Catalyst 10.4 adds 5.1 profile support.

[Jeff Flowerday]

FYI for everyone that wasn't happy with ATI over this.

http://www2.ati.com/relnotes/Catalyst_104_release_notes.pdf

[mariush]

I've updated the video driver (but didn't update the Control Center because I can't do it on Windows 2003 - the ATI installer doesn't allow installs on 2003).

A movie that worked perfectly fine before now has lots of artifacts - it was 720x576 25fps ar 4:3 - the output looks like this: http://savedonthe.net/image/595/snapshot.jpg

Encoding settings as saved inside the MKV files are:

x264 - core 65 r1055M 2b8d6a6 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2008 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=8 deblock=1:-1:-1 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=umh subme=7 psy_rd=1.0:0.0 mixed_ref=1
me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 nr=0 decimate=1 mbaff=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 wpredb=1 keyint=250 keyint_min=25
scenecut=40(pre) rc=2pass bitrate=1550 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 qblur=0.5 vbv_maxrate=17500 vbv_bufsize=14000 ip_ratio=1.40 pb_ratio=1.30 aq=1:1.00


Another MKV file that's 752x440 25fps with the encoding settings below plays perfectly:

x264 - core 79 r1354 636f98f - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2009 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=5 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=umh subme=8 psy=1 psy_rd=1.0:0.0 mixed_ref=1
me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 nr=0 decimate=1 mbaff=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 wpredb=1 wpredp=2
keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 rc_lookahead=50 rc=2pass mbtree=1 bitrate=1550 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 qblur=0.5 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00


720p content like ORF1HD.Demo-Loop.720p.DD5.1.mkv plays perfectly fine (though there is at some points some delay at a scene change - no artifacts though)


Crowd Run CRF 22 3840x2160 50fps doesn't run... but probably it's not level 5.1 or maybe MPC-HC doesn't even try to use DXVA on it?

Samsung.Demo.Oceanic.Life.x264.1080p.40Mbps.mkv doesn't run in DXVA mode but again it's probably the player or maybe it's not level 5.1 - i really don't know how to determine what level it is...

[tetsuo55]

Maraiush, are you using a SVN build or the stable build?

Also judging from the x264 version remuxing with the latest mkvtools might solve the problem.
If that doesn't help please try re-encoding part of the video with the exact same x264 settings but with the latest build.

[mariush]

I was using the stable build but I downloaded the 1.3.1821 version you posted and the clip with issues plays the same way. Remuxed it with latest mkvtoolnix and same issue. Even tried keeping just the video and one audio (the original mkv had 2 audio and 2 subtitles bundled) - no luck.

Here's a 5MB (24 seconds) sample in case it helps : http://www.mediafire.com/?3mm5k4uedzn

Here's a sample from the second movie, which plays perfectly and is 752x440, so close to the one above: http://www.mediafire.com/?1dmnnctgnzm

I'm not sure how I would go about re-encoding it with the latest x264 because I'd have to rip the DVD again, create avs scripts and so on.
I've also used the DXVA-HQ preset of MeGUI at that time so I'm not sure if the current MeGUI preset is the same.

But again, this video was playing perfectly before the 10.4 update on the same MPC-HC.

later edit:

Looking at other clips that worked with DXVA and now no longer work...
This one doesn't even try to play using DXVA, it goes to ffmpeg:

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 720x576 (16:9) 25.00fps [English (Video 1)]
x264 - core 79 r1360 528c100 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2009 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=5 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=umh subme=8 psy=1 psy_rd=1.0:0.0
mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 nr=0 decimate=1 mbaff=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 wpredb=1
wpredp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 rc_lookahead=50 rc=2pass mbtree=1 bitrate=1536 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 qblur=0.5 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00


This one runs in DXVA mode perfectly (same res, ar):


Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 720x576 (16:9) 25.00fps [English (Video 1)]
x264 - core 79 r1360 528c100 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2009 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=16 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=10 psy=1 psy_rd=1.0:0.0
mixed_ref=1 me_range=24 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 nr=0 decimate=1 mbaff=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=8 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 wpredb=1
wpredp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 rc_lookahead=60 rc=2pass mbtree=1 bitrate=1536 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 qblur=0.5 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00


This one has issues, though I remember it was encoded in the same batch with the clip above, probably just used different presets in MeGUI like DXVA-SD vs DXVA-HQ (and of course ran fine in dxva):

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 720x576 (16:9) 25.00fps [English (Video 1)]
x264 - core 79 r1360 528c100 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2009 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=8 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=9 psy=1 psy_rd=1.0:0.0
mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 nr=0 decimate=1 mbaff=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 wpredb=1
wpredp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 rc_lookahead=60 rc=2pass mbtree=1 bitrate=1536 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 qblur=0.5 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00


Another with issues:

x264 - core 79 r1360 528c100 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2009 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=8 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=9 psy=1 psy_rd=1.0:0.0
mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 nr=0 decimate=1 mbaff=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 wpredb=1
wpredp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 rc_lookahead=60 rc=2pass mbtree=1 bitrate=1536 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 qblur=0.5 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00


and yet another...


x264 - core 79 r1360 528c100 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2009 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=8 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=9 psy=1 psy_rd=1.0:0.0
mixed_ref=1 me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 nr=0 decimate=1 mbaff=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 wpredb=1
wpredp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 rc_lookahead=60 rc=2pass mbtree=1 bitrate=1536 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 qblur=0.5 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00


This runs great, no problems

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 704x480 (176:135) 29.97fps [English (Video 1)]
x264 - core 84 r1416 fcf70c2 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2009 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=5 deblock=1:0:0 analyse=0x3:0x113 me=umh subme=8 psy=1 psy_rd=1.0:0.0 mixed_ref=1
me_range=16 chroma_me=1 trellis=1 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-2 threads=6 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 mbaff=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=0 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0
direct=3 wpredb=1 wpredp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=25 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=50 rc=2pass mbtree=1 bitrate=1500 ratetol=1.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=10 qpmax=51 qpstep=4 cplxblur=20.0 qblur=0.5 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00


At a brief look, all with issues seem to have ref=8 but I don't know what to say...

[Atak_Snajpera]

I also have problems with 5.1 mkv files.
Source: http://junk.chown.dk/junk.-.eta.mkv

I have windows 7 x64 and r4850 and I changed following option in FFDshow r3370
http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/7159/new1ci.png

I get only still frames in MPC-HC (internal filters/decoder disabled)

[Fadeout]

With the latest 1821 svn and official catalyst 10.4 I get lots of blocky artifacts on 5.1 video.

I should point out that I was in the exact same situation before trying the svn build, so what was modified? I was using the 1.3.1774 and MPC was already accepting 5.1 video but showing the blocks exactly as the svn build. So no perceivable change for me.

Anyway, it seems this feature isn't working as it should.

[CiNcH]

With the latest 1821 svn and official catalyst 10.4 I get lots of blocky artifacts on 5.1 video.
Me too.

[CruNcher]

Hey Cinch since you are a heavy broadcast user i would really like to know how your ATI does with Broadcast streams on the UVD ? 2 ?
when the 2400 pro arrived many Video Engineer said it was horrible, but since then a lot has happened i would really like to know where ATI currently stands again vs Nvidia, also in terms of their Drivers and Sat/Iptv Broadcast Playback, as im planing to move back to ATI (mostly because of the Energy efficiency compared vs Nvidia) but what you hear currently about ATI and Video Playback interoperability is still the pure horror :(

[CiNcH]

Hi CruNcher,

it indeed is, read my blog entry (http://cinch83.blog.de/2010/02/05/ati-uvd-with-bad-error-concealment-7946098/). Also nVIDIA is bad when it comes to error concealment. But the ATi bug mentioned within the blog entry is a big pain. There are endless discussions within several communities..

[CruNcher]

Interesting btw the last time i tested this i had very good results with Mainconcepts or it could have been also Elecards combination not sure Decoding chain (Elecard/Mainconcept Demuxer/Decoder) and DXVA Decoding it concealed those errors better then if you would use other DXVA enabled Decoder/Splitter combination's but that was for MPEG-2 i guess in the Bitstream Decoding world we are currently in changes of such problems have to be made more directly in Nvidias nvcuvid.dll to fix them, though maybe we can provide Donald Graft with some samples of those error concealment problems and he get in contact with a Nvidia Engineer to find a fix for it via nvcuvid.dll so in the next Driver release it already could be history i guess :)

It's really a pain that ATI didn't understand yet how successful Nvidia is with their Partner Ecosystem they initiated also in not keeping small devs out of the equation.

PS: I tried your sample now and i see 0 corruption on my VP2 (8800 GT G92), playback is absolutely flawless here are the chains tested (Forceware 197.68 (Beta Tesla) XP Sp3 32bit)

Haali Ts splitter->Arcsoft Video Decoder (DXVA)->Arcsoft Audio Decoder->VMR7 <- no visual corruptions

Haali Ts splitter->CoreAVC 2.0 (CUDA)->Arcsoft Audio Decoder->VMR7 <- no visual corruptions

Haali Ts splitter->ffdshow DXVA Decoder (DXVA)->Arcsoft Audio Decoder->VMR7 <- no visual corruptions

Haali Ts splitter->DivX Decoder (DXVA)->Arcsoft Audio Decoder->VMR7 <- no visual corruptions

Arcsoft Audio Decoder (replaced with ffdshow Audio Decoder) = same result

Haali Ts splitter (replaced with MPC-HC internal Gabest Splitter) = same result

Haali Ts splitter (replaced with Nero Splitter) = same result

Haali Ts splitter (replaced with Arcsoft Mpeg Demultiplexer Splitter) = same result except DivX Decoder doesn't connect and (falls back to Mainconcept Video Decoder) ffdshow DXVA shows a black screen

Haali Ts splitter (replaced with Mainconcept MPEG Demultiplexer Splitter (7.3)) = same result except ffdshow DXVA and DivX Decoder fail @ connection (automatically falls back to Mainconcept Video Decoder)

all of those combination work Ok very flawless (except commercial Demuxer with each other filters and with OSS like ffdshow DXVA) each filter is working here together (nice interoperability result especially for Neros and Free solutions) of course for every the Audio is stopping sooner @ the end (therfore it stays sync @ the talking as it takes the start delay into account) then the Video, but no visual corruptions as you described where visible with Nvidia VP2.

so this


however it did show more corruption than most software decoders, so error concealment could also be improved for this piece of hardware.

is definitely not the case for VP2 used in the G92, and since the G84 in your case should have officialy ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/190.42/README/appendix-a.html at least the same VP2 (both featureset A) im not sure if you aren't using a rather outdated Driver to get those visual results you described ???

[Barlow]

DXVA is still broken for SD content in Catalyst 10.5 :/