Video playback issue and question.

[davidmoore]

I'm using MPC-HC on EMR Custom, Bicubic 1.0 Resize with CoreAVC as a decoder.

The issue I'm having is with scenes that are dark but have lighting in them. An example of my issue I would describe as a candle on a black background. As the light is further from the candle a type of banding occurs. Instead of a smooth transition from light to dark, it appears as different levels of brightness. Is there a correction for this? Is it just part of the quality of movie I am watching?

Also, is there a guide or suggestions for MPC-HC shaders I should be using? I mostly watch 720p, 1080p movies, but also anime. I use CoreAVC for h264 playback of course and FFDShow for everything else. I did find a guide advising different Blurs and Sharpenings and such within FFDShow, but of course those corrections won't affect h264 playback since I use CoreAVC.

Thanks.

Edit: I actually turned on the 16-235 -> 0-255 shader and it removed the banding but at the same time made the video a little darker. I'm still accepting suggestions if anyone has any.

Edit2: I then changed the output levels to Auto Detect in CoreAVC which I can only assume changed it to 16-235 instead of 0-255 like I had set. I was able to remove the MPC shader at this point.

[J_Darnley]

You can get ffdshow to load if you enable its raw video processing on the codecs page. Then you can Use ffdhow as a post-processor for most videos.

Anyway, to remove banding using ffdshow, enable the Deband filter.

[davidmoore]

You can get ffdshow to load if you enable its raw video processing on the codecs page. Then you can Use ffdhow as a post-processor for most videos.

Anyway, to remove banding using ffdshow, enable the Deband filter.

I did a right side only processing and it definitely looks better. have any suggestions for any other settings?

[J_Darnley]

If you want to hide them more try: raise the deband threshold, use the noise filter, use something via the avisynth filter. As for other problems that one might want to correct, I sometimes use the levels filter with gamma at 1.2, turn on deblocking, use the internal resizer and very occasionally use the sharpen filter.

[davidmoore]

If you want to hide them more try: raise the deband threshold, use the noise filter, use something via the avisynth filter. As for other problems that one might want to correct, I sometimes use the levels filter with gamma at 1.2, turn on deblocking, use the internal resizer and very occasionally use the sharpen filter.

I get lagged video when using FFDShow with CoreAVC, but my CPU doesn't have pegged % usage. What else could cause this? GPU or something?

[J_Darnley]

Sorry, I have no idea. If you are not running out of cpu power then it should work fine together. I haven't got CoreAVC but it works with other decoders (WMV and MPEG2)

[ArdenDag]

Quick question:

Are you watching this on a computer monitor or a TV? LCD?

Arden