ArcSoft Video Decoder that came with the HD-PVR. If you install Total Media Extreme, then you should have this decoder available within SageTv to choose.

Unfortunately it won't install under Windows 7. I called ArcSoft and they weren't exactly helpful. The person I spoke to said they wouldn't be supporting Windows 7 which is of course BS. If they don't support Windows 7 they'll go out of business. Sigh!

Cheers, Joe

[shewhorn]

Originally Posted by Clift

Joe,

Purevideo HD is not purevideo decoder. Purevideo HD refers to DXVA implementation found in 3rd party decoders such as Cyberlink H.264/AVC Decoder and ArcSoft Video Decoder.

Thanks for the clarification. I took a closer look. NVIDIA is pretty much just trumpeting the technology that they license I guess.

Cheers, Joe

[shewhorn]

Oy... bad news on the Cyberlink codecs. Looks like version 8 was the end of the line as far as compatibility with Sage is concerned unless someone finds a hack:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...yberlink+h.264

Cheers, Joe

[shewhorn]

Alright... downloaded the trial of TMT v3 from ArcSoft. Playback is wonderful and it has low processor utilization (this is playing back with the TMT3 application, not Sage). Is there any way to tell Sage "hey.... look here for additional codecs to use"? If so I can probably grab the codec from the disc that came with the HD-PVR and just copy it over by hand and be done with it. I've seen references to editing the Sage.properties file but the strings I've seen don't actually specify paths (and perhaps I'm oversimplifying as well, I have no familiarity with the topology surrounding how codecs are registered, if there's any support files needed or just a single .ax file, etc).

Cheers, Joe

[shewhorn]

It's been all of 24 hours so my memory is foggy (I've tried so many different things in the past 24 hours that I'm frazzled). So, I can't remember if I could install TME 2 under Win7 or if the installer wouldn't run and I tried to install just the codecs... anyhow here's what I did today... before installing I navigated to the Hauppauge install disk, navigated to the TME folder, brought up the properties for the setup application and put it into compatibility mode (Vista) for the install.

TME 2 did install but upon restart Windows 7 immediately through an error saying that a driver had been blocked due to compatibility issues. In a similar fashion when you launch TME it throw an error saying that there are compatibility issues and indeed the application doesn't really work (for example if you try to load a file and play it). Well... apparently I played around long enough today for the app to download an update and that DID work. (fwiw I uninstalled TME 3 and restarted before installing TME 2)

So, after the install I launched TME and opened a video recorded by my HD-PVR and played it back full screen. GORGEOUS! Processor utilization was at around 10% to 15%. Excellent

Okay... let's try Sage. The Arcsoft decoders weren't in the list so I edited the sage.properties file to include this line:

videoframe/h264_video_decoder_filter=ArcSoft Video Decoder

(for more info see this thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...operties+h.264 )

I launched sage and played the same video. TERRIBLE!!! Processor utilization was between 20% to 30% and I'd say the frame rate was probably 3 to 4 FPS. Very very bad. So... I don't know what this means aside from the fact that it would appear as if h.264 hardware acceleration does not work properly on SageTV installed on Windows 7 with an NVIDIA 9400 GPU.

At least I have verified that hardware acceleration works via playing back h.264 videos with TME and also CyberLink. At this point I think I'm going to mosey on over to the Beta forum.

Thanks everyone for the clarifications and information.

Cheers, Joe