LAV Filters - DirectShow Media Splitter and Decoders

[nevcairiel]

If you enable the system tray options in the LAV config, then the icons will show up when LAV is used - if they don't show up, its not used.
Note that VLC is not a DirectShow player, and therefor cannot use LAV.

[mcnauge]

Ahh, thanks for answering my newb questions.

The system tray is showing up when I play within MediaBrowser Theater...just under the green arrow of xy-vsfilter in the system tray.

Its all working perfectly now!

Thanks again!

[huhn]

is it possible that lavfilter can map the audio channel wrong?
some times on 2 stereo sources the two back channels are used.
it sounds like the 2 front channels are treated as back channels sometimes only 1 of them...
happens with lav stereo mixing setting soundcard input at 2-8 channels. is a asus essence stx with hardware mixer (even under windows 7) analog stereo output only.
it happens really rarely but it's pretty obvious when it happens.

[nevcairiel]

It can't map it "wrong", but its certainly possible for a file to indicate its two channels are supposed to go into the back channels or something stupid like that.
Then its your files fault.

[huhn]

reopening the file fix that so the file can't be wrong. leaves a driver problem?

i only got this problem when a file was running and i selected a new one. this problem is rarely so doesn't mean that much.

edit: got the problem right now changing the input layout in the sound card diver fix it, still wondering why this never happens in games and flashplayer.

[Stereodude]

Why do subtitles force themselves on when playing blu-ray discs in MPC-HC 1.71 with the included LAV filters? I changed the splitter preference to forced only, but that did not help.

[mcnauge]

One more question about the system tray I icons if I may.

Neither the video or audio systems trays present themselves when playing a movie. However, while the movie is playing if I open the configuartion windows and uncheck/check the show is system tray box then They both both up until I stop the movie and play another...then I have to go uncheck/check/apply again.

This is using mediabrowser theater and is being used and shows an active decoder while playing the movie.

I'm not sure what is causing that behaviour? Any ideas?

Thanks again

[wanezhiling]

http://h265encoding.com/downloads/bigBuckBunny_h265_360p.ts

Image is broken when seeking:http://i.imgur.com/RORTiLJ.png

[nevcairiel]

H.265 is still in the development stages, and such things will be corrected over time. No priority.

[JEEB]

http://h265encoding.com/downloads/bigBuckBunny_h265_360p.ts

Image is broken when seeking:http://i.imgur.com/RORTiLJ.png
Now, let's begin with the fact that the file lacks profile information, which means it was most probably encoded with an old HM version or something similar (this is out-of-spec btw, profile and level flags should always be there and set).

After we get done with that, the stream seems to use open gop (CRA [Clean Random Access] instead of IDR), and has three skippable leading pictures after IRAPs. Those seem to get skipped fine as far as I can see. Parameter sets are muxed only in the beginning, not sure if this exactly correct regarding seeking where you're supposed to be able to initialize decoding as-is :P (it surely does kill the primary use case of MPEG-TS, though).

Anyways, looking at the ffmpeg log from "ffmpeg -ss 00:06:00.00 -i bigBuckBunny_h265_360p.ts -f null -", I notice the decoder does not find the PPS or refs needed to decode. Not going to waste time on checking if the file works with the parameter sets muxed in at every IRAP, but I wouldn't be surprised if that fixes it. That said, I'm surprised it recovers at all. You can open up an issue with the file on the FFmpeg bug tracker if the current HEAD ffmpeg still outputs the same errors, but I recommend you also note in the issue that the file is not spec-compliant regarding the parameter sets at least, so it wouldn't be surprising if there were other problems with the stream if one looks closer.

[Aleksoid1978]

H.265 is still in the development stages, and such things will be corrected over time. No priority.

I think bug in hevc parser. Because with MPC-BE's MPEGSplitter - there is no image broken.

[Stereodude]

Thats a player then, LAV doesn't change anything ever by itself after the initial selection.Why doesn't the splitter honor the flags in the .mkv? If no subtitle tracks are flagged as forced or default=yes, it seems it should not pick any of them when the splitter is set to "default"?

[nevcairiel]

That depends if you configured subtitle languages. If you set preferred subtitle languages, then it will select tracks with that language.

[Stereodude]

That depends if you configured subtitle languages. If you set preferred subtitle languages, then it will select tracks with that language.With MPC-HC 1.7.2 (x86) and the integrated LAV filters (.60.1.5) I get English subtitles from .mkv files even though they're not flagged at forced or default=yes. The splitter is set to default and I have no preferred language. It basically does the same thing when playing back blu-ray discs too.

[nevcairiel]

All I can tell you is that MPC-HC is overriding LAVs choice. If you register an external LAV Splitter, it'll function as I designed LAV to function.
Anything else, you should take up with the MPC-HC developers.

[cyberbeing]

even though they're not flagged at forced or default=yes

I'm not seeing any issue with subtitle tracks flagged as "default=no" using LAV + MPC-HC 1.7.2.

You most likely forgot to disable the 'Playback -> Allow overriding external splitter choice' option in MPC-HC.

[nevcairiel]

Note that internal LAV does not count as "external splitter", so I suppose it can behave differently.

[Stereodude]

Is there a known issue with SD MPEG-2 (DVD) decoding with the QuickSync engine in LAV with Haswell HD4600? I get really choppy output if I use QuickSync for it. Software and CUVID decoding work fine. HD MPEG-2 decoding seems fine.

[nevcairiel]

Actual DVDs (from disc or as full VIDEO_TS copy), or rips?
The QuickSync decoder doesn't work perfectly with actualy DVD playback because of the Microsoft DVD Navigator and some of its limitations.

[Stereodude]

Actual DVDs (from disc or as full VIDEO_TS copy), or rips?
The QuickSync decoder doesn't work perfectly with actualy DVD playback because of the Microsoft DVD Navigator and some of its limitations.Actual DVDs, not sure about rips. I haven't tried them. The video playback is very choppy like a very inconsistent framerate with a pile of dropped frames, but madVR (or EVR) say it's not dropping any frames.

[nevcairiel]

I intentionally added a checkbox to disable HW acceleration with DVDs, since DVD playback, especially with menus, can be rather picky, so it can generally be wiser to simply do it in software, and software decoding of a SD DVD is such an easy task that its usually nothing to worry about.

[mindbomb]

With MPC-HC 1.7.2 (x86) and the integrated LAV filters (.60.1.5) I get English subtitles from .mkv files even though they're not flagged at forced or default=yes. The splitter is set to default and I have no preferred language. It basically does the same thing when playing back blu-ray discs too.


like cyberbeing, I also am not seeing that issue, though I'm using 1.7.1.

[Stereodude]

like cyberbeing, I also am not seeing that issue, though I'm using 1.7.1.1.7.1 did a similar thing for me. I'll check the setting cyberbeing mentioned when I get home later. FWIW, 1.7.1 was actually worse where even picking the forced setting in the splitter still hade them turned on. With 1.7.2 forced in the splitter leaves them off.

[Stereodude]

I intentionally added a checkbox to disable HW acceleration with DVDs, since DVD playback, especially with menus, can be rather picky, so it can generally be wiser to simply do it in software, and software decoding of a SD DVD is such an easy task that its usually nothing to worry about.I'll do a little more testing later today and see if I can narrow down the issue a little more.

[Stereodude]

All I can tell you is that MPC-HC is overriding LAVs choice. If you register an external LAV Splitter, it'll function as I designed LAV to function.You're correct. The external version works as you say and as I'd expect. The internal one does not. I posted in the MPC-HC thread reporting the issue.

You most likely forgot to disable the 'Playback -> Allow overriding external splitter choice' option in MPC-HC.Nope, this box is not checked.

I'll do a little more testing later today and see if I can narrow down the issue a little more.Playing back a .VOB file generated from the DVD does the same thing (choppy playback). Putting the same video and audio stream into a .mkv works fine using QuickSync decoding. HW adaptive deinterlacing was turned off (turning it on generally disables QuickSync and switches to SW decoding). I noticed that VOB file playback uses the LAV splitter, whereas playing the DVD uses the DVD Navigator, but both stutter. It also doesn't occur on all mpeg-2 videos. Some of the previews on a 2nd test disc play fine, but other titles and the main title doesn't. FWIW, internal and external LAV filters behave the same way.

My guess is that there's a problem HW decoding MPEG-2 streams that use soft pulldown using QuickSync. The video from the .VOB reports to the downstream filters that it's not interlaced. The output frames from the HW decoder are progressive with none repeated, but it reports a frame interval of 33.37ms. So, the 23.976fps decoded frames are displayed at 29.97fps and the last frame of every 5 frame sequence is held the extra time hence the stutter. On the other hand the video stream in the .mkv reports to the downstream filters that it's interlaced the IVTC routine in madVR kicks in.

[Stereodude]

You most likely forgot to disable the 'Playback -> Allow overriding external splitter choice' option in MPC-HC.It turns out the issue is caused by the "Auto-load subtitles" option in the main Playback section of the options. Unchecking that box causes the internal filters to behave identically to the external ones with regards to subtitles.

[NikosD]

Hi.

I have some problems playing those files with DXVAn and Intel HW using LAV Video.

MPEG-2

Artifacts - Green stripe
http://www.sendspace.com/file/jm10xo - QS plays fine

Doesn't start decoding (MPC-HC is OK)
ftp://helpedia.com/pub/multimedia/x264/testvideos/2010%20-%2009%20-%20DXVA%20benchmarks%20-%20Avivo%20vs%20PureVideo%20vs%20Clear%20Video/test-g1-1.mpg

VC-1/WMV3

Every HW decoder has heavy artifacts, but QS is perfect with external LAV
MPC-HC refuses to decode it in QS!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/aep5vn

I put again this 2880 x 1080 VC-1 file, because I didn't get it from the first time, if it's a drivers problem or LAV.
QS plays fine.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7o6usa

I put again this file too, because it's broken again with green images at the beginning.
You have fixed it in the past, but it's broken again. Check MPC-HC too.
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/530/hd-dvd-demo-1080p-vc-1-ddplus-5-1/mirrors

[Qotscha]

Yle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yle) just started broadcasting all their channels in HD which is great. The problem, however, is that I can't seek in my NDVR recording of those channels with LAV Splitter. Whenever I try to seek, playback starts from the beginning.

It doesn't matter if I play the file via http or download it first. However, if I cut a small chunk from the end of the file (or don't download it entirely with wget), seeking works. With VLC or Haali Splitter seeking works fine.

I'll PM you, nevcairiel, a download link of one recording with broken seeking in case you want to take a look.

[nevcairiel]

The good news is that your problem seems to have solved itself after I updated ffmpeg to the latest version! So hooray!

Here is a version for you to test as well:
http://files.1f0.de/lavf/LAVFilters-0.60.1-8-g67e7ed1.zip

[Selur]

Just installed a new system and I was wondering why I still installed ffdshow and after some testing I realized why:
a. the Dolby Decoder option
b. the AC3 (S/PDIF encode mode)
are there any plans to add one or both of these options to LAVFilters?

[nevcairiel]

No plans. Its a audio decoder primarily, with only rudimentary processing. Not building advanced processing or encoding features.

[DragonQ]

People still re-encode to AC3? HDMI's been around for years. :p

[artins90]

Guys what are the correct settings to downmix 7.1 to stereo? No matter what I change in the settings stereo is always louder than 7.1 and in 7.1 the volume of the voices is way too low. These are my current settings
http://imgur.com/Nw81pgw,Fv7kiFa#0
http://imgur.com/Nw81pgw,Fv7kiFa#1

[mindbomb]

if you check normalize matrix and uncheck clipping protection, you should get the same low volume that you get from downmixing through windows.

[nevcairiel]

Dont use normalize matrix and instead use clip protection if you want at least somewhat similar levels.

[Qotscha]

The good news is that your problem seems to have solved itself after I updated ffmpeg to the latest version! So hooray!

Here is a version for you to test as well:
http://files.1f0.de/lavf/LAVFilters-0.60.1-8-g67e7ed1.zip

Thanks. This fixed the problem for some files but not all. I sent you a download link to another file.

[Coldblackice]

So what's the consensus -- should we still update/install the external LAV filters, or merely use the built-in ones? Are they equivalently the same, or does one work/feature better than the other?

Are there any precautions to take with having both around at the same time? (i.e., should we clean off the externals before using/installing the built-in ones)

[JarrettH]

I prefer using LAV built-in. MPC comes with it, so why have a separate installation

[NikosD]

Some new artifacts and problems with DXVAn and Intel HW using LAV Video and MPC-HC.

H.264

Heavy artifacts and green distorted images at the beginning
http://www.sendspace.com/file/9p8xa0

It plays fine, but if seek you loose video/ audio sync. The image freezes but you can here the audio decoding
http://www.sendspace.com/file/b6uxc4

[octal9]

So what's the consensus -- should we still update/install the external LAV filters, or merely use the built-in ones? Are they equivalently the same, or does one work/feature better than the other?

Are there any precautions to take with having both around at the same time? (i.e., should we clean off the externals before using/installing the built-in ones)from what i've heard, xhmikosr, the guy who does nightly builds of mpc-hc uses the most up to date lav's (latest off the git).....however if yr. using mpc-be, potplayer, etc. that's a different story - i keep standalone lav's for use with those players....

[Soukyuu]

I imagine you would also need the standalone version if you want to use it with something like MEGui/AVS.

[NikosD]

@Nev

Have you managed to check any of the clips uploaded ?

Thanks

[nevcairiel]

I will not have time to look into DXVA things for a while, other things take priority for now.

Artifacts at the beginning of a file are just a sign of a bad cut, missing reference frames. Nothing to really worry about.
I can probably make those artifacts black instead of green without much effort, would that make it better? :D

[DragonQ]

Heh, those kind of artefacts at the start of cut files appear as grey for me. Although, as before, they play artefact-free in MediaPortal.

[NikosD]

I will not have time to look into DXVA things for a while, other things take priority for now.

Artifacts at the beginning of a file are just a sign of a bad cut, missing reference frames. Nothing to really worry about.
I can probably make those artifacts black instead of green without much effort, would that make it better? :D

Yes, it would be better, for example that is exactly what you did with the VC-1 demo file with 0.59.1.x, but at the next version of LAV Video, green images appeared again.

The green stripe of the first MPEG-2 file during the whole clip, what is it ?

Also the second MPEG-2 file, doesn't start decoding and I think this has nothing to do with DXVA.

And the WMV3 clip with the bikini girls, it's unplayable in HW even by AMD and Nvidia, only QS manages to decode it. It must be something with FFMpeg, I think.

One last clip H.264 interlaced:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/fzekte

With Haswell plays fine with Sandybridge was playing fine with 0.59.1 version, but now has green images for several seconds with 0.60.1 - only for Sandy.
Haswell still decodes it just fine with 0.60.1!

In CPU decoding of that interlaced clip, using default interlaced options, only 2 cores of a quad-core Core i5 - 2400 were used.
In playback and benchmarking mode (in order to push the CPU more)

I tried several other iH.264 interlaced clips and the behavior was the same. 2 cores out of 4.
To be more exact, 50% utilization of a quad-core Core i5.

Strange.

Heh, those kind of artefacts at the start of cut files appear as grey for me. Although, as before, they play artefact-free in MediaPortal.

Yes, it happens that too, sometimes - I don't remember the clips, most of them are green to me.

[Mercury_22]

It's just me or after last ffmpeg update / fix the x64 ffmpeg won't build ?

[nevcairiel]

Must be you, mine compiles just fine.

[Mercury_22]

Must be you, mine compiles just fine.

Can you please help me ? I'm always getting ...Creating library libavresample/avresample-lav.lib and object libavresample/av
resample-lav.exp
C:\MSYS\mingw\bin\x86_64-w64-mingw32-strip.exe: unable to rename 'libavcodec/avc
odec-lav-55.dll'; reason: File exists
Press any key to continue . . .
I'm on a new / "clean" clone and using VS2013 UP1 and GCC 4.8.2. thought I don't think it matters

P.S. The only thing that it's different in my build is that I've enabled rtmp and rtmpt but again I don't think it matters

EDIT : deleted everything, again, and re-clone, again, and now it's building fine :confused: Didn't changed anything (else)! :o:(

[Stereodude]

Playing back a .VOB file generated from the DVD does the same thing (choppy playback). Putting the same video and audio stream into a .mkv works fine using QuickSync decoding. HW adaptive deinterlacing was turned off (turning it on generally disables QuickSync and switches to SW decoding). I noticed that VOB file playback uses the LAV splitter, whereas playing the DVD uses the DVD Navigator, but both stutter. It also doesn't occur on all mpeg-2 videos. Some of the previews on a 2nd test disc play fine, but other titles and the main title doesn't. FWIW, internal and external LAV filters behave the same way.

My guess is that there's a problem HW decoding MPEG-2 streams that use soft pulldown using QuickSync. The video from the .VOB reports to the downstream filters that it's not interlaced. The output frames from the HW decoder are progressive with none repeated, but it reports a frame interval of 33.37ms. So, the 23.976fps decoded frames are displayed at 29.97fps and the last frame of every 5 frame sequence is held the extra time hence the stutter. On the other hand the video stream in the .mkv reports to the downstream filters that it's interlaced the IVTC routine in madVR kicks in.Should I go complain to egur in his long thread (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=162442) about this since I'm guessing it's not a LAV issue?

[nevcairiel]

If you have a VOB sample file which exhibits the stuttering problem, that might be useful.