Which CPU power would you need if GPU had no H264/VC1 decoding ?

[LOGiC]

@all,

I am still fighting with all my tearing issues. I've noticed that not every material is being hardware decoded by the GPU, so I would like to give a question to the experts around here.

If you did not have any new GPU inside your machine, what is your guess which CPU power you would definately need to let the CPU do all the H264 & VC1 decoding ?

More a Duo or more a Quad ?

Thanks in advance.

Regards

[Sagittaire]

Core i7 is by far the more powerfull for video encoding.

[qbhn]

@all,

I am still fighting with all my tearing issues. I've noticed that not every material is being hardware decoded by the GPU, so I would like to give a question to the experts around here.

If you did not have any new GPU inside your machine, what is your guess which CPU power you would definately need to let the CPU do all the H264 & VC1 decoding ?

More a Duo or more a Quad ?

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Anything with SSE4 and multiple cores/cpus

[LOGiC]

Thanks for your replies Guys and many apologies. I think I still was asleep this morning. The thread title is wrong, I wanted to have written decoding, not encoding :-(

[DJ Bobo]

I wouldn't go below something like the Athlon X2 6000+ to decode Blu-Ray properly.

[_DW_]

Almost any modern cpu is going to SD h.264/vc1 decoding without any issues. Before I rebuilt it I was decoding SD h.264 on a single core AMD 3200 in my shuttle box.

Now if you are going to be doing HD, bruray, or 1080p your going to need at least a dual core. I'm currently decoding 1080p on a AMD 3800+ x2 939. I hit 80-90% cpu time when doing so but it will handle the job.

You can pick up plenty of processors at Newegg for about 50 bucks, give or take a few, that will do the job just fine.

[tetsuo55]

The limit used to be 3ghz Core2duo or equally fast(in benchmarks not mhz) amd processor.

This for the most difficult of samples know as the "killa sample"
A very high bitrate every setting on max. Another difficult scene is a birds flying over mountains scene from a BBC documentary.

Bitrate really peaks and deblocking strains the CPU

Since that time though both ffmpeg and coreavc have had several updates.
I would also like to know what CPU is needed for 0 framedrop playback of those difficult samples.

Note however that most movies do not need this speed at all because they are a lot easier to decode

Benchmark for accurate playback is:
0 frame drops and maximum CPU usage of 75%

[Blue_MiSfit]

I wouldn't go lower than a high clocked Athlon X2 or at least a 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo.

I do everything in software on my 2.4 GHz Core 2 Quad, even at stock speeds (usually run 3 GHz). That includes adding grain etc..

~MiSfit

[blubberbirne]

My AMD 5050e (2,6GHz) can handle Blu-Rays without GPU Decoding. But i don't use it :D

[turbojet]

An X2 3800+ at stock 1.8ghz (slowest dual core?) can decode 1080p seamlessly with coreAVC, divx7 and powerDVD(h.264 and VC-1) filters. WMVideo DMO (a suggested VC-1 decoder) and ffmpeg-mt h.264 isn't seamless but it's still watchable, maybe 5 of 1000 frames dropped. FFDshow VC-1 (unwatchable for everyone?) and WinDVD9 decoders (both h.264 and VC-1) playback is unwatchable, about 1/3 of all frames are dropped.

Overclocked to 2.4ghz ffmpeg-mt h.264 and WMVideo DMO are seamless, windvd and ffdshow vc-1 stil unwatchable.

Results are from vista and xp.

Just gives you an idea of what you need for seamless playback, I'd go so far as to say that any dual core will do with the right decoders.

[swaaye]

It also depends on the decoder software you're using. Something like CoreAVC will get you a lot more from a CPU than FFDShow say. CoreAVC got my EeePC900 with its Celeron M 900 MHz to play SD x264 just fine. I also am using a Pentium 3 1400 MHz to play SD x264 just with FFDShow. When you go HD, the CPU power needed spikes considerably though and you need another CPU core.

On the other hand, a $25 GPU + Media Player Classic Homecinema can make the CPU usage drop to 5%.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Indeed.

Unless of course you're like me, and like using CRF mode to make your HD rips. In these cases, you can't count on DXVA being able to handle bitrate spikes.

~MiSfit

[shinedot]

It also depends on the decoder software you're using. Something like CoreAVC will get you a lot more from a CPU than FFDShow say. CoreAVC got my EeePC900 with its Celeron M 900 MHz to play SD x264 just fine. I also am using a Pentium 3 1400 MHz to play SD x264 just with FFDShow. When you go HD, the CPU power needed spikes considerably though and you need another CPU core.

On the other hand, a $25 GPU + Media Player Classic Homecinema can make the CPU usage drop to 5%.

i find ffdshow very poor decoder for h264/avc.
coreavc is much better.
also powerdvd, winddvd and oxygen avchd player (free) are far better than ffdshow

[Blue_MiSfit]

DivX H.264 is a great performer, as is ffdshow-tryouts' ffmpeg-mt decoder. Both are highly threaded, and can scale up to 8 cores.

~MiSfit