LAV Filters - DirectShow Media Splitter and Decoders

[Soukyuu]

I'm having troubles with .SFD video files. These are essentially MPEG files with MPEG1 video and CRI ADX (ADPCM variant). Video plays fine, but there is no audio stream. FFMPEG/libav can play .adx fine (though not mux it into .mpeg :(), so I guess something is missing from LAV/MPC-HC?

edit: actually, turns out that file didn't have audio :x

Another problem though: I have an .sfd file (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19330332/AT2_OP1D.SFD) that has MPEG video and two audio streams: one .adx (seen and played by MPC-HC/LAV) and one AC3 (not detected by MPC-HC/LAV, but I know it's there and mediainfo sees it too).

[itsonlyjustincase]

@Nev and @Egur

In Lav filters directory i can see "IntelQuickSyncDecoder.dll". This file is the same that we can find in ffdshow folder. Then in ffdshow codec choice, for H264, we can select IntelQuickSync.

Could you provide the same .dll for CUVID or DVXA2 ? A kind of "CuvidDecoder.dll" that we could put in ffdshow. This would allow me to use cuvid in ffdshow..........

[nevcairiel]

Thats not how it works, you can't just put a file into ffdshow and add new functionality like that.
ffdshow is dead, it won't get any new features, unless some developer finds interest in it again - which is highly unlikely.

[itsonlyjustincase]

Thats not how it works, you can't just put a file into ffdshow and add new functionality like that.
ffdshow is dead, it won't get any new features, unless some developer finds interest in it again - which is highly unlikely.

And i guess Lav will remain just a decoder and never a renderer with post-processing option...........

I put an auction on codeur.com so that someone add a resizing function in lav. He asks me 300 euros to do it which i find a bit expensive :( but it seems i have no other choice if i want to keep being a VJ (video jockey) on PC

[itsonlyjustincase]

Another coder took me 60 euros to implement the DXVA2 code of VLC in ffdshow for H264. But it seemed more complicated than it appears so he cancelled

[madshi]

Just had a situation with a movie where LAV Splitter by default selected a stereo AC3 English track instead of the mono DTS-HD MA English track. I guess the default track is chosen by which track has the highest number of channels? Often mono channels are encoded as stereo when using AC3, though. Also for rather old movies a commentary track might be stereo while the main track is mono. So in the case of mono / stereo I'd rather suggest to select by lossless / lossy.

[THX-UltraII]

What is the actual difference between using COPY-BACK and NATIVE on AMD CPUs? I use the HD7950 since yesterday and all I do is 1080p blu-ray content. There are 4 options to use but I don t know which one to pick:

1. DXVA COPY-BACK
2. DXVA NATIVE
3. madVRs own hardware decoding
4. NO hw decoding in madVR of LAV (and let the CPU do it?)

[DragonQ]

Just had a situation with a movie where LAV Splitter by default selected a stereo AC3 English track instead of the mono DTS-HD MA English track. I guess the default track is chosen by which track has the highest number of channels? Often mono channels are encoded as stereo when using AC3, though. Also for rather old movies a commentary track might be stereo while the main track is mono. So in the case of mono / stereo I'd rather suggest to select by lossless / lossy.
Do you have "Prefer Audio Stream with the Highest Quality" ticked in LAV Splitter Configuration?

[madshi]

Yes, I have.

[nevcairiel]

Yes, channels outweigh any other factors right now. I suppose i can make it handle mono and stereo equally, since it seems unlikely to have both with different content, i guess.

[madshi]

If there are mono and stereo tracks available, I'd still pick the stereo track, if all else is equal, so I wouldn't treat them completely identical. Imagine there being both a mono and stereo TrueHD track. I think we would want the stereo track to be chosen in that situation. However, I'd say track quality should have priority over channel count, when comparing mono and stereo tracks. Just my personal opinion, of course.

[detmek]

What is the actual difference between using COPY-BACK and NATIVE on AMD CPUs? I use the HD7950 since yesterday and all I do is 1080p blu-ray content. There are 4 options to use but I don t know which one to pick:

1. DXVA COPY-BACK
2. DXVA NATIVE
3. madVRs own hardware decoding
4. NO hw decoding in madVR of LAV (and let the CPU do it?)

If you don't know, go with software decoding, option 4. It is most stable and most compatible.

BTW, madVR's own decoding is software decoding.

[James Freeman]

Is there any way to show the bitrate of the video?

I know ffdshow can, but I want to use Lav Filter with MPC-HC.

[detmek]

No, LAV Filters does not have that option. Or any other OSD options.

[James Freeman]

Thanks.

Any way to use Lav Video Filter, and show the bitrate with MPC?
Any plugins?

[detmek]

IFAIK there aren't any plugins for MPC. Your only option is FFDShow if you use MPC. I don't know about other players if those have ability to show OSD info you want. I only use MPC-HC and MPC-BE.

[NikosD]

Didn't work for me.
I tried it using DXVA Checker's "Play Mode".

Maybe a "real" player has better chance with those raw video H.265 files.

PotPlayer fixed HEVC problems and can work now with HEVC .ts files.

With the help of nightly build LAV splitter I can play raw video (.265 extension) even without enabling it in LAV Splitter properties.

[jkauff]

PotPlayer fixed HEVC problems and can work now with HEVC .ts files.

With the help of the git compilation of LAV splitter can play raw video (.265 extension) even without enabling it in LAV Splitter properties.
MPC-HC latest nightlies can play HEVC with default settings. Just load the file and play.

[leeperry]

BTW, my mobo can run two PCI-E graphic cards but the second port is only 4X IIRC. Could I run a cheap nvidia in there(possibly passive), use it for CUDA decoding/deinterlacing and outputting to the HD7850? :p

[nevcairiel]

BTW, my mobo can run two PCI-E graphic cards but the second port is only 4X IIRC. Could I run a cheap nvidia in there(possibly passive), use it for CUDA decoding/deinterlacing and outputting to the HD7850? :p

You can, note however hat the HQ deint mode only works if the NVIDIA card has a screen connected. Decoding and non-HQ deint also work without a screen.

Note that on XP mixing two GPUs from different vendors is not something thats usually going to work very well, so unless you upgraded now, i would expect pain. :)

[itsonlyjustincase]

@Nev

I finally managed to find what was triggering the size bug in my Serato Video software. It's when i was going from 16:9 AR to another one like 1:2. That is why even after recompressing 720x480 to 640x360 then testing both 16:9 and 1:2 videos i still had problems. All the clips just have to be 16:9 (like most of the new ones) and it's ok.

So i just had to make an Handbrake Quicksync version profile that doesn't impact too much input quality, and apply a resizing. It's working like a charm now with Lav video decoder CUVID.

Question : My goal is to have the best performance with Lav video. As i'm mixing 2 clips at the same time (2 lav video decoder instance) and in real-time with effects, which settings should i put ? Currently i'm using CUVID with no hardware/software deinterlacing (the boxes for hardware deinterlacing and yadif are not ticked).

[nevcairiel]

If your content is not interlaced, then it doesn't matter. If its interlaced, you might benefit from HW deinterlacing more then software.

[leeperry]

You can, note however hat the HQ deint mode only works if the NVIDIA card has a screen connected. Decoding and non-HQ deint also work without a screen.)
OK, thanks for the blitz reply!

It's a real bummer that you couldn't get the AMD drivers to provide proper deinterlacing in LAV, did you try whining to their tech support at all? They should definitely care about LAV which has become the de facto package for HTPC use :)

[itsonlyjustincase]

If your content is not interlaced, then it doesn't matter. If its interlaced, you might benefit from HW deinterlacing more then software.

Thanks

[leeperry]

Funnily enough, what CoreAVC calls "hardware deinterlacing" boils down to passing the flag to the VR.....one less thing to worry about I guess.

[filler56789]

HEVC striking again :)

Testing build 017101645a24...

AVI demuxer's output pin:
subtype {43564548-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}

TS demuxer's output pin:
subtype {43564548-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}

MKV demuxer's output pin:
subtype {31435648-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71},

even when the MKV file uses V_MS/VFW/FOURCC

[nevcairiel]

Your point?
MKV and MP4 use another format for HEVC then TS does, and only you know what evilness went into the AVI.

Also, using V_MS/VFW/FOURCC for HEVC in MKV is likely to break many things, so don't. There is an official way of muxing it.

[filler56789]

Your point?
MKV and MP4 use another format for HEVC then TS does, and only you know what evilness went into the AVI.

I may be wrong since I am no expert, but I assumed both HEVC-in-AVI and HEVC-in-TS use the Annex B thing :confused:

Also, using V_MS/VFW/FOURCC for HEVC in MKV is likely to break many things,

Example?

[nevcairiel]

The same things that H.264 muxing using that mode breaks, most likely bad timestamps at the very least, resulting in non-smooth playback.
There is no advantage in doing that, so anyone that does it just shoots themself in the foot.

[filler56789]

Thanks for the clarification :)

[axlt2002]

Hi guys,

I'm attaching to this discussion since actually I'm in the setup phase of MediaPortal and having some questions related to the LAV audio settings.

My speaker system is 4.0 (two front speakers and two rear speakers) where:

- The two front speakers encompass also a subwoofer (I'm using a Focal Little Bird system); therefore I'm just using the "analog output front speakers" of the mother board
- The two rear speakers are connected through an audio wireless sender to the "rear speakers analog output" of the mother board

I will then of course need the LAV Audio mixer to correctly listen the 5.1 movies audio on my 4.0 system. The settings I would try are the following:

- Center Mix Level = 0.71 (in order to have the center channel splitted on the two front speakers)
- Sorround Mix Level = 0 (having the two rear speakers, I suppose that I don't need to put any value here)
- LFE Mix Level = ?!?!? (if I will put e.g. 0.71, will be the LFE splitted ONLY on the two front channels OR between the 4 speakers?; the basic idea is to have the LFE channel sent to the front speaker only, having it amplified in the Focal Little Bird system, but I don't know how to achieve this...).

Thanks in advance for any clarification! :)

[nevcairiel]

The sub is always only mixed into the front channels, not any others.

It should work the way you want it, then.

[betaking]

mpc-hc git can not use TortoiseGit download submodule "qsdecoder"
in 1fo.de is ad4c50072dedfbd1cf5939a9317782b2f4d3e051
but on https://github.com/Underground78/lavfilters
is qsdecoder @ d7678f1
nevcairel can help?

[Rinzler]

Hi. I've just installed new MPC-HC 1.7.0 with your internal LAV filters and figure out that I can't open DV AVI files. It's very sad because I use MPC for a long time. It worked fine with last build MPC-HC.1.6.8. Can you add support for this files? I work with Canopus Edius and don't want to install other players or codec packs.

[nevcairiel]

Many DV files I've tried work just fine - if you have one specifically which doesn't work, can you provide a sample file?

[axlt2002]

The sub is always only mixed into the front channels, not any others.

It should work the way you want it, then.

First of all, thanks for your answer!

Being more practical, and just to summarize, I will go for:

- Center Mix Level = 0.71
- Sorround Mix Level = 0
- LFE Mix Level = 0

having set 4.0 in the speakers configuration?

Thanks again!

[nevcairiel]

If you want the LFE to be mixed, you should not set it to 0. Otherwise, its fine.

[Raylan Givens]

nev, is it possible in the future to give us an option for 5.1 mixing exactly as in version 1.68 works? I'm talking about simple copy... Like Stereo x2 but center speaker included.

Incidentally, right now I can't get any 5.1 mix of stereo files... Is it bugged or something?

[Rinzler]

Many DV files I've tried work just fine - if you have one specifically which doesn't work, can you provide a sample file?

Ok. Where better to download the files?

[wanezhiling]

http://url.cn/S3gwub
This is a broken file, its real duration is 2min31sec, but timer jump[00:00:37 -> 00:02:03] is invalid, so LAV splitter shows 1min05sec duration.
Mpc-be shows full 2min31sec. :)

[nevcairiel]

If its a broken file, what am i supposed to do with it? Broken files are broken.
You are free to ask ffmpeg to improve it, but files with timestamp gaps don't work very well, and I have better things to fix. :)

Also, 2min31s in a 650MB video? Seriously?

[Aleksoid1978]

If its a broken file, what am i supposed to do with it? Broken files are broken.
You are free to ask ffmpeg to improve it, but files with timestamp gaps don't work very well, and I have better things to fix. :)

Also, 2min31s in a 650MB video? Seriously?

File is normal playback from 00:00:00 to 00:02:31.
About big size - ~80Mb bitrate :)

[Warlock]

PotPlayer fixed HEVC problems and can work now with HEVC .ts files.

With the help of nightly build LAV splitter I can play raw video (.265 extension) even without enabling it in LAV Splitter properties.

In addition to Korean language, the original version of PotPlayer has some other language, such as English, for example?

[Aleksoid1978]

LAV Splitter bad demux/playback RAW H.265 files.
http://i.imgur.com/hFtaqYw.png

[nevcairiel]

raw files don't have timestamps, and they are not meant for playback. This is to be expected, and i don't care. :)
The same thing probably happens with h264 raw files.

Edit:
Actually, this should be improved now, even without timestamps there was a small thing i could fix.
But the general statement stands, raw files are not ideal for playback.

[littleD]

I was testing free hevc/h.265 decoders since ffmpeg added decoding and demuxing for this format. I used dxva checker for benchmarking and i see lav decoding filter do not use full cpu power, it underutilises my cpu resources. It use 75% sometimes 50% cpu thus gets lower benchmark fps, comparing to based also on ffmpeg standalone MPC VideoDec from MPC-HC BE project 1.2.1.0.6632 that use 80% or 84%. Maybe that because the latter is compiled with vs2013 helps multithreading? Dont know if that is bug but i tested three samples in ts mkv and mp4 container and results repeat. MPC video decoder BE filter has higher min. FPS that means lower chance of lost frames/glitches.

[nevcairiel]

Which version did you test? Multi-threading in LAV was improved recently, specifically Monday evening, so not even two days ago.
I see consistent use of 80-90% CPU with that version on a 1080p clip i tested (The Tears of Steel clip from DivX), 170 fps on my system.

[Rinzler]

nevcairiel, here is the link (http://www.filefactory.com/file/1zp6t5ldp1wn/Canopus_DV_AVI.avi) to DV video.
It worked fine with MPC-HC.1.6.8 if AVI filter in Source filters was used.

[littleD]

Which version did you test? Multi-threading in LAV was improved recently, specifically Monday evening, so not even two days ago.
I see consistent use of 80-90% CPU with that version on a 1080p clip i tested, 170 fps on my system.
I tested a filter dated 25.10.2013 or slighty older. I might redo tests especially with Tears of steels, that was main concern.

[nevcairiel]

nevcairiel, here is the link (http://www.filefactory.com/file/1zp6t5ldp1wn/Canopus_DV_AVI.avi) to DV video.
It worked fine with MPC-HC.1.6.8 if AVI filter in Source filters was used.

Thanks for the sample, its fixed for the next version.
MPC-HC should update soon'ish as well, and you can grab a nightly build to play these files again.