LAV Filters - DirectShow Media Splitter and Decoders

[hissatsu]

I'm having an issue with seamless blu-ray playback, using every version of LAV Filters after 0.39. When it switches from one m2ts in the mpls playlist to the next, the screen goes black, but audio continues playing. To get the video back, I have to seek. If I skip chapters forward or back to the point where the m2ts starts, this does not occur; it only happens during normal playback.

I'm using MPC-HC with MadVR. I've tried every version of LAV Filters through 0.44, and I've tried every version of MadVR for the past few months and many builds of MPC-HC, along with other renderers (EVR-CP, Haali), and no setting makes any difference other than going back to LAV Filters 0.39 or earlier. I'd really like to use a newer version, but something appears to have changed with the splitter after that point.

[Andy o]

yes my cpu can handle xvid playback fine, i just thought i would test it to see if it works. i though the lavcuvid had mpeg4-asp hardware decode working.

could be my graphics driver, im using 275.33. may need to update not sure.

The old LAV CUVID used to, but it was dropped, so don't bother trying other drivers if it's just to test this.

[blexley]

Newbie question

Is it best to use MPC-HC with LAV Filters. ?

[rica]

For video: If you have an nVidia; yes. However, if you have an Ati no; since no DXVA support exists on LavVideo yet.
For audio: If you pass-through LPCM or pass-through decoded HD audio; yes. No cons, but pros, I mean.
As for splitter: My favorite, (And don't forget; this project is based on the splitter, mainly.)

[shimaflarex]

I've noticed more glitched audio issues due to high CPU usage on LAV Splitter than with Haali.
Is there a way to change the priorities? Maybe lowering the video decoder priority?
Using Reclock with WASAPI.

[hubblec4]

...
As for splitter: My favorite, (And don't forget; this project is based on the splitter, mainly.)

i like to see the enhancement of the splitter but i cant use it at the moment, cause the splitter doesent support ordered chapters.
its on the todolist but with Low prio.

i hope Nev will implement this feature soon.

the tray icon feature is on the todolist too.

[blexley]

For video: If you have an nVidia; yes. However, if you have an Ati no; since no DXVA support exists on LavVideo yet.
For audio: If you pass-through LPCM or pass-through decoded HD audio; yes. No cons, but pros, I mean.
As for splitter: My favorite, (And don't forget; this project is based on the splitter, mainly.)

Thanks

It's only for an Nvidia card on a desktop computer with stereo speakers but i wasn't sure if MPC-HC was best or another player such as MSplayer.

[Mangix]

Newbie question

Is it best to use MPC-HC with LAV Filters. ?

i do and i love it. just make sure to disable all the internal filters or just disable the ones you don't want.

[blexley]

Thanks Mangix :)

Guys i've found a newbies MPC-HC LAV Filters install guide with pictures.

If i paste it up can you check through it to see if it is accurate to follow as i'm unsure about it suggesting Haali’s Media Splitter instead of LAV Splitter and such.Plus it seems biased towards HD content and i wish to be able to play as many formats and containers of SD and HD as possible.

Thanks.

[blexley]

Setup guide for MPC-HC + madVR

This method will result in significantly more image quality and performance than using CCCP (or anything ffdshow-based, really), so if you’re struggling to play back Hi10P anime, or even regular 1080p, consider trying this. MadVR is updated constantly and uses a very new version of libav for decoding, giving it much more speed than the ridiculously outdated ffdshow-tryouts project, as well as the even more ridiculously CCCP codec pack that is based on it.

Step Zero: Prerequisites

1. Uninstall ALL instances of MPC-HC, CCCP, ffdshow, madVR, Haali, K-lite, CoreAVC etc. you might have on your system.This is a clean guide that requires no other prerequisites to function, and ideally should have none installed either.

Step One: Downloading and Installation

1. Download and install the latest version of MPC-HC (you want the .exe version for an installer) Note: Get the 32-bit version ONLY! The 64-bit version is incompatible with madVR and will not function at all.
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/download-media-player-classic-hc.html

2. Install the LAV Filters. These are necessary for decoding video and audio. Take care while installing to deselect the LAV Splitter:

http://i.lulzimg.com/90f8afc109.png

3. Obtain and install the latest version of Haali’s Media Splitter as LAV Splitter v0.42 still doesn’t support segment linking yet, so playing series releases that have OP/ED as seperate video files won’t playback in each of the episodes.
http://haali.su/mkv/MatroskaSplitter.exe

4. Note: You can skip this step if your PC isn’t very powerful!
Download the latest version of madVR and extract it anywhere you like. Run install.bat inside the folder. DO NOT DELETE THE FOLDER AFTERWARDS, madVR lives inside it and does not copy itself anywhere else. Move it somewhere sensible before installing, for example C:\Program Files\madVR.
Note: Make sure you’re logged in as an Administrator when running this! Do not right click and “run as admin”, log in as admin and run it normally!
http://madshi.net/madVR.zip

Step Two: Configuration

1. Open up MPC-HC’s options menu. Under “Internal Filters”, disable everything. You can leave some of the ones on the left active, but make sure you’ve disabled all of the ones not selected here:

http://i.lulzimg.com/5c1da2c562.png

2. Under Playback, enable “Auto-load subtitles”

http://i.lulzimg.com/826f2efd95.png

3. Under Subtitles, make sure “Allow animation when buffering” is enabled, and “Maximum texture resolution” is set to “Desktop”:

http://i.lulzimg.com/1ebc2b9564.png

4. Under Output, choose “madVR” as renderer.
Note: If you skipped madVR, or you’re experiencing lagging, frame drops or poor performance in general, set this to “EVR Custom Pres.”, “Haali Renderer” or “VMR-9 (renderless)” instead – try them in that order until you find one that works.

http://i.lulzimg.com/9d3f945def.png

5. Make sure the LAV Video is selected as default decoder. If in doubt, go to external filters, choose “Add Filter”, select LAV Video Decoder and switch it to “Prefer”:

http://i.lulzimg.com/8972c925d3.png

6. After making the above changes, restart MPC-HC and play back any file. You should notice the madVR icon in the system tray. Right click this to access the settings:

http://i.lulzimg.com/90038636ef.png

Once inside, disable the “fullscreen exclusive mode” under Rendering -> General Settings. I recommend leaving this off unless you are having playback problems, because it prevents you from taking screenshots and makes the transition to fullscreen very ugly (It also messes up MPC-HC’s interface):

http://i.lulzimg.com/fd74b8ba08.png

Step Three: Confirmation

1. Play back a Hi10P file and use Ctrl+J to enter the OSD: (If it doesn’t show up or looks completely different, doublecheck output configuration)

Correct

http://i.lulzimg.com/c22162c90a.png

Incorrect

http://i.lulzimg.com/c35c898b03.png

2. Finally, check the “Filters” list (in the right click menu of MPC-HC during playback) and confirm that LAV Video is being used:

http://i.lulzimg.com/1fbec71e48.png


Bonus: Adding ffdshow (Optional)

Adding ffdshow will allow you to use its audio decoder (for filters + a more customizable mixer), as well as using it for formats other than AVC1 (H.264), VC1 and MPEG-2. Especially for older 480p and worse content (which isn’t likely to be encoded in AVC1), you can use the ffdshow deblocking or debanding filters to attempt to improve image quality this way.

1. Install the latest ffdshow-tryouts.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow-tryout/files/SVN%20builds%20by%20clsid/generic%20builds/

2. Open ffdshow’s settings dialog (Start -> All Programs -> ffdshow -> Video decoder configuration), under “DirectShow control” set the Merit to normal:

http://i.lulzimg.com/b218361575.png


3. Go back to the internal filters menu of MPC-HC and disable all of the remaining transform filters:

http://i.lulzimg.com/966a50142c.png

4. Double check Step Three to make sure ffdshow doesn’t touch your H.264 video.

[Superb]

What a crappy guide.
Why use Haali and not LAV Splitter?
Why not install the x64 filters?
Why leave MPC-HC's internal source filters on? (LAV Splitter does a better job)
Why bother w/ ffdshow when you have LAV Video/Audio installed? For the audio mixer? That's it? For video post processing? Newbies don't need it.
Why turn off madVR automatic exclusive full screen mode?

[SamuriHL]

What the hell was that? Other than completely unnecessary and annoying to those of us on a mobile device. Thanks SO much for that. :rolleyes:

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

[blexley]

Thanks for your constructive posts on what a newbie needs to do as a step by step guide of what to adjust and alter when using MPC-HC with LAV Filters.

I'm sure every new user now has better clarification by your comment.

[Superb]

Instead of being sarcastic and following guides w/o knowing what each step does, simply read about the features of each project and its options. All information is available online.
There's also a "newbies" forum: http://forum.doom9.org/forumdisplay.php?f=6

[SamuriHL]

A newbie simply needs to ask and will get help. Spamming the forum with a half a page of large images simply to ask a question is seriously unnecessary. Especially since most of it had nothing to do with lav filters in the first place. To add lav filters to mpc-hc all you need to do is run the lav filters installer, go into options in mpc-hc, disable all the internal filters, go to external filters, add lav splitter, lav video, and lav audio. Set to preferred. Done. No massive post of images necessary.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

[blexley]

How else am i supposed to ask if the guide is accurate without pasting it up for it to be read through.

Telepathy. ?

Because pasting it up got the result i was looking for that it is not accurate , though the abbrasive attitude towards a newbie that doesn't have a clue could have been left out to start with.

A newbie simply needs to ask and will get help. Spamming the forum with a half a page of large images simply to ask a question is seriously unnecessary. Especially since most of it had nothing to do with lav filters in the first place. To add lav filters to mpc-hc all you need to do is run the lav filters installer, go into options in mpc-hc, disable all the internal filters, go to external filters, add lav splitter, lav video, and lav audio. Set to preferred. Done. No massive post of images necessary.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

And if that is all you need to do why is there page after page of also running MadVR and FFDshow and AC3filter. ?

It would be nice if nevcairiel added a step by step guide to the first post or to his webpage.


.

[SamuriHL]

How else am i supposed to ask if the guide is accurate without pasting it up for it to be read through.

Telepathy. ?

Because pasting it up got the result i was looking for that it is not accurate , though the abbrasive attitude towards a newbie that doesn't have a clue could have been left out to start with.



And if that is all you need to do why is there page after page of also running MadVR and FFDshow and AC3filter. ?

It would be nice if nevcairiel added a step by step guide to the first post or to his webpage.


.

Um by linking to it instead of reposting the whole thing??? Madvr is a renderer so that is fine to add. And not hard. Run the madvr install script and select it in the mpc-hc options. Ffdshow and ac3filter are most definitely not needed unless you're doing post processing...and that is not a newbie thing to be doing. See you're getting information simply by discussion rather than half a page of images. That was my point. You started with the premise that you needed a pretty guide but that isn't really needed. A simple "I'm new and need help setting up mpc-hc with lav filters" would have been sufficient. :)

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

[fastplayer]

How else am i supposed to ask if the guide is accurate without pasting it up for it to be read through.
Where's the link to the source? Do you have permission of the original author of the guide? You're copying and pasting content without naming the source and giving credit. :rolleyes:

[sneaker_ger]

Half of that is unnecessary. Setting LAV video (and ffdshow) to preferred in the external filters options is sufficient, lowering the merit of ffdshow and deactivating the internal transform filters is not required. What is important though is deactivating the transform filters for e.g. Matroska. Also it hardly offers "significantly more image quality" than CCCP. If you want improved subtitle performance I'd rather recommend one of the new vsfilter forks like xy-vsfilter (no DS libass filter yet, sadly, only in mplayer2, VLC and whatnot).
Also why did you go out of your way to say that madVR has up-to-date libav decoders, when your guide explains using LAV Video for that?

[blexley]

Um by linking to it instead of reposting the whole thing??? Madvr is a renderer so that is fine to add. And not hard. Run the madvr install script and select it in the mpc-hc options. Ffdshow and ac3filter are most definitely not needed unless you're doing post processing...and that is not a newbie thing to be doing. See you're getting information simply by discussion rather than half a page of images. That was my point. You started with the premise that you needed a pretty guide but that isn't really needed. A simple "I'm new and need help setting up mpc-hc with lav filters" would have been sufficient. :)

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Thanks i now have a better understanding what i need to do. :)

I didn't link to the orginal guide as it is up on a couple of bitorrent sites that shares Hi10P anime and assumed links to a forum sharing would be against the rules.

Thing that is confusing me now is if i add the MadVR render doesn't that cancel out LAV filter. ?


Half of that is unnecessary. Setting LAV video (and ffdshow) to preferred in the external filters options is sufficient, lowering the merit of ffdshow and deactivating the internal transform filters is not required. What is important though is deactivating the transform filters for e.g. Matroska. Also it hardly offers "significantly more image quality" than CCCP. If you want improved subtitle performance I'd rather recommend one of the new vsfilter forks like xy-vsfilter (no DS libass filter yet, sadly, only in mplayer2, VLC and whatnot).
Also why did you go out of your way to say that madVR has up-to-date libav decoders, when your guide explains using LAV Video for that?

Thanks sneaker_ger

I'm not sure why they said that about MadVR as i just copied and pasted the only step by step guide i could find at google.

All i want to do is to be able to install a mediaplyer with LAV filters to be able to play as many formats and containers as possible without all these Klite all in one codec type solutions that makes a right mess.

.

[SamuriHL]

Thanks i now have a better understanding what i need to do. :)

I didn't link to the orginal guide as it is up on a couple of bitorrent sites that shares Hi10P anime and assumed links to a forum sharing woud be against the rules.

Thing that is confusing me now is if i add the MadVR render doesn't that cancel out LAV filter. ?

No. Lav filters don't include a renderer. The choice of madvr is a good one and what most of us use. Lav consists of a splitter and a decoder for video and a decoder for audio. You still need renderers for video and audio and that's where madvr fits in (for video). Audio rendering has some options, as well. Some like reclock so you can use wasapi exclusive mode and bypass the windows audio stuff.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

[blexley]

I keep finding old posts that say the brightness control doesn't work in MadVR is this still the case. ?

[sneaker_ger]

It does not have a brightness control in the first place. But direct your madVR questions to the madVR thread.

[blexley]

There are 500 posts in this 400 page thread asking and talking about using MadVR with LAV filters but if i ask i need to go to another thread. ?

[sneaker_ger]

Many of them are about the interaction of those two, many others are off-topic as well. Yours was only about madVR and had no connection to LAV Filters.

[nevcairiel]

Hi,

i have a testing request to people using ATI cards.

http://files.1f0.de/lavf/LAVFilters-0.44-dxva2-debug.zip

Install that, set the configuration to use the DXVA2 decoder, and play a H264 file for a few seconds (preferably a 1920x1080 file to maximize the load)
It will create a LAVVideo.txt log file on your desktop. Please paste that file to pastebin.com and link it here.

Note that this version is probably unstable, definitely slow, and still a work in progress. Just want to know if the basic idea is going in the right direction.

Thanks!

[fastplayer]

Log for Radeon HD4670:
http://pastebin.com/Xnmfk3fg

Log with 1920x1088 source:
http://pastebin.com/HvyJm9st

[fairchild]

HD 5830 running latest 11.12 drivers

http://pastebin.com/AxLHTTp2

First impression, everything seems to be running smoothly and I get no frame drops/delays/glitches with MadVR. I verified that the GPU is changing to 400/900 gpu/mem speeds so that is the correct DXVA/2 UVD speeds. If you can get this running this would be E-mazing.

If you need any more logs please let me know. I also have a 5450 I could test on if you need.

[HeadlessCow]

What a crappy guide.
Why use Haali and not LAV Splitter?
Why not install the x64 filters?
Why leave MPC-HC's internal source filters on? (LAV Splitter does a better job)
Why bother w/ ffdshow when you have LAV Video/Audio installed? For the audio mixer? That's it? For video post processing? Newbies don't need it.
Why turn off madVR automatic exclusive full screen mode?

Not that I'm defending the copy/pasting of the guide here, but every one of these was explicitly answered in the text.

1. "LAV Splitter v0.42 still doesn’t support segment linking yet, so playing series releases that have OP/ED as seperate video files won’t playback in each of the episodes"
2. "The 64-bit version is incompatible with madVR"
3. "Under “Internal Filters”, disable everything. You can leave some of the ones on the left active"
4. "Bonus: Adding ffdshow (Optional) ... Adding ffdshow will allow you to use its audio decoder (for filters + a more customizable mixer), ... Especially for older 480p and worse content (which isn’t likely to be encoded in AVC1), you can use the ffdshow deblocking or debanding filters to attempt to improve image quality this way."
5. "I recommend leaving this off unless you are having playback problems, because it prevents you from taking screenshots and makes the transition to fullscreen very ugly (It also messes up MPC-HC’s interface)"

You obviously read enough to make a snarky, unhelpful reply... would it have been much more work to try to comprehend anything that was written there instead of just being a jerk?

[hoborg]

Hi,

i have a testing request to people using ATI cards.

http://files.1f0.de/lavf/LAVFilters-0.44-dxva2-debug.zip

Install that, set the configuration to use the DXVA2 decoder, and play a H264 file for a few seconds (preferably a 1920x1080 file to maximize the load)
It will create a LAVVideo.txt log file on your desktop. Please paste that file to pastebin.com and link it here.

Note that this version is probably unstable, definitely slow, and still a work in progress. Just want to know if the basic idea is going in the right direction.

Thanks!
Hi.
Not sure why, but when i try to register LAVSplitter.ax, i got the failed to load module error.
Registering video/audio decoders working, but when i try to play a video by using DXVA2, graphstudio crash.
.44 working just fine.

[sneaker_ger]

HD 5850 Catalyst 11.12

http://pastebin.com/PVjAvU3u

Running with madVR, queue filling up rather slowly, some drops depending on file, no artifacts.

[wanezhiling]

Mobility HD4650, Catalyst 12.1a preview, win7 x86
http://pastebin.com/a4eE3UX6

:)I'm so excited for this.

[VipZ]

Tested DXVA on my shiny new 7970, works very well. Good seeks, no corruption or dropped frames in the few 1080p files of mine.

I have also tested some 1080i streams and they working very well.

One weirdness, with NV12 CPU use is at 0-1%, with RGB32 it goes to 15-20% on interlaced.

http://pastebin.com/mYmTbaXQ

Let me know if you want any other testing done.

[nevcairiel]

The high CPU load on RGB is because its a debug build, its very slow. :p

I have enough tests btw, just wanted to see if it was working smoothly at all.
Looking at those numbers, AMD definitely did something right with the 7970, the locking and copying time are nicely low. :)

[SamuriHL]

Looks like everyone is doing all the testing already. Sweet. I have a 5870 I can test on later if you need more feedback. I'm running 12.1a preview, as well.

[VipZ]

the clip you asked us to test last time, Test_clip_avc.1080i59.94.ac3.5.1.mkv also works without any issue with this build.

EDIT: MPEG2 and VC1 1080p also seem to work without issue and 10bit h264 crashes.


Looking at those numbers, AMD definitely did something right with the 7970, the locking and copying time are nicely low. :)

I was hoping GCN was going to do good with this :)

[Andy o]

Man I keep reading good things about GCN, can't wait to get me a 7800 series.

[hoborg]

Hi.
Not sure why, but when i try to register LAVSplitter.ax, i got the failed to load module error.

No one have this problem? What am i missing/doing wrong? :/
http://hobring.esero.net/saf/lavf/snap1.png

[adam777]

No one have this problem? What am i missing/doing wrong? :/
http://hobring.esero.net/saf/lavf/snap1.png

Same here.

[SamuriHL]

It's a debug build so I'm guessing you don't have a debug version of the runtime installed. Just a guess, though.

[hoborg]

It's a debug build so I'm guessing you don't have a debug version of the runtime installed. Just a guess, though.
Link?

[SamuriHL]

Don't have one offhand. I have MSVC installed so, I kinda don't need them.:)

[Snowknight26]

There seems to be an exception in avcodec-lav-53.dll when using the filter without registering it: http://pastebin.com/DQGu1whV

When it does work though: http://pastebin.com/qyXdgLem

Edit: On a side note, the tool tip for multi-threaded decoding is missing punctuation in codec names here and there (mostly periods and dashes).

[noee]

...
Looking at those numbers, AMD definitely did something right with the 7970, the locking and copying time are nicely low. :)

Cool. But is it the card or the driver?

[Boltron]

Two samples, both high bit rate bluray rips.

http://pastebin.com/vHqjsB6F
http://pastebin.com/hjm00gLP

Windows 7 x64 (using 32 bit versions for all video stuff)

1920x1080, 5670, ATI 12.1

MPC-HC, madVR

[PPPPark]

Hey~
I have some DVD image(ISO,img), LAV can play, but the image has "JACKET_P" folder LAV can not play, you can try, hope can be resolved.
Ordinary DVD only "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS"

[madshi]

Tested DXVA on my shiny new 7970
Cool! Would you mind running this test, too?

http://madshi.net/madNV12Test.zip

[SamuriHL]

Knock it off....I can't buy a new card right now! :p

[apgood]

What version intel driver are people using with QS?

I've tried both 2509 & 2559 and they both stutter in hatdware and software mode. The only one that seems to work at all is 2372 in software mode only. While hardware mode on 2372 does that wierd frame flicker.

Specs are: i3 2100 on asrock z68m/usb3 using win7 64bit. With dsplayer in xbmc (hardware & software) and mc17 (software only) to verify it's not just the player.

[skingery]

What version intel driver are people using with QS?

I've tried both 2509 & 2559 and they both stutter in hatdware and software mode. The only one that seems to work at all is 2372 in software mode only. While hardware mode on 2372 does that wierd frame flicker.

Specs are: i3 2100 on asrock z68m/usb3 using win7 64bit. With dsplayer in xbmc (hardware & software) and mc17 (software only) to verify it's not just the player.
I have this same issue. Currently running the 2509 driver. i3 2100T. In my case I am running Win 7 32bit and mpc-hc. Works fine in software mode but serious stuttering/screen flashing in hardware mode.