madVR - high quality video renderer (GPU assisted)

[huhn]

you can't build a PC for video playback without a GPU. you don't have to set everthing to "maximum" or something like that you can easily use MadVR with a normal APU.
MadVR can be very very GPU intensive but this depends on the used setting.

[wikita]

i was under the impression that onboard graphics is more than sufficient for video playback, but the little time spent reading up on madvr so far has proven me wrong. i know plenty about audio related matters but not so much video, hence this is doubly confusing for me

where do you think the law of diminishing returns kicks in with regards to settings used and GPU power?

[Mangix]

Originally Posted by wikita

hi guys, i have a quick question: given how GPU-intensive madvr is, should i use it for my XBMC home theater setup? the GPU will drive the price of my HTPC way up, thereby defeating the point of having one

No need for an external GPU. Just lower the settings of madVR.

[Asmodian]

Originally Posted by wikita

where do you think the law of diminishing returns kicks in with regards to settings used and GPU power?

This is a subjective question. My GT545 works well with Bicubic75+AR Chroma scaling + 3 Tap Spline + AR Image scaling, smooth motion on, debanding on, and ordered dithering on a 2560x1440 display. The quality is very good.

My Titan isn't good enough (only overclocked to ~1.1 GHz) to max luma doubling NNEDI3 for 720p24 to 1440p display. 128 neuron max, I run 64 neuron if I want to turn on other things like NNEDI3 chroma or ED dithering.

My personal opinion is that madVR price/performance is at about the same place it is for video games, maybe a little below, which now that I think about it is almost scary.

A 750 Ti or similar AMD card will give you everything you want (edit: Jinc3+AR, smooth motion, debanding) with headroom but any NNEDI3 would be too much for anything not SD.

In my experience madVR can be set to work well with decent quality on an HD4000 or better, at least with a 1080p display. DXVA2 scaling on Intel might be good enough for you.

[tjcinnamon]

Is it possible to upscale to 1080p for somet video and 720p to another using profiles? I have some profiles set up but I'd like to upscale low res videos to 720p because it should take less power and I can ramp up the settings a little more with the saved gpu cycles

[Asmodian]

You can simply set your video player to a smaller window. Anything other then displaying the video smaller would involve a resize; defeating the point of turning up the settings getting it to 720p.

[tjcinnamon]

Originally Posted by Asmodian

You can simply set your video player to a smaller window. Anything other then displaying the video smaller would involve a resize; defeating the point of turning up the settings getting it to 720p.

I use full screen exclusive mode. I see reclock can change the target fps, but I'm curious if madvr can lower the resolution than what is set to display in full screen.

Also, am I correct in assuming that an upscale from 320p to 720p will use less processing power than 320p to 1080p (I.e. I can use 64 neurons vs 32)....

[Asmodian]

Originally Posted by tjcinnamon

Also, am I correct in assuming that an upscale from 320p to 720p will use less processing power than 320p to 1080p (I.e. I can use 64 neurons vs 32)....

NNEDI3 can only double so unless you are using quadrupling (not recommended) changing from 1080 to 720 will only decrease performance based on your "Image Scaling" setting which shouldn't be significant compared to NNEDI3.

madVR cannot change your screen's native resolution so unless you want a small picture in the center of your screen there is nothing to do.

[huhn]

Originally Posted by Asmodian

madVR cannot change your screen's native resolution so unless you want a small picture in the center of your screen there is nothing to do.

MadVR can change the resolution. but it's pointless to leave the native resolution for multiply reasons and current hardware.

[Anime Viewer]

Originally Posted by tjcinnamon

I use full screen exclusive mode. I see reclock can change the target fps, but I'm curious if madvr can lower the resolution than what is set to display in full screen.

Also, am I correct in assuming that an upscale from 320p to 720p will use less processing power than 320p to 1080p (I.e. I can use 64 neurons vs 32)....

Your right that the system will do less work transfering a 320p video to 720p then it will going from 320p to 1080p.

You can input the settings you want madVR to switch to in madVR settings under devices -> your screen name -> display modes, and enter your resolutions there. (ex: 720p60, 720p59, 720p30, 720p29).

If its a tv screen then it may look good in both 1080 and 720, but if its a notebook or computer monitor if the screen may not look as clear (more blurry) at non-native resolution (depends on your screen quality and its scaling abilities). You'll have to test and see for yourself to see if you notice any drawbacks or not. If you never watch 1080p videos using madVR then you could go with just 720p (or i) entries, but if you do watch 1080p videos using madVR you should enter those with the 720 entries.

[tjcinnamon]

Originally Posted by Anime Viewer

Your right that the system will do less work transfering a 320p video to 720p then it will going from 320p to 1080p.

You can input the settings you want madVR to switch to in madVR settings under devices -> your screen name -> display modes, and enter your resolutions there. (ex: 720p60, 720p59, 720p30, 720p29).

If its a tv screen then it may look good in both 1080 and 720, but if its a notebook or computer monitor if the screen may not look as clear (more blurry) at non-native resolution (depends on your screen quality and its scaling abilities). You'll have to test and see for yourself to see if you notice any drawbacks or not. If you never watch 1080p videos using madVR then you could go with just 720p (or i) entries, but if you do watch 1080p videos using madVR you should enter those with the 720 entries.

yeah, I'm watching it on an HTPC (which is mostly in 1080). However, when watching an internet stream via MPC it is usually around 320p which a 1080p upscale seems unnecessary and too processor intensive.

I'd rather ratchet up the settings and have it upscale to 720p than to have lesser settings (via profile) and upscaled to 1080p.

Does that make sense?

When I set my devices (monitor) in the settings I have: 1080p24, etc..., 720p24 but it always upscales to the monitor resolution in full screen. I'd like to upscale 720p content to 1080p and 320p to 720p.

Not sure if that's possible.

[Soukyuu]

I don't think that's possible since profiles always go by file resolution, not some... transitional step. I also don't think the quality will change for the better with that behavior, if you're low on resources, just go with lower settings. The higher settings do show a difference, but frankly, with a 320p stream you don't have much quality to work with in the first place.

Also, letting madvr upscale to 1080p at lower settings is still better than having your monitor work at 720p (= let your monitor do the upscaling)

[michkrol]

Originally Posted by tjcinnamon

I'd rather ratchet up the settings and have it upscale to 720p than to have lesser settings (via profile) and upscaled to 1080p.

Does that make sense?

It makes little sense. You're basically sending a (subjectively) higher quality signal to your display, so it can "destroy" it by using some kind of scaling algorithm, which usually is bad, except maybe for some TVs.
You will get best quality by using your display's native resolution.

Do you have some performance issues going 320p->1080p which you don't get for 320p->720p or are you just against unnecessarily using power and generating noise/heat?

[wikita]

Originally Posted by Asmodian

My personal opinion is that madVR price/performance is at about the same place it is for video games, maybe a little below, which now that I think about it is almost scary.

thanks a lot for your answer and especially this part. who knew video playback could be so performance heavy.

[feelingblue]

Originally Posted by James Freeman

Just to clarify,

Blu-Ray is encoded and stored on the disc as Ycbcr 4:2:0, then madVR converts YCbCr to RGB and does all the processing and output in RGB, correct?
I have read on AVSForums that most TVs convert incoming RGB signal back to YCbCr for processing unless we choose a special option to tell the TV to skip the conversion and output pure RGB.
On a Panasonic this option called "1080 Pixel Direct".

An easy indicator would be if the Color/Saturation slider is still working if we feed RGB signal into the TV, then the TV converts incoming RGB to YCbCr for processing and back again to RGB for the panel.
So basically we get another conversion step which may (or may not) degrade the signal.

IMO the best method , if you have the correct pattern, is verify the Chroma Upsampling Error.

i prefer directly see the results of the chroma upsampling to evaluate the quality.

[leeperry]

Originally Posted by madshi

Hmmm... They didn't have time to look at it *yet*? Or they generally don't have time to look at it?

Their answer was apparently just as vague as what I told you, they do know about it and they might look at it when they find the time. I guess they care a lot more about tiny optimizations for the latest videogames.

[Vyral]

Hi,
I want to change the refresh rate of my display when playing a video and restore the default settings (1080p60) when leaving fullscreen. I was using smooth motion until now but it is taking a lot of ressources that I want to use to add debanding.
My display refresh rate can be set between 50 and 75Hz. I've tried using the following settings in the display mode tab in madVR :
1080p60, 1080p59, 1080p50

However, the refresh rate always remains at 60Hz when playing 30, 24 or 23.9 fps videos. Is it normal ? How do madVR choose which display mode to use ?

Thanks for your help.

[YxP]

Check your display's manual. I have a feeling other refresh rates than 60hz are usable only with lower, non-native resolutions.

[leeperry]

Originally Posted by Vyral

I've tried using the following settings in the display mode tab in madVR :
1080p60, 1080p59, 1080p50

However, the refresh rate always remains at 60Hz when playing 30, 24 or 23.9 fps videos. Is it normal ?

mVR only asks Windows to roll refresh rates, do you have options for those rates in the Windows graphic settings? If not, you would need to enable them in your graphic drivers.

PS:

Originally Posted by Vyral

refresh rate can be set between 55 and 75Hz

See if 72/75Hz aren't internally reclocked to 60Hz then

[Vyral]

Originally Posted by YxP

Check your display's manual. I have a feeling other refresh rates than 60hz are usable only with lower, non-native resolutions.

After checking the display's manual, the refresh rate can be set between 55 and 75Hz, but there is nothing about resolutions and refresh rate.

Originally Posted by leeperry

mVR only asks Windows to roll refresh rates, do you have options for those rates in the Windows graphic settings? If not, you would need to enable them in your graphic drivers.

Windows and AMD CCC both allow me to set the refresh rate to 60, 59 and 50Hz.

EDIT : I've changed the settings with 1080p60 and 1080p59. It seems to work because the refresh rate is changed during playback but it's either 60Hz or 59.9Hz.
Well whatever, I'll stay with 60Hz and without smooth motion (I have 0 dropped/delayed frames since I turned it off).

Thanks for help