h.264 720p/1080p playback requirements?

[tartrazine]

I've been trying to play back some samples of 720p/1080p mkv files with mixed results.

My setup:

Athlon XP 2400+ (2ghz), 512mb ram, geforce 6600gt.

I get the best results with coreavc + cccp (I use bsplayer). I have also tried powerdvd 7.3 + purevideo which sucked.

First question...with my setup should I be able to play back h.264 720p mkv files at all or is it just too slow? Sometimes they work ok, sometimes they are choppy and the audio doesn't sync. Is there anything else I can do for better playback?

Second...I'm going to be building a new computer just to play hd video on my hdtv. I'd like to spend $200-300. What type of setup would be cheapest yet be plenty fast for this (software/hardware decoding? cpu? gfx card? etc?)? And do I have any hope of building something that can play back 1080p or is that just out of reach without building a top of the line setup?

Thanks!
...and sorry if I posted this in the wrong place?

[_xxl]

dual core cpu 3600+ or DXVA2 capable decoder and gfx card
1gb ram

[desta]

fwiw, i've got a single core setup that's not that much better than yours (tartrazine), and it plays 720p (and most 1080p) without fault, using ffdshow, ac3filter and vsfilter in mpc.

If I run in to any problems, I use coreavc.

Gfx card is irrelevant for my setup, and yours.

[Shinjite]

For those 1080p with crazy bitrates, you definitely need at least a dual core

[easy2Bcheesy]

tartrazine: as this is your first post I would suggest you read the Forum Rules (http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm) you agree to every time you post. Pay particular attention to Rule #6.

In the meantime I've edited your post.

[tartrazine]

Thanks for all the comments.

So If I build a system with a Core2 Duo E6550 that should play pretty much everything including 1080p?

If I'm using coreavc why wouldn't the video card be relevant? Their site says 1080p requires at least a 256mb card.

As for my current setup, then shouldn't it at least be able to play 720p with coreavc without trouble?


Pay particular attention to Rule #6.
In the meantime I've edited your post.

I wasn't referring to pirated material, sorry for not being clear.

[desta]

If I'm using coreavc why wouldn't the video card be relevant? Their site says 1080p requires at least a 256mb card.
I was referring to the fact that neither my card or yours supports hardware based decoding/acceleration.

[nm]

So If I build a system with a Core2 Duo E6550 that should play pretty much everything including 1080p?Yes.

If I'm using coreavc why wouldn't the video card be relevant? Their site says 1080p requires at least a 256mb card.They are exaggerating a bit. Most AGP- and PCIe-cards from this millennium should be good enough. For example my GeForce2 MX400 has no trouble playing back 1080p24 video. There are some exceptions like simple integrated chips and Matrox Gxxx cards that only support video overlays of 1024x1024 pixels or less, but NVIDIA and ATI GPUs are fine.

As for my current setup, then shouldn't it at least be able to play 720p with coreavc without trouble?
Yes, you should. I have a similar setup (same CPU and Geforce4 Ti4200) that decodes high-profile, CABAC-encoded 720p24 H.264 up to bitrate of 5 Mbps without problems. I use MPlayer (libavcodec's H.264 decoder) on Linux, and CoreAVC + some dshow player on a properly configured Windows system should be a bit faster.

[skontel]

I have a Mac Mini with 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM. It won't play 1080p (TS, H.264, AC-3) content from my Blu-ray discs (the content is on HDD now). It severely drops frames. I'm running Leopard, and attempting to play with mplayer (svn head).

Should this work?

Has anyone gotten this to work?

One thing I'm suspicious about is the heat. The Mini idles roughly ten degrees Centigrade warmer than my MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo. I know that newer processors throttle back their performance as they get hotter, to save themselves from frying. This Mini's CPU heat sink doesn't have a fan, and the temp goes up very quickly when I start the playback.

Any suggestions? Ideas? Perhaps links to other threads on doom9 that I have missed?

Thanks in advance

[nm]

I have a Mac Mini with 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM. It won't play 1080p (TS, H.264, AC-3) content from my Blu-ray discs (the content is on HDD now). It severely drops frames. I'm running Leopard, and attempting to play with mplayer (svn head).

Should this work?
Depends on the content. It it's encoded with slices, libavcodec can use multiple threads to decode. Otherwise only one of the cores will be used and that's not enough. So, use two or more threads with -lavdopts threads=2 and check per-core CPU usage with some system monitor tool.

[skontel]

Depends on the content. It it's encoded with slices, libavcodec can use multiple threads to decode. Otherwise only one of the cores will be used and that's not enough. So, use two or more threads with -lavdopts threads=2 and check per-core CPU usage with some system monitor tool.

I already do that. :( Both cores are pretty much maxed out. But it's not enough.

[foxyshadis]

Can your 2.33 even play them okay with the same setup? Because 2.0 is pretty low for 40 mbps bluray, even 2.66 isn't enough with mplayer on linux. (On linux you can use coreavc with it though.) You might just have to re-encode anything you want to play.

[wata]

it also depend on which video rendering you choose
vmr9/vmr7 required much more processor power then overlay

[IgorC]

it also depend on which video rendering you choose
vmr9/vmr7 required much more processor power then overlay
Maybe vmr9 but not vmr7.

[foxyshadis]

I really don't think VMR or Overlay are going to be considerations for OS X, which is being asked. I don't think there's any major perf difference between ogl and ogl2.

Also, VMR7 can be windowed (overlay) or renderless, as can VMR9. Renderless is what makes it so much slower, not just the 7/9.

skontel, I just remembered, you can find out if the cpu is getting thermally throttled with CoreDuoTemp.

[shon3i]

Which decoder beside Cyberlink's support hardware acceleration?

[skontel]

Can your 2.33 even play them okay with the same setup? Because 2.0 is pretty low for 40 mbps bluray, even 2.66 isn't enough with mplayer on linux. (On linux you can use coreavc with it though.) You might just have to re-encode anything you want to play.

Well, Casino Royale, for one mostly works on 2.33. Only during the airport chase scenes did it lose a/v sync. Of course, once it lost it there, it did not recover...

I have also noticed that the Mac Mini starts dropping frames when both cores hit 68 degrees Centigrade. And strangely (or maybe not-so-strangely), though both cores hit 68 degrees within 10 seconds of playback start, once at that temp, the temperature rises very slowly, if at all. Of course, the 2.33 laptop has CPU fans, which keep the temperature down and prevent the temperature-related throttling back.

I have tried CoreDuoTemp ( :thanks: ) on the 2.33, but it fails with an AppleScript error: Can't make "ys" into type real. (-1700)
Perhaps it hasn't been tested with Leopard, or maybe I'm missing some component it depends on? Thanks for recommending it, though. If I can get it to work, I now know how to check for performance throttling.

[foxyshadis]

I have tried CoreDuoTemp ( :thanks: ) on the 2.33, but it fails with an AppleScript error: Can't make "ys" into type real. (-1700)
Perhaps it hasn't been tested with Leopard, or maybe I'm missing some component it depends on? Thanks for recommending it, though. If I can get it to work, I now know how to check for performance throttling.

Ah, sorry, I haven't used Leopard yet but there are reports that it doesn't work with it. Damn.

[check]

Which decoder beside Cyberlink's support hardware acceleration?
All the benchmarks I've seen have shown coreavc to be faster than any GPU accelerated solution, so it's not overly important.

[shon3i]

All the benchmarks I've seen have shown coreavc to be faster than any GPU accelerated solution, so it's not overly important.
I don't know how that can be, but with my Radeon HD2600XT i can watch perfectly original BD and HDDVD titles with cyberlink H264 decoder on my Athlon 2800+ CPU usage is about 0-15%, but i have some 1080 mkv rips which i maded earlier with level 5.1 and that is probably catch. My problem is in this rips, when i try to play them, i usualy get black screen. I've tryed aslo Mainconcept's demo decoder from Elecard Converter Studio 2.0, but seems that hw acceleration doesn't work, or i need full version of decoder?

[arfster]

All the benchmarks I've seen have shown coreavc to be faster than any GPU accelerated solution, so it's not overly important.

ATI 2400/2600 and Nvidia 8500/8600 all run h264 at <5% on a slow CPU, <1% on a fast one.

Don't work properly with x264 encodes though.

[shon3i]

Don't work properly with x264 encodes though.Yes, have same problem, look's like Cyberlink's H264 decoder don't love x264 encoding or it's realy strict to 4.1 level.

[Blue_MiSfit]

All the benchmarks I've seen have shown coreavc to be faster than any GPU accelerated solution, so it's not overly important.


yeah that's definitely NOT accurate. My 3800+ X2 can't play HD-DVD H.264 streams properly with CoreAVC. It drops frames and de-syncs all the time.

Dropping in a Radeon 2400, and setting up the Cyberlink decoder = perfect playback with less than 50% CPU utilization at all times.

It matters. A lot.

And the Cyberlink decoder works fine with my x264 stuff - admittedly most of it is limited to 4.1 profile.

~MiSfit

[skontel]

Ah, sorry, I haven't used Leopard yet but there are reports that it doesn't work with it. Damn.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. :o

Is there anything I can do to help debug? Test? Unfortunately, I don't have much free time, but what little I do have, I'd like to help if I can.

Thanks again.