LAV Filters - DirectShow Media Splitter and Decoders

[ajp_anton]

HyperThreading being detrimental to performance is usually overblown. It's possible it makes a slight difference (<5%) but the main complaints I see about this is in regard to certain games, which are obviously coded poorly if they can't handle HyperThreading.

For 99% of people, HyperThreading is beneficial. Whether it's worth it for the price is another matter though.In my experience, HT lowering performance is an XP thing. Perhaps it's not properly putting threads on physical cores when they are available. I used to dual-boot between XP and 7 because of XP-only drivers of a component, and all noticeable performance problems were gone in 7.

[clsid]

DVD playback does not seem to work properly with LAV Video in WMP11 on XP. I just get a black screen. Can anyone confirm this problem?

Could it be another compatibility issue with Overlay Mixer?

[aufkrawall]

Does Intel HD 3000 not support DXVA for VC-1?
It doesn't work for me but QuickSync does.

Btw: Is there a chance that the option to turn on deinterlacing with QS will return? I found it handy to keep GPU usage (and thus power usage) low when using a dedicated GPU for rendering.

[clsid]

Another issue:
LAV Video gives a black screen in Subtitle Workshop (http://www.videohelp.com/download/SubtitleWorkshop_2.52_20120701.rar). Interesting thing is that pressing the "Alter playback rate" button in SW makes the video start playing. Problem does not occur with ffdshow.

[nevcairiel]

Another issue:
LAV Video gives a black screen in Subtitle Workshop (http://www.videohelp.com/download/SubtitleWorkshop_2.52_20120701.rar). Interesting thing is that pressing the "Alter playback rate" button in SW makes the video start playing. Problem does not occur with ffdshow.

The old "stable" version doesn't work with any decoder for me, ffdshow, LAV or anything else. The Beta 4 version works with LAV just fine.

DVD playback does not seem to work properly with LAV Video in WMP11 on XP. I just get a black screen. Can anyone confirm this problem?

Could it be another compatibility issue with Overlay Mixer?

I don't know about XP (and frankly i don't particularly care), but on Win7 i can't even seem to get WMP use anything but its own decoder for DVDs. When i disable it, it completely fails to play.

Does Intel HD 3000 not support DXVA for VC-1?
It doesn't work for me but QuickSync does.
Intels VC-1 DXVA is not standard compliant, so unless someone gets Intel to spill the beans on whats different, QuickSync will be the only way.


Btw: Is there a chance that the option to turn on deinterlacing with QS will return? I found it handy to keep GPU usage (and thus power usage) low when using a dedicated GPU for rendering.

Maybe some day when i get the chance to test it again, and it has actually improved since the last time and doesn't fail spectacularly again.

[aufkrawall]

Intels VC-1 DXVA is not standard compliant, so unless someone gets Intel to spill the beans on whats different, QuickSync will be the only way.

How stupid.
But it seems at least one mysterious version of PowerDVD is able to do it:
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2011/test-sandy-bridge-grafik/8/


Maybe some day when i get the chance to test it again, and it has actually improved since the last time and doesn't fail spectacularly again.
Ok, thanks.

[PetitDragon]

With new 0.54 version, DVD menu still no goes when using ffdshow + avisynth plugin enable.

[nevcairiel]

How stupid.
But it seems at least one mysterious version of PowerDVD is able to do it:
http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/grafikkarten/2011/test-sandy-bridge-grafik/8/

The information may be available to a company that asks nicely, or they may be using Intels Media SDK (which is the base of the QuickSync decoder), just as plain DXVA.

With new 0.54 version, DVD menu still no goes when using ffdshow + avisynth plugin enable.

The way some DVD menus work, thats just not something thats possible.
Some DVD menus only have one video frame, and if the AviSynth plugin buffers several frames, this one frame will just be hidden in the buffer and not be send to the renderer. Can't really change that. Your best chance is to use ffdshow for decoding, it might then have the ability to tell the AviSynth plugin to flush its buffers in DVD menus, something LAV cannot do.

[egur]

...
Maybe some day when i get the chance to test it again, and it has actually improved since the last time and doesn't fail spectacularly again.
I'll be glad to fix things if I know what's wrong.

[clsid]

The old "stable" version doesn't work with any decoder for me, ffdshow, LAV or anything else. The Beta 4 version works with LAV just fine.The version I linked to (2.52 RC) works with ffdshow here. At least for a mkv file with H.264 video. Could you try that version? It may very well be a bug in SW, but since it works (for me) with ffdshow, and it also works with LAV after changing playback rate, I though it might be a solvable problem.
I don't know about XP (and frankly i don't particularly care), but on Win7 i can't even seem to get WMP use anything but its own decoder for DVDs. When i disable it, it completely fails to play.I was afraid you might say that. No MPEG-2 decoder is included with XP. DVD playback works in combination with ffdshow.

[nevcairiel]

The version I linked to (2.52 RC) works with ffdshow here. At least for a mkv file with H.264 video. Could you try that version? It may very well be a bug in SW, but since it works (for me) with ffdshow, and it also works with LAV after changing playback rate, I though it might be a solvable problem.


At first, it didn't even manage to build a DirectShow graph here. It inserts LAV and VSFilter and connects the two, but it doesn't manage to make the connection to the renderer. Same thing happens with ffdshow.

Then i uninstalled VSFilter, and then it started working just fine, no changing playback rate required, but it did complain about not being able to render the subtitle pin, obviously. Maybe in this combination it would work better with ffdshow if it lets ffdshow handle the subtitles, i don't know.


I was afraid you might say that. No MPEG-2 decoder is included with XP. DVD playback works in combination with ffdshow.

Well i don't have any XP system anymore, and i do not plan on getting one ever again if i can help it, so i can't do anything.

[Superb]

SW 2.51 works well w/ LAV.
I just had to disable the built-in Windows 7 decoders: http://i.imgur.com/PNzIn.png
Everything then works.
VSFilter is known to break the SW directshow graph when installed.

[clsid]

VSFilter is known to break the SW directshow graph when installed.I submitted a patch for VSFilter earlier today that adds it to the blacklist in VSFilter ;)

[nx6]

And don't forget: All ATI 2000,3000,4000 are on legacy support now and can't use the current drivers.

D:

Might be time for me to consider getting a newer graphics card soon then.

[TheShadowRunner]

clsid, I can confirm that LAV works great for decoding DVDs on XP. Using Zoom Player.
It works with all decoding modes: software, CUVID, and even DXVA2 (native).
I tried both PAL and NTSC DVDs.
It even detects when a NTSC DVD mpeg2 stream is flagged for pulldown, madVR then changes the display frequency to 24hz on its own (if instructed to do so, of course).
In other words, LAV + DVD on XP pretty much perfect.

2 small things though (for Nev).
1. Cosmetic: when "Enable DVD Video Support" is checked, shouldn't the "mpeg2" decoder be automatically checked as well?
At some point I thought only "Enable DVD Video Support" was needed for DVD playback and since I had every codec unchecked except the ones I use (vp6, vc1), it wouldn't work. Maybe link both "mpeg2" and "Enable DVD Video support" checkboxes?

2. A small bug due to aspect ratio on DVD menus (?).
On DVDs with widescreen menus, clicking on the buttons themselves does nothing, and one must click "next" to them for them to work properly [clicking right over the buttons doesn't work]. It seems to be because the menu buttons coordinates are based on 4/3 and when LAV (or is it the player?) stretches the menu to 16/9 for proper AR, the new buttons coordinates aren't "reflected".
For exemple, with such problematic widescreen menus, if I force the Aspect Ration to 4/3, then every button on the menu works [clicking right over the buttons work].

Edit: Using madVR of course, and LAV 0.54.

[romulous]

Hi nev,

Thanks for the new release. There seems to be a problem with Copy-Back and that sample I posted though (the 1920x1200 sample that was showing a black screen with Native). The sample gets to about 3 seconds in, and then just stops playing. It also locks the player, so Task Manager is required to kill it. Sample link again:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/105555957/JustCause2-H264.mkv

Not sure if it is a LAV problem, madVR or the player. Thanks.

Edit: Just reverted to 0.53.2. It gets about 10 seconds in before it shows the same behaviour.

[clsid]

@TheShadowRunner
I know it works with other players. The problem is with WMP11. Can you test with that too?

I turns out that the problem is related to the interlacing flags.
Enabling TreatAsProgressive or Yadif solves the problem.

[Megalith]

Is the LAV Video Decoder supposed to be running at the same that madVR is? I might be crazy, but the video quality seems worse if they are.

[Duffy Moon]

Is the LAV Video Decoder supposed to be running at the same that madVR is? I might be crazy, but the video quality seems worse if they are.

Yes. Maybe you're crazy? :D

[filler56789]

@TheShadowRunner
I know it works with other players. The problem is with WMP11. Can you test with that too?

I turns out that the problem is related to the interlacing flags.
Enabling TreatAsProgressive or Yadif solves the problem.

Over here, LAV Video + WMP11 works as it should with DVDs.
No need to enable "Treat as progressive" nor YADIF.
Maybe it depends on the video drivers? :confused:

EDIT:

I spoke too early :o , now that I've made sure LAV Video is actually used by WMP 11, yes, it works only when YADIF is enabled, and the subtitles don't appear at all. :confused:

But this all is not very-important, because I don't like to use WMP 11. :)

[nevcairiel]

2. A small bug due to aspect ratio on DVD menus (?).
On DVDs with widescreen menus, clicking on the buttons themselves does nothing, and one must click "next" to them for them to work properly [clicking right over the buttons doesn't work]. It seems to be because the menu buttons coordinates are based on 4/3 and when LAV (or is it the player?) stretches the menu to 16/9 for proper AR, the new buttons coordinates aren't "reflected".
For exemple, with such problematic widescreen menus, if I force the Aspect Ration to 4/3, then every button on the menu works [clicking right over the buttons work].


Unless this doesn't happen with another decoder, its a player or renderer problem. I don't think its the decoders fault, because it doesn't position the clickable areas, the only possibility would be if the decoder gets the AR wrong, but does it look wrong?


Thanks for the new release. There seems to be a problem with Copy-Back and that sample I posted though (the 1920x1200 sample that was showing a black screen with Native). The sample gets to about 3 seconds in, and then just stops playing. It also locks the player, so Task Manager is required to kill it.

Plays just fine for me, with any decoder, software, CB or Native.
Considering the HW decoder doesn't work with this sample on your system, it would fallback to software, and that mode also works just fine for me.

[romulous]

Plays just fine for me, with any decoder, software, CB or Native.
Considering the HW decoder doesn't work with this sample on your system, it would fallback to software, and that mode also works just fine for me.

Thanks nev. Just tried it with EVR, and it works ok. Looks like it only locks up when madVR is used. I will pop into the madVR thread and report it there.

[Fullmetal Encoder]

Is the LAV Video Decoder supposed to be running at the same that madVR is? I might be crazy, but the video quality seems worse if they are.

Is my computer supposed to be running at the same time that madVR is? I might be crazy, but the video quality seems worse if it is.

[clsid]

Over here, LAV Video + WMP11 works as it should with DVDs.
No need to enable "Treat as progressive" nor YADIF.
Maybe it depends on the video drivers? :confused:

EDIT:

I spoke too early :o , now that I've made sure LAV Video is actually used by WMP 11, yes, it works only when YADIF is enabled, and the subtitles don't appear at all. :confused:

But this all is not very-important, because I don't like to use WMP 11. :)
The sub/menu issue is because ffdshow is stealing the subtitle pin. I will see if I can get that fixed.

@nevcairiel
Could you consider adding a workaround to enable Yadif for this combo?
DVD + WinXP + wmplayer.exe

[wanezhiling]

:p Nev has no interest on XP though 70%+ people in China stick to XP.

[aufkrawall]

:p Nev has no interest on XP though 70%+ people in China stick to XP.
It's simply outdated, even many game developers don't support it (DX9) anymore.

[wanezhiling]

It's simply outdated, even many game developers don't support it (DX9) anymore.

I couldn't agree more. I got rid of XP three years ago myself.

But you know..:p

[filler56789]

Except that in this case, the actual problem is in Windows Media Player 11, not in XP itself. :sly:

And let's try to go back to the topic. :)

[Tacio]

http://www.mediafire.com/?bo70xnw2xl9n30d
In DXVA checker this egur's test clip plays fine using my HD3000 and MS DTV-DVD video decoder. But with LAV filters and DXVA2n video is corrupted. The same is for MPC-BE.

[nevcairiel]

http://www.mediafire.com/?bo70xnw2xl9n30d
In DXVA checker this egur's test clip plays fine using my HD3000 and MS DTV-DVD video decoder. But with LAV filters and DXVA2n video is corrupted. The same is for MPC-BE.

Use the QuickSync decoder for Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge GPUs.
Using DXVA is not recommended, because Intels HW implementation is somewhat different (and Intel doesn't actually say different how), this is especially true for files with a high number of reference frames (like this one).

[Qaq]

Yep, I also would love to get DXVA1 support in LAV video. I have win7 setup but just can't move all my staff from XP to 7, so often even watch video in XP with working processes in background. Now I have to switch to Cyberlink for heavy video.

[nevcairiel]

DXVA1 support in LAV video.

Not going to happen.
Thats even one of those things i wouldn't even accept a patch for, because i simply have no ability to test it and ensure it keeps working (not like i have ever received a patch thats more then 2 lines or so.)

[zeropc]

is there a way to select the embedded ac3 track from a dolby true-hd file as default? if so, how would i do that?

[sneaker_ger]

Why would you want to do that?
If you want to bitstream and your receiver doesn't do TrueHD just check "Dolby Digital (AC-3)" under bitstreaming in LAV Audio. You could also try to deactivate "TrueHD" in the formats tab.

[zeropc]

ac3 and dts are check and dolby thd/dts-hd/eac3 are unchecked, but it wont pass-through the ac3 unless i select it manually. the dts core however gets played without problems.

[sneaker_ger]

ac3 and dts are check and dolby thd/dts-hd/eac3 are unchecked, but it wont pass-through the ac3 unless i select it manually.

So the ac3 core and the TrueHD data without any core are in different tracks and LAV Splitter selects the TrueHD track by default?

[zeropc]

no... the ac3 core is embedded into the truehd track. the true-hd track, if want to call it that way, is selected as default.

[nevcairiel]

So the ac3 core and the TrueHD data without any core are in different tracks and LAV Splitter selects the TrueHD track by default?

LAV Splitter does actually split the AC3 track out of the TrueHD track, into a separate track, yes. Mostly because those two tracks are completely unrelated, and a TrueHD decoder simply does not need it.
So any TrueHD track output by LAV is pure TrueHD (at least when its from a mpeg-ts file), no AC3 frames in it anymore.

LAV has an option if those "substreams" should be shown as a separate track, or simply discarded.

And no, there is no way to auto-select the AC3 track. Higher Quality Streams are always preferred.

[sneaker_ger]

Thx for the explanation. Had to dig out a sample file to actually test it myself because I didn't have any ready. Maybe LAV Splitter could be changed to only select tracks which can be decoded? (So one would have to disable all TrueHD decoders prior and would then select the core instead of the lossless part) Or disable the lossless part in the splitter.
The request itself seems reasonable.

[nevcairiel]

Maybe LAV Splitter could be changed to only select tracks which can be decoded? (So one would have to disable all TrueHD decoders prior and would then select the core instead of the lossless part)

And how would LAV know that? :)

I have no plans to add options for codec-based selection logic, it would just add a lot of confusion.

[sneaker_ger]

If no decoder accepts the connection?
Sorry, I don't know much about DirectShow.

Also see my edit.

[nevcairiel]

LAV only exposes a pin, it doesn't manage the graph building.

[sneaker_ger]

I see. So then a Splitter option would be needed.

[Vasilich]

i suppose LAV audio in above case will select AC3 core track if TrueHD is UNchecked in its options?

[nevcairiel]

Thats not how DirectShow works. The source exposes a pin with a specific type, and DirectShow trys to find a filter that accepts this type. If the exposed type is TrueHD, then you need a decoder that can decode TrueHD, LAV Audio cannot decide to change this to AC3, because it wouldn't even get a chance for that. Usually the player or DirectShow itself control the graph building, the filters can only decide what they accept and what not.

[Vasilich]

it means that there is no chance to hear anything (without manual switching of audio tracks) for above case if my receiver doesn't support trueHD?
or LAV audio can decode trueHD but i then need to use audio postprocessor for encoding this to AC3 because i have only optical cable connected to my receiver?

[sneaker_ger]

it means that there is no chance to hear anything (without manual switching of audio tracks) for above case if my receiver doesn't support trueHD?
or LAV audio can decode trueHD but i then need to use audio postprocessor for encoding this to AC3 because i have only optical cable connected to my receiver?

Either that or stereo only.

[clsid]

How about a simple option "Prefer HD audio tracks"?

Checked: use current logic based on quality and number of channels
Unchecked: DTS > AC3 > TrueHD, and 7.1 = 5.1 > 2.0

That would be helpful for those who want to bitstream to an older receiver.

[nevcairiel]

http://www.mediafire.com/?bo70xnw2xl9n30d
In DXVA checker this egur's test clip plays fine using my HD3000 and MS DTV-DVD video decoder. But with LAV filters and DXVA2n video is corrupted. The same is for MPC-BE.

I think i actually finally figured it out, and fixed the problem.

Try with this version:
http://files.1f0.de/lavf/LAVFilters-0.54-4-gc509fe2.zip

I would also appreciate if anyone could test this version with DXVA2 Native or CB on older Intel GPUs, if anyone has one? Like the 4500MHD? or Atoms?

Here is a sample which broke before this version, but works on SNB/IVB now:
http://files.1f0.de/samples/Madoka-002.mkv

Any feedback would be great, please confirm if its using DXVA2 on this sample, it will fallback to software if your Hardware and/or Driver doesn't support the proper H.264 spec (only on this sample, others with fewer reference frames will still use DXVA2 on those systems).

If you still have issues, a DXVA Checker report might be useful.

[Tacio]

Thanks!
Now this sample works fine on my HD3000 and atom 2800 using LAV filters and dxva2n!