LAV Filters - DirectShow Media Splitter and Decoders

[nevcairiel]

@Nev
Why did you leave High Profile predictive 4:4:4 active for DXVA2 Copy Back, you should let it fall back to Libavcodec like it does with Quicksync,Cuvid already, unless of course you developed something to reconstruct the Intel Decoder output (the Grey shadow chroma reconstruction algorithm from the nothing) ;)

Fallback works fine for me.
Its quite clever, ffmpeg itself will only ever try to use the DXVA2 decoder on 4:2:0 8-bit content.

In addition to that, i of course also have my media type checks that all decoders share.

[CruNcher]

Strange wonder why it fails on this lossless stream .mp4 then here
anyways :)

http://www.mediafire.com/?co6fcj11mvaxfw4

Lav Video = Microstutter
ffdshow = smooth

http://www.mediafire.com/?e0v46wp9kzvi09n

Lav Splitter + Lav Video = Black Screen (Audio Plays)
vlc = works
ffplay = works
avplay = works

[aufkrawall]

A seeking issue with LAV Decoder and MPC HC Ogg Splitter:
http://tagesschau.vo.llnwd.net/d3/video/2012/0131/TV-20120131-0713-2501.webm.ogv
The file doesn't start playing without some manual seeking.
It's fixed with the newest MPC HC and its internal decoder, but not with LAV.

[nevcairiel]

A seeking issue with LAV Decoder and MPC HC Ogg Splitter:
http://tagesschau.vo.llnwd.net/d3/video/2012/0131/TV-20120131-0713-2501.webm.ogv
The file doesn't start playing without some manual seeking.
It's fixed with the newest MPC HC and its internal decoder, but not with LAV.

Technically, thats a bug in the MPC-HC Ogg Splitter.
The only reason it works is that MPC-HCs own decoder has a check to disable multi-threaded Theora decoding when its own Ogg splitter is used (because it doesn't work). If you disable multi-threading in LAV, it'll also start working.

I'll add the same check, i suppose.
It would of course never have been a problem if you just used LAV Splitter. :)

[Aleksoid1978]

http://www.mediafire.com/?e0v46wp9kzvi09n

Lav Splitter + Lav Video = Black Screen (Audio Plays)


Bug in parser - incorrect detect JPEG codec as MPEG-4(mp4v)

[Aleksoid1978]

nevcairiel - can you help fix bug in MPC Ogg Splitter - to support MT in Theora ???

[CruNcher]

@Nev
line error

http://www.mediafire.com/?5xufemxwx0fwpcn

Lav Video = fail
ffdshow = ok

Fourcc RAW cannot be decoded

http://www.mediafire.com/?lzqbdjhbp61mrjz

vlc = fail
avplay = ok
ffplay = ok

[pirlouy]

Would be easier to help you integrating LAV with MPC HC...

[CruNcher]

Wow just as a side note with Lav Splitter + Cyberlinks Decoder in DXVA mode you can scrub ultra fast through .mkv with VC-1 it's so fast that the position marker in MPC-HC cant update with it and lags behind ;)
It's not possible with Arcsofts Decoder

Have to make a Video of this this is crazy :D

http://www.mediafire.com/?qr6uh0x689t61xl

unfortunately fast forward doesn't reflect the manual seeking performance :(

[Pat357]

Hi Nev,

I went through a part of my test-video collection and found some files that play OK with CUVID, but give a green screen with DXVA copy-back :

1) mpg : http://www.mediafire.com/?s9tcp2fjjjrs178
2) x264 in MP4 : http://www.mediafire.com/?d92xafh7c4dda54
3) .TS http://www.mediafire.com/?fr5g7jahhvha5fj
4) x264 in MP4 : http://www.mediafire.com/?htqq7672qz7jttr
5) x264 in MKV : http://www.mediafire.com/?1b8565dr7rfv7y7
6) .ts http://www.mediafire.com/?3z15d95b7j0j3jm
This file crashed my MPC-HC when using DVXA-CB
7) .ts : http://www.mediafire.com/?vg2dpo17r8c7apy
This is a very strange behavior : to get the green screen, disable all CSP's in Lav-video except RGB32, set the output to MadVR
(MadVR should support RBG, right ? Well, have a look then :p
8) WMV3 http://www.mediafire.com/?x4efqsmy1m2bpsw

For the first 7 files, the NV CUVID decoder was effectively used, without problems in playback. (cuvid state was "active").
This should rule out that the green screens come from limitations of my HW (ie unable to decode using HW acceleration).
For the last file (WMV3), the cuvid decoder appeared not being used ....... Should CUVID not use the VC1 "engine" for WMV3 ??

System used :
Core i7 - 970 (6+6 cores) @ 3,7 GHz
24GB DDR3 RAM 2000Mhz
NVidia GTX 570 / VP4 decoder / driver : 285.62
Win7 x64 Prof including all updates
MPC-HC 32bit v1.5.3.4008
Lav filters 0.45 0094f45 from the git-repo

I still have some "stalling" files, ie these won't start playing (hang at the start of the video) and I end up with a black screen.
If I use another splitter, AV splitter or Sonic HD Demuxer instead of Lav-splitter, these play perfect (still using together with Lav-audio & Lav-video)

[nevcairiel]

I started testing your files, but of course i cannot reproduce a single issue with any of them (and i also have a GTX 570)
Maybe i should downgrade to 285.62 drivers, hm? (Been using the 290 beta)

Also, what exactly does "Green Screen" mean? It stays constantly green, one green frame at the beginning?

PS:
CUVID does not like WMV3, so its not available at all.

Edit:
I downgraded drivers and i get green screens, finally something to work with. ;)

[nevcairiel]

Hmmm.
I tested the files with the Microsoft DXVA decoder, and it also shows no image (a black screen in its case)

I'm inclined to think its related to this issue, introduced in the 285 driver, fixed in 290.36:


[GeForce 500 series]: Playback of videos or live TV using Windows Media Center results in a black screen. [893436]


I'll see if there is something trivial to fix, but maybe its just a bug in the driver, and not worth my time.
Its sad NVIDIA hasn't released a final driver yet to fix this, but already have a 295 beta now ....

First i'll try the crashing sample, see what happens.

[nevcairiel]

http://www.mediafire.com/?co6fcj11mvaxfw4

Lav Video = Microstutter
ffdshow = smooth


Either that file is muxed wrong, or MP4 behaves differently with MPEG4/XVID then any other container...
Anyone have some more MPEG4/XVID in MP4 samples to confirm? :d (Needs to be complex enough to have B-frames)

I fixed it assuming that my assumption is right... :)

[nevcairiel]

Bug in parser - incorrect detect JPEG codec as MPEG-4(mp4v)

LAV properly detects it as MJPEG, but still doesn't play properly.
Must be something the decoder can't deal with. I recommend reporting it to ffmpeg (if ffplay also fails)

[clsid]

Nev, the rmvb freeze I reported yesterday is related to frame threading. No problems with 1 thread.

[Anima123]

A little bit OT, but is the motion-vector prediction bug with libav rv decoder still there? If it has been fixed then I can consider getting away with Realplayer completely.

[kolak]

LavFilter "Splitter" set to AVI and Thumbnail on AVI causes COM Surrogate to crash.

LAV Splitter in case of AVI crashes many of my software.
LAV Decoder crashes graphedit, but works with graphstudio.

[Pat357]

Edit:
I downgraded drivers and i get green screens, finally something to work with. ;)
Glad you see them too !
I started thinking that something else was wrong with my system...:D

[clsid]

You need to post sample files if you want a fix.

In case of GraphEdit, that is a bug of GraphEdit itself and can't be fixed. It does not support filters that have many mediatypes. You should use GraphStudio(Next).

[Asmodian]

LAV Decoder crashes graphedit, but works with graphstudio.

The graphedit crash is its fault. No filter is allowed to have over 99 supported video types in graphedit.

[Pat357]

LAV Splitter in case of AVI crashes many of my software.
LAV Decoder crashes graphedit, but works with graphstudio.
The Lav filters make Graphedit always crash because graphedit is limited to 100 media-types per filter; the Lav-filters have more then 100 different media-types.

You can only use GraphStudio or the the more recent GraphStudioNext with the lav-filters. (=based on Graphstudio, but more featutes).
Have a look at http://code.google.com/p/graph-studio-next/

[nevcairiel]

Glad you see them too !
I started thinking that something else was wrong with my system...:D

Yes i do, but i still blame the driver. I tried earlier and newer drivers, and all work just fine, only that one fails.
I've been using the 290 beta driver for a month or so already, and it works just fine, i recommend upgrading. :p

[dann23]

Hi Nev,

I went through a part of my test-video collection and found some files that play OK with CUVID, but give a green screen with DXVA copy-back :

1) mpg : http://www.mediafire.com/?s9tcp2fjjjrs178
2) x264 in MP4 : http://www.mediafire.com/?d92xafh7c4dda54
3) .TS http://www.mediafire.com/?fr5g7jahhvha5fj
4) x264 in MP4 : http://www.mediafire.com/?htqq7672qz7jttr
5) x264 in MKV : http://www.mediafire.com/?1b8565dr7rfv7y7
6) .ts http://www.mediafire.com/?3z15d95b7j0j3jm
This file crashed my MPC-HC when using DVXA-CB
7) .ts : http://www.mediafire.com/?vg2dpo17r8c7apy
This is a very strange behavior : to get the green screen, disable all CSP's in Lav-video except RGB32, set the output to MadVR
(MadVR should support RBG, right ? Well, have a look then :p
8) WMV3 http://www.mediafire.com/?x4efqsmy1m2bpsw

For the first 7 files, the NV CUVID decoder was effectively used, without problems in playback. (cuvid state was "active").
This should rule out that the green screens come from limitations of my HW (ie unable to decode using HW acceleration).
For the last file (WMV3), the cuvid decoder appeared not being used ....... Should CUVID not use the VC1 "engine" for WMV3 ??

System used :
Core i7 - 970 (6+6 cores) @ 3,7 GHz
24GB DDR3 RAM 2000Mhz
NVidia GTX 570 / VP4 decoder / driver : 285.62
Win7 x64 Prof including all updates
MPC-HC 32bit v1.5.3.4008
Lav filters 0.45 0094f45 from the git-repo

I still have some "stalling" files, ie these won't start playing (hang at the start of the video) and I end up with a black screen.
If I use another splitter, AV splitter or Sonic HD Demuxer instead of Lav-splitter, these play perfect (still using together with Lav-audio & Lav-video)

I had this problem but with an ati card. driver 11.5 worked but newer drivers display green image. after reinstalling windows it works with the latest driver.

And I have another problem. using wmp12 with lav doesn't work. the problem is with the splitter. using matroska splitter from mpchc works fine with lav video decoder and audio decor. but when I use lav splitter all I can do is seek within movie but it doesn't play. I see the images but it doesn't play. maybe nev can help. I'm using wmp x64 and lav is also 64bit

[nevcairiel]

@Nev
line error

http://www.mediafire.com/?5xufemxwx0fwpcn

Lav Video = fail
ffdshow = ok

The file plays fine.
What does "line error" even mean? o.o

[CruNcher]

scaling it up causes a strange colored line on the top (rounding errror ?)

[nevcairiel]

scaling it up causes a strange colored line on the top

Not for me.
I even made you a screenshot!
http://images.gammatester.com/pics/2dea80d038dca9000ad9dbfb02c0a51c.png

Playing with LAV Splitter + LAV Video + EVR-CP

[CruNcher]

did you tried rendering on Nvidia or SB, though i guess it could be indeed the first issue with Intels scaling, but why doesn't it happen with ffdshow ? ;) ?

the major difference would be egurs NV12 vs your NV12 i guess ;)


lav video = http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/5746/greenlinescalinglavvide.png
ffdshow = http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3374/ffdshowscalingok.png

i tried royatam and xhmikosrs build both the same, both EVR intel scaling

[nevcairiel]

I suppose it doesn't like that the video has a odd number of rows, which technically is invalid for 4:2:0 content.
madVR will also produce a green line, although at the bottom.

I guess i can try pad it with one extra line of blackness, but not sure how easy that will be.
Not a high priority, odd-numbered 4:2:0 content is invalid by definition (can't have half a row of chroma), and looks fine on nvidias scaler, or if you just use RGB output.

PS:
What does egur have to do with anything? Its flash video, has nothing to do with QuickSync. :p
The only thing you can do is complain to him that his upscaler fails on this. :D

[Aleksoid1978]

LAV properly detects it as MJPEG, but still doesn't play properly.
Must be something the decoder can't deal with. I recommend reporting it to ffmpeg (if ffplay also fails)

All play ok - with frame rate = 1fps.

[NikosD]

Hi Nev,

I went through a part of my test-video collection and found some files that play OK with CUVID, but give a green screen with DXVA copy-back :

1) mpg : http://www.mediafire.com/?s9tcp2fjjjrs178
2) x264 in MP4 : http://www.mediafire.com/?d92xafh7c4dda545 from the git-repo[/B]
.
.
.
.
.
I still have some "stalling" files, ie these won't start playing (hang at the start of the video) and I end up with a black screen.
If I use another splitter, AV splitter or Sonic HD Demuxer instead of Lav-splitter, these play perfect (still using together with Lav-audio & Lav-video)

All the files are perfectly decoded by the system at signature and LAV video 0.45 at DXVA2 copy-back mode.

All but MPEG-2 of course, because UVD2.x supports only assisted (MPEG2_IDCT) acceleration.

Even WMV3 is HW accelerated via ModeVC1_VLD, the first 30 sec of the clip of course.

With the help of PotPlayer even MPEG-2 is HW accelerated.

Nowadays, I think ATI take revenge on everyone questioned the hardware/drivers.
I haven't found even a single file that is not perfectly decoded in DXVA mode.

Hardware/ drivers combination on a very high level of maturity.

Nevcariel, do you have any complaints from ATI users using DXVA2 copy-back mode reagrding artifacts and playback quality ?

For me the only complaint could be regarding performance of copy-back mode on ATI HW and nothing else.

[CruNcher]

UVD was from the beginning more Powerfull then VPx and had more features (though i had endless discussions with a Ateme Engineer back then about it and it had tons of bugs driver compared to Nvidia the first UVD in the 2000 series he was going crazy with how bad it handled his Broadcast streams ;)) and as said AMD is getting everything from the lab now ultra fast into the drivers see the Deshaking realtime (Motion Estmation) stuff :P
With Fusion becoming more mature everything gets more defined now hopefully well see their SDK and Ecosystem becoming also mature now :)
Though as you know i left for Intel and Intel has some great potential as well Haswell will rock so badly and Intels GFX will mature fast the improvements they made in a short time are awesome work from where they came from, though also Software has made big improvements from the OS Compiler to Applications,Engines everything got more efficient :)

[nevcairiel]

Nevcariel, do you have any complaints from ATI users using DXVA2 copy-back mode reagrding artifacts and playback quality ?


Dunno, most people forget to mention what GPU they use.
All the samples play fine for me as well, its just one broken driver version for NVIDIA that caused the problem. Not like that hasn't happened to ATI before (only every other driver or so. :P)

If you want to compare, on the driver maturity side, i would always give NVIDIA the win.
If ATI would just try to give back to the community, like NVIDIA and Intel do with their truly easy to use APIs, and the driver support and performance to go with it, it would go along way, but because that never happened, i'll stick to questioning their drivers. :)

Anyhow, this is OT for this thread, there are already numerous threads here and at AVSForum that discuss the pros and cons of NVIDIA, ATI and Intel. :d
Please take it there, if you want to continue.

[CruNcher]

Dunno, most people forget to mention what GPU they use.
All the samples play fine for me as well, its just one broken driver version for NVIDIA that caused the problem. Not like that hasn't happened to ATI before (only every other driver or so. :P)

If you want to compare, on the driver maturity side, i would always give NVIDIA the win.
If ATI would just try to give back to the community, like NVIDIA and Intel do with their truly easy to use APIs, and the driver support and performance to go with it, it would go along way, but because that never happened, i'll stick to questioning their drivers. :)

Yeah though innovation wise they where always the first i don't forget that especially as their where in the 90s (ATI) the Kings of Video, though the 3D race with Nvidia changed a lot and shifted things, ultimately ending up in Nvidia buying 3dfx ;)
And AMD/ATI still show that see the shift to NT 6 with MLAA they where the first later Nvidia overpowered them though with FXAA then they introduced Realtime Deshaking in the driver and don't forget their Adaptive Denoising way before and now they come with Realtime Deshaking part 2 (improved Realtime Motion Estimation) ;)
ANd lets be true Nvidia didn't pointed in 3D with Performance or Efficiency but more with Quality and features (CUDA) of the Rendered result (and of course their excellent Ecosystem (APIs) ideas all the conferences the Summit GTC and stuff just awesome and yeah the all time hated by ATI users "TWIMTBP") (And starting adapting Driver to Game releases (3D Engines) with sometimes questionable enhancements) ;)
Though it seems slowly AMD/ATI are their now too and still keeped their Efficiency, though Nvidia has all the ARM research and low power improvement going on (Tegra and "Project Denver") that can be ported back to the Desktop GPU core that Kepler and Maxwell will show how those where used in improving power consumption on the Desktop :)

[Xaurus]

Nvidia 295.51 drivers are out for those who don't know.

http://www.geforce.com/News/articles/nvidia-geforce-295-51-beta-drivers-released

[6233638]

Nvidia 295.51 drivers are out for those who don't know.

http://www.geforce.com/News/articles/nvidia-geforce-295-51-beta-drivers-releasedI seem to be getting massive framerate problems with CUVID enabled when using these. DXVA2 Copy-back seems to work fine.

So far I have only tested with VC-1 content. Initially the film played fine, but after 15–20 minutes, it started constantly dropping frames. Quit MPC-HC, started the video from where I left off, and 15–20 minutes later, it started happening again. There were some points though, where it would happen much quicker. It may just have been a coincidence that these points were spaced 15–20 minutes apart.

[Redemption80]

Getting the same thing with MediaPortal and the new drivers.

Also seeing a roughly 20min thing as it happened half way through a TV show last night, and again around 20mins into a movie tonight.

[Pat357]

Hmmm.
I tested the files with the Microsoft DXVA decoder, and it also shows no image (a black screen in its case)
You're talking about the WMV file I uploaded ? ("Step_into_Liquid_1080_cut.wmv")
Because with the NV drivers I have (285.62), it just plays fine with the "WMV decoder DMO".
Maybe there's still something good in the 285.62 drivers ;)

[nevcairiel]

You're talking about the WMV file I uploaded ? ("Step_into_Liquid_1080_cut.wmv")
Because with the NV drivers I have (285.62), it just plays fine with the "WMV decoder DMO".
Maybe there's still something good in the 285.62 drivers ;)

No, i'm talking about MPEG2/H264 files, using the MS DTV-DVD Decoder. The WMVideo Decoder DMO does not use DXVA by default (its somewhat tricky to get it to do it)

[dead_screem]

No, i'm talking about MPEG2/H264 files, using the MS DTV-DVD Decoder. The WMVideo Decoder DMO does not use DXVA by default (its somewhat tricky to get it to do it)

Really? because on XP the WMVideo Decoder DMO uses DXVA by default and I have no idea how to stop that. It seems pretty unstable and causes hangs. Whether that's a decoder issue or video drivers, who knows.

[CruNcher]

Really? because on XP the WMVideo Decoder DMO uses DXVA by default and I have no idea how to stop that. It seems pretty unstable and causes hangs. Whether that's a decoder issue or video drivers, who knows.

http://www.citizeninsomniac.com/WMV/ <- use wmv power toy to disable it if you need

@Nev
Karls Matroska RV9 Demo has problems

http://www.mediafire.com/?9jfyr5sy0f9wp4p

vlc = ok
ffplay = ok
avplay = ok
lav video = stutter
ffdshow = stutter

[ryrynz]

Nev, I saw your post in the QuickSync forum regarding the performance regression and also read Eric's reply, will you be looking any further into it?

[kolak]

The Lav filters make Graphedit always crash because graphedit is limited to 100 media-types per filter; the Lav-filters have more then 100 different media-types.

You can only use GraphStudio or the the more recent GraphStudioNext with the lav-filters. (=based on Graphstudio, but more featutes).
Have a look at http://code.google.com/p/graph-studio-next/

Thanks for explanation- yes, I'm using graphstudio.

[nevcairiel]

Nev, I saw your post in the QuickSync forum regarding the performance regression and also read Eric's reply, will you be looking any further into it?

Its still plenty fast as-is, so no, i won't. I'll let Eric look into it.
The main performance difference has already been fixed by adjusting the settings i use. I'm not sure there still is a difference, none that i could measure anyway.

[rsd78]

Hi Nevcairiel,

I know this is a longshot request, but I thought I'd at least ask :). I am a long time user of Albain's Media Control plugin (I'm a WMC user). It is only compatible with Haali and Gabest splitter. I believe he open sourced the code, but I believe Albain has been MIA for some time. Is there any chance it'd be possible to make LAV Splitter compatible with Media Control? I don't have a sense of how hard it is, but I recall Albain adding Gabest support a while back in a relatively short period of time. I know you offer subtitle control via a regex of sorts, but I really like the GUI Media Control offers via the WMC player. I completely understand if its either not feasible or you are not interested however. I'd also accept an alternative GUI via WMC instead of Media Control that works with WMC instead as well :) (Kidding, but I thought I'd throw that out there).

I'd love to use Lav Splitter as it seems much more stable than Haali/Gabest when I played with it, but I really like the Media Control plugin/GUI.

Thanks Again

Hi Nev, not to bug you too much because I know you get a lot of requests/posts a day, but I just wanted to see your thoughts on the above? Thanks

[nevcairiel]

Hi Nev, not to bug you too much because I know you get a lot of requests/posts a day, but I just wanted to see your thoughts on the above? Thanks

I have no interest in such a thing.
If someone wants to work on that plugin (or something comparable) and needs some information how to interface with LAV, i'll be glad to provide it, but i will not work on it myself.

[SSuzaku]

hello everyone, i used LAV Filter 0.45 with MPC-HC (30-01-2012) recently with my Hybrid Vaio VPCCA16FG

this is my specs

i7 2620M
8GB RAM Crucial
AMD Radeon 6630M (Intel HD 3000)

it's wierd that i can get video with Intel [power saving mode], but i can't get video with the AMD [high performance] ( audio and subtitle were fine though )

i used the settings here http://www.elysiumsubs.com/docs/mpc-hc-guide
nothing changed.

if i used madVR i can get the video with AMD

what can i do to fix this?

thanks before

[Pat357]

Nev,

Could you please add SNOW to the supported decoders ?
It's supported by ffmpeg, so it should not be too much work.

With LAV I got :
LAV Splitter Source::Video

Media Type 0:
--------------------------
Video: SNOW 848x480 23.976fps

AM_MEDIA_TYPE:
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: Unknown GUID Name {574F4E53-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_VideoInfo {05589F80-C356-11CE-BF01-00AA0055595A}
bFixedSizeSamples: 0
bTemporalCompression: 1
lSampleSize: 1
cbFormat: 88

With ffmpeg :
Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'K:\film\new_2012-01\13_snow.mkv':
Metadata:
ENCODER : Lavf53.24.0
Duration: 00:00:12.73, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 984 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: snow, yuv420p, 848x480, SAR 1:1 DAR 53:30, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn, 1k tbc (default)
Stream #0:1(jpn): Audio: aac, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16 (default)
24.50 A-V: 12.735 fd= 22 aq= 0KB vq= 50KB sq= 0B f=1/1 f=0/0

[nevcairiel]

Could you please add SNOW to the supported decoders ?


Done, also added FFV1 because someone asked for that some time ago.


@Nev
Karls Matroska RV9 Demo has problems

http://www.mediafire.com/?9jfyr5sy0f9wp4p


I tried to improve it a bit and its running better now, but its no full fix. RV30/40 in MKV is just muxed with terrible timestamps. :(

[MasterNobody]

Done, also added FFV1 because someone asked for that some time ago.
Thanks. That was me who asked it.

[Portioli]

does lav dxva2 works with madvr de-interlaced?

which is the optimal configuration of lav filters & madVR for 1080i50/60 files?