DXVA benchmarks - Avivo vs PureVideo vs Clear Video

[NikosD]

UPDATE 23/09/2010 - Added Vista results with CPU & GPU usage, DXVA1/2 results, MPEG2 results - Removed DivX (incompatible with DXVAchecker - breaks MediaFoundation) - PostProc OFF (Catalyst Video settings & codecs)

A thread for anyone interested in DXVA benchmarking.

The tool of DXVA benchmarks is DXVA checker v2.3.0.0 x86 version, available here:
http://bluesky23.hp.infoseek.co.jp/en/index.html#DXVAChecker

Systems:
Win Vista SP2 x86 - C2D@2.83 GHz - Radeon 5750 (UVD 2.2) - Catalyst 10.9a
Win 7 x64 - C2D@2.83 GHz - Radeon 5750 (UVD 2.2) - Catalyst 10.9a

UVD 2.2 codec support: (according to ATI)

MPEG2, WMV3, VC-1, H.264

There is no support for MPEG2_VLD yet. Only hardware assisted support for MPEG2 with DXVA1/2 versions

For WMV3, VC-1, H.264 there is support of up to 1088p. For VC-1, H.264 there is support of 1088p60fps

Cut-off point is 1088. Max results below for carefully chosen samples of each codec.

Catalyst 10.4 and later introduced full support of H.264 L5.1 up to 4K x 2K.
Never activated and confirmed. Only support of 1088p L5.1 H.264 up to now (Catalyst 10.9a)

DXVA decoders tested: (x86)

1) FFDShow DXVA rev 3576
2) MPC-Video decoder v1.4.2561 standalone filters
3) ArcSoft Video decoder v2.27.319.108
4) Cyberlink Video decoder v1.0.0.1505 (PowerDVD 10)
5) Microsoft DTV-DVD video decoder DS (DirectShow)
6) Microsoft H264 Video Decoder MFT (Media Foundation)
7) Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder (DirectShow)
8) AMD Fast (DnD) decoder (Media Foundation)

Video Formats:
VC-1, H.264, WMV3, MPEG2

All samples can be found here:

ftp://helpedia.com/pub/multimedia/x264/testvideos/


VC-1

1) 1080p30fps - 12Mbps

2) 1080p60fps - 40Mbps


H.264

1) L4.1-1080p30fps ReF 2 - 27Mbps

2) L5.1-1080p24fps ReF 16 - 34Mbps

3) AVCHD - L4.2-1080p60fps ReF 2 - 30Mbps

4) L5.1-2304p24fps ReF 1 - 6Mbps



WMV3

1) 1080p24fps-10Mbps


MPEG2

1) 1080p25fps-60Mbps


Instructions:

1) Download DXVA Checker and sample clip

2) Open DXVA Checker and click the big horizontal button Check DirectShow/MediaFoundation Decoders...

3) Select the downloaded clip

4) Left click the decoders shown by the program - the ones with red colour - and you will see a menu. Go down to benchmark option and select EVR for DXVA2 or VMR7 for DXVA1

5) It opens a new window. Select preview off. Write down the Min/Avg/Max fps


Results: (Min/Avg/Max), CPU & GPU usage average only

Vista x86

MPEG2


DXVA1

(MPEG2_C) ArcSoft 90/96/101 CPU: 43% GPU: 0%
(MPEG2_A) Microsoft DS 85/93/100 CPU: 44% GPU: 0%
(MPEG2_C) Cyberlink 77/86/95 CPU: 44% GPU: 0%

DXVA2

(MPEG2_IDCT) Microsoft DS 88/94/100 CPU: 44% GPU: 0%
(MPEG2_IDCT) ArcSoft 89/89/90 CPU: 42% GPU: 0%
(MPEG2_IDCT) Cyberlink 76/85/94 CPU: 44% GPU: 0%


WMV3

DXVA2 only


AMD MFT: 67/70/91 CPU: 3% GPU: 0% (crashes DXVAChecker after test)
ArcSoft: 55/70/93 CPU: 3% GPU: 0%


VC-1


First clip:

DXVA1

FFDshow: 67/70/91 CPU: 4% GPU: 4%
MPC-HC: 67/70/91 CPU: 4% GPU: 4%

DXVA2

AMD MFT: 68/73/92 CPU: 4% GPU: 0% (crashes DXVAChecker after test)
ArcSoft: 66/70/97 CPU: 4% GPU: 0%
FFDshow: 67/70/85 CPU: 3% GPU: 0%
MPC-HC: 67/70/85 CPU: 3% GPU: 0%

Second clip:

DXVA1

FFDshow: 65/68/88 CPU: 5% GPU: 4% (Artifacts during normal playback)
MPC-HC: 65/68/88 CPU: 5% GPU: 4% (Artifacts during normal playback)


DXVA2

AMD MFT: 66/68/95 CPU: 4% GPU: 0% (crashes DXVAChecker after test)
ArcSoft: 59/68/95 CPU: 5% GPU: 0%
FFDshow: 57/68/95 CPU: 3% GPU: 1% (Artifacts during normal playback)
MPC-HC: 57/68/95 CPU: 3% GPU: 1% (Artifacts during normal playback)


H.264

DXVA2 only


First clip:

MPC-HC: 50/59/89 CPU: 3% GPU: 0%
ArcSoft: 50/59/89 CPU: 3% GPU: 0%
FFDshow: 50/59/87 CPU: 3% GPU: 0%
Cyberlink: 50/59/76 CPU: 3% GPU: 0%

Second clip:

MPC-HC: 45/50/75 CPU: 4% GPU: 0%
ArcSoft: Not working
FFDshow: Not working
Cyberlink: Not working

MPC-HC: 332/332/332 - CPU: 34% GPU: 0% - Enabled unstable experimental feature (driver bug?)


Third clip: None of the following decoders is capable of constant realtime 60fps decoding

MPC-HC: 52/56/81 CPU: 2% GPU: 0%
FFDshow: 52/56/80 CPU: 2% GPU: 0%
Cyberlink: 52/56/70 CPU: 2% GPU: 0%
ArcSoft: 48/56/70 CPU: 2% GPU: 0%


Fourth clip:

No working DXVA decoders


Win 7 x64

CPU usage disabled in Win 7 by DXVAChecker.

MPEG2


DXVA1

(MPEG2_C) ArcSoft 90/95/100 GPU: 0%
(MPEG2_A) Microsoft DS 83/85/85 GPU: 0%
(MPEG2_C) Cyberlink 77/85/94 GPU: 0%

DXVA2

(MPEG2_IDCT) ArcSoft 88/89/90 GPU: 0%
(MPEG2_IDCT) Cyberlink 77/85/93 GPU: 0%
(MPEG2_IDCT) Microsoft DS 82/82/83 GPU: 0%


WMV3

DXVA2 only


AMD MFT: 68/72/115 GPU: 0% (crashes DXVAChecker after test)
ArcSoft: 66/70/89 GPU: 0%


VC-1

DXVA2 only for Win 7


First clip:


AMD MFT: 68/72/96 GPU: 0% (crashes DXVAChecker after test)
ArcSoft: 68/72/92 GPU: 0%
FFDshow: 68/71/85 GPU: 0%
MPC-HC: 68/71/85 GPU: 0%

Second clip:


AMD MFT: 66/68/93 GPU: 0% (crashes DXVAChecker after test)
ArcSoft: 66/68/93 GPU: 0%
FFDshow: 65/68/87 GPU: 0% (Artifacts during normal playback)
MPC-HC: 65/68/87 GPU: 0% (Artifacts during normal playback)


H.264

DXVA2 only


First clip:

Microsoft MFT: 52/72/107 GPU: 0%
Microsoft DS: 50/60/86 GPU: 0%
MPC-HC: 50/60/83 GPU: 0%
ArcSoft: 50/60/83 GPU: 0%
FFDshow: 50/60/83 GPU: 0%
Cyberlink: 50/60/76 GPU: 0%

Second clip:

MPC-HC: 45/51/88 GPU: 0%
Microsft DS: 34/51/92 GPU: 0%
Cyberlink: Not working
ArcSoft: Not working
FFDshow: Not working


MPC-HC: 391/391/391 GPU: 0% - Enabled unstable experimental feature (driver bug?)
Microsft DS: 210/240/270 GPU: 0% - Enabled unstable experimental feature (driver bug?)

Third clip: The DS decoders are broken. DXVAChecker v2.4 will probably fix this problem

Microsoft MFT: 54/63/106 GPU: 0%


Fourth clip:

No working DXVA decoders

Feel free to add comments and results

[renq]

It's a L5.1 - 1080p24fps with 16 ReF H.264 clip
ATI, Nvidia, Intel cards
Since this is a L5.1 clip, ATI HD2000 and HD3000 series cards are unable to play this using DXVA.

Just FYI.

Good going for 4500mhd

[NikosD]

MS DTV-DVD Video Decoder

Video Preview off
Video Preview on

Min/Avg/Max

Intel 4500MHD
60/70/108
55/68/100


9600M GT
32/42/62
0/42/62

For once, I feel proud of that Intel graphics card.

Yeah, I didn't see it coming.

What is the CPU usage during benchmark ?

[renq]

An idea, why not also test 4K/2160p/UHD?

Clips can be found HERE (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=155857&highlight=2160p) or HERE (http://xhmikosr.1f0.de/index.php?folder=c2FtcGxlcw==) or everywhere on the Interwebs

[NikosD]

Since this is a L5.1 clip, ATI HD2000 and HD3000 series cards are unable to play this using DXVA.

Just FYI.

Good going for 4500mhd

Sure, I know.
I did it on purpose to push things as far as it gets.
But because I want everyone to be happy, a new sample.

Actually it's a movie trailer and it's a L4.0 High profile H.264 -1080p24 fps ReF 3 clip

Get it from here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/417906037/Paranormal_Activity.mkv.html

My results (always preview off)

Min/Avg/Max

DivX DXVA
44/54/57

FFDshow DXVA
44/55/67

Microsoft DTV-DVD
48/55/59

It looks like some kind of driver limitation holds back the hardware.

This clip is a lot easier than the first one.

[NikosD]

An idea, why not also test 4K/2160p/UHD?

Clips can be found HERE (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=155857&highlight=2160p) or HERE (http://xhmikosr.1f0.de/index.php?folder=c2FtcGxlcw==) or everywhere on the Interwebs

Look my post here for the reply:
http://forum.doom9.org/showpost.php?p=1432028&postcount=30

[nevcairiel]

All with the MS DTV-DVD Decoder, on the initial 5.1 Sample
----------------------------------------
i7 860 with a NVIDIA GTX 260

min/avg/max

0/42/61

----------------------------------------
Phenom II x4 955 - NVIDIA GTX 460

min/avg/max

20/54/89

Turning Preview off fixes the really low minimal value, must be some bug somewhere, the other values don't change when turning it off.

[mariner]

Greetings NikosD and namaiki.

1. Can you also test the Media Foundation decoders as well? You may need to use a container like avi.
2. Testing the Panasonic TM700 1080@60p clips.

Many thanks and best regards.

[NikosD]

Did you have a look in wikipedia? It reports acceleration of AVC as 'Full,' but to be honest I have no idea if that is correct or not.

From Intel
Intel® G41 and G43 Express Chipsets provide partial H.264 decode hardware acceleration.
Intel® G41 and G43 Express Chipsets provide partial VC-1 decode hardware acceleration.

[namaiki]

From Intel
Intel® G41 and G43 Express Chipsets provide partial H.264 decode hardware acceleration.
Intel® G41 and G43 Express Chipsets provide partial VC-1 decode hardware acceleration.

My GPU is the 4500MHD, not the X4500.
4500MHD is on the GM45 chipset.

[NikosD]

Greetings NikosD and namaiki.

1. Can you also test the Media Foundation decoders as well? You may need to use a container like avi.
2. Testing the Panasonic TM700 1080@60p clips.

Many thanks and best regards.

WMP11 in Vista and WMP12 in Win 7, are the only players I know using MF decoders.

I have done some testing with H.264 in .mov container and found out that MF decoder is a little faster than DS decoder

[NikosD]

My GPU is the 4500MHD, not the X4500.
4500MHD is on the GM45 chipset.

Intel and Wikipedia say same things about X4500 and 4500MHD chipsets. X4500 partial, 4500MHD full.

Your tests with 4500MHD do not verify the above info.

Full acceleration with 45% CPU usage ? Funny definition of full.

[mariner]

WMP11 in Vista and WMP12 in Win 7, are the only players I know using MF decoders.

I have done some testing with H.264 in .mov container and found out that MF decoder is a little faster than DS decoder

I mean using DXVAChecker to benchmark/test the MF decoders.

Both AMD and Nvidia MF decoder are installed with the graphics drivers package.

[nevcairiel]

"ModeH264_VLD_NoFGT_ClearVideo" is just the name of the VLD profile on Intel cards. All their DXVA profiles have special GUIDs (and therefor names), and also require slightly different interaction with the decoders, which caused some trouble in ffdshow/mpc-hc dxva before (still does with some encodes).

14% CPU usage on a 2.4ghz isn't too bad. On my i7 860 i got about 2% usage, however on my Phenom II 955, i got like 10% as well. (Granted, Windows sees 8 cores on the i7 which could lower the average value)

Why the CPU usage is so significantly higher when using the Intel decoder instead of the NVIDIA decoder .. who knows. Might be something the decoder is doing, hard to say without any comparison.

[NikosD]

I mean using DXVAChecker to benchmark/test the MF decoders.

Both AMD and Nvidia MF decoder are installed with the graphics drivers package.


The .mov clip mentioned before is here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/416586142/1.Twinpeaks1080p30fpsRef2-27Mbps.mov.html

My results:

FFDShow DXVA: 47.17 fps
Microsoft DS: 47,75 fps
Microsoft MFT: 68,07 fps

DXVAChecker does not give Min/Avg/Max, has a problem with .mov container.
Just the final average number .

I haven't found any other sample.
If you have one, provide it.

[CKHSJ]

Clear Video is better, you can watch them in a good feeling, just enjoy your clear video.

[NikosD]

Is there anyone out there with an Atom processor (GMA 500/600) or Core iX with intergrated graphics (GMA HD) to give us his results ?

Or Nvidia VP3. That would be interesting, too

Thanks

[tetsuo55]

This thread started off great, lets keep it civilized.

I'm highly interested to see results from the mpc-hc standalone video decoder.

[NikosD]

This thread started off great, lets keep it civilized.

I'm highly interested to see results from the mpc-hc standalone video decoder.

MPC-HC Video Decoder v1.4.2499 x86 standalone filter

L5.1 clip results:

Min/Avg/Max
44/49/69

Exactly in the middle of DivX and Microsoft DTV-DVD decoders.

[tetsuo55]

Its very difficult to to compare these benchmarks, can be a bit more scientific about it?

-Always use the files and application version linked in the start post
-Run every benchmark with preview OFF
-Reboot before benchmarking
-Run 3 benchmarks, and present the average results
-Run a test on both the easy and the difficult sample
-Try ALL dxva decoders you can get your hands on, some examples: Ffdshow, mpc-hc-standalone, microsoft(both dshow and mediafoundation), cyberlink, divx, etc..
-Try all 3 codecs (h264, VC1, MPEG2)
-put all your results in one post, so its easy to compare results

:thanks:

Maybe this information will help us improve the open source decoders so they become pack leaders.

[NikosD]

Unfortunately not a lot more work is required by me.
Because:

1) MPEG2_VLD is not supported by ATI drivers or ATI hardware - who knows?.
That means that no DXVA MPEG2 appears when I run DXVAchecker.
Only partial acceleration by Microsoft DXVA1-VMR (ModelMPEG_A) and Microsoft DXVA2-EVR (ModelMPEG2_IDCT). That's all

2) VC1_VLD is supported by ATI.
But only FFDShow DXVA and MPC-Video decoder appear with exactly the same performance. Less than 1FPS diference. No Microsoft. At all

3) H.264
The results given, follow the rules you described.

There are no other DXVA H.264 decoders besides those given. Cyberlink PowerDVD 10 does not expose the DS decoder for public use.

I owe you to make a results table easily understood.

[mariush]

Well I'm not sure what I'm screwing up but on my Windows 2003 with Radeon 4850 I can't get it play with DXVA.
DXVA Checker reports: http://savedonthe.net/image/672/dxva.png

Tried with the posted l5.1 file and a 720x576 file that used to work perfectly when I encoded it a year or so ago. DXVA Checker only detects CoreAVC 2.0 and Divx H.264 Decoder and both say Unsupported. The ffdshow tryouts and mpc standalone filter don't appear (though I can't use either of them in MPC-HC either, maybe it's because I didn't restart the system...)

With the internal MPC-HC codec, the l5.1 file won't play in dxva and the 720x576 plays with artifacts (since a few driver versions it's screwed up)

[NikosD]

Catalyst version ?

[NikosD]

Unlike for my GeForce 9600M GT, GPU-z doesn't report GPU usage for the Intel GPU.

I meant GPU usage in DXVAChecker, it's the same as GPU load in GPU-z

[NikosD]

DXVA Checker doesn't report it for the Intel GPU.

Understood.
Could you report GPU load by GPU-z?

[NikosD]

As said before, GPU-z does not report GPU load for the Intel GPU. It only reports core and memory. Unless you meant something else.

My bad.
You mentioned Geforce and I thought you meant VPU usage at your first post, because we are talking about DXVA.
All clear now.
Intel has no metrics for GPU and VPU

[NikosD]

FYI, ATI UVD has no metric for Video Engine Load (VPU usage)
ATI card has only GPU load, reported by both DXVAChecker and GPU-z.

During H.264 and VC-1 DXVA benchmarking, GPU load is a dead 0%, as it should be.

[noee]

FYI, using the AMD GPU clock tool, shows UVD usage for my HD2600XT.

[NikosD]

FYI, using the AMD GPU clock tool, shows UVD usage for my HD2600XT.

Impossible is nothing for you.
Three simple questions:

1) How did you benchmark L5.1 H.264 clip in UVD ? You need UVD2.x

2) How did you manage to get numbers of GPU usage by AMD GPU Clock tool ? It only shows the status of UVD.

3) What are your numbers of GPU load ?

[noee]

I was only replying that the AMD GPU Clock tool would give usage for UVD and that perhaps it would work for the later-gen cards (I know my card will not do DXVA L5.1 h.264 with it's UVD rev.)?

[NikosD]

I have just updated my benchmarks at first post.

Feel free to add comments and your results.

[tetsuo55]

Thanks for testing
I think we can make something really good out of this.

We have 4 questions that we want to see answered.

1. For any given hardware decoder (uvd, vp, etc..) which codecs does it claim to support
2. For each codec, does the decoder support it up to its theoretical limits, and if not what is the cut-off point
3. For the cut-off point, what is the performance in FPS
4. Which driver version is required for each unique hardware decoder to get the best results

Maybe we can get all 4 points into 1 table and put that on wikipedia or something?
That should level the playing field considerably and would make it far easier to rewrite (and keep updated) the dxva detection code in mpc-hc and to recommend dxva hardware to others.

It will also be a push for hardware developers to improve their drivers and hardware, so as to score higher on the tests.

Targets would be:
Support ALL features of ALL codecs @ 60fps for the highest possible resolution.

There are more VLD codecs than have been tested here, namely mpeg1, and mpeg4-asp(divx) and RMVB(but i dont know if any pc hardware has this yet), there might be even more, microsoft's list is long but not fully clear about vld vs assisted.

[NikosD]

Excellent point.

I've done my homework and updated the first post for UVD 2.2. Added WMV and other info.
BTW, why MPC-HC doesnt' support WMV for UVD2.x ?

I think DXVA 2.0 only accepts MPEG2, VC-1, H.264, WMV codecs as DXVA valid.

UVD 2.2 does not support MPEG4 ASP (only VP4 does).
MPEG1 is too old.
I didn't know RMVB can be accelerated.

I'm almost ready to sue ATI about false advertising of MPEG2 bitstream support (does not exist) and H.264 L5.1 up to 4K x 2K support (does not exist)

Given the fact that UVD2.x was introduced in 2008, I think 2 years are more than enough to wait for ATI to fix MPEG2_VLD.

BTW, see my updated results for H.264 L5.1 1080p ReF 16.

With a driver tweak I got 6x performance!

There is so much "hidden" potential of UVD2 hardware that I really don't know what ATI is doing.

[renq]

What tweaks did You perform?

[tetsuo55]

There is a registry hack for mpeg2 dxva on ATI

[Underground78]

There is a registry hack for mpeg2 dxva on ATI

All ATI cards ?

[tetsuo55]

All ATI cards ?Probably only 4xx0 and newer

[mariner]

The .mov clip mentioned before is here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/416586142/1.Twinpeaks1080p30fpsRef2-27Mbps.mov.html

My results:

FFDShow DXVA: 47.17 fps
Microsoft DS: 47,75 fps
Microsoft MFT: 68,07 fps

DXVAChecker does not give Min/Avg/Max, has a problem with .mov container.
Just the final average number .

I haven't found any other sample.
If you have one, provide it.

This is a 60p VC1 WMV (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2KAAU7RR) clip.

For testing MF decoders with 60p H264, you'll need to convert the panasonic clip into avi/mov/wmv.

[NikosD]

Probably only 4xx0 and newer

It's just a registry hack. It doesn't work.
I have already tried that.

[tetsuo55]

Ok, maybe they changed it with newer drivers? it worked for my hd4770

[NikosD]

It does show up in DXVA checker as ModelMPEG2_VLD but when you try to use it in a video player,it doesn't work.

@tetsuo

EDIT: As a good guy, I did my homework again. I enabled modelMPEG2_VLD and did the DXVA benchmarking.

It uses 40% of CPU and 98% !!! of GPU (GPU load).
This is not full bitstream support for MPEG2 my friend.
This is the definition of hardware assisted DXVA

[NikosD]

This is a 60p VC1 WMV (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2KAAU7RR) clip.

For testing MF decoders with 60p H264, you'll need to convert the panasonic clip into avi/mov/wmv.

Very very interesting clip, althouth it took me 2 hours to download it.

If you find me another one with 1920x1080p60fps I will put in the first benchmark post.

This one is 1440x1088@60fps 40Mbps VC-1.Tough

No 60fps playback for my system with CPU only:

PotPlayer (40 fps to 60fps)
WMP12 (45 fps to 60 fps)
Splash Pro v1.2 (60fps but with sound glitches)

DXVA Artifacts with:

FFDShow
MPC-HC (Internal and standalone filters)
PotPlayer
VLC

Full 60fps playback without any artifacts and without any sound glitches only with DXVA by the following decoders:

ArcSoft codec
PowerDVD 10
Splash Pro v1.2

CPU usage ~8%
GPU usage ~0% with the above players

Benchmarks:

AMD MFT: 85/88/91
ArcSoft: 84/88/91
MPC-HC 84/87/91
FFDshow: 80/87/93

This is the first clip that can not be played by CPU and can be played by GPU for my system in a perfect way (60fps no sound glitches)

[tetsuo55]

I think "min" is the most interesting value, you dont want to drop any frames during video playback, its not like a game after all.

Also i think we should start adding cpu usage and gpu usage to each benchmark, so its clear when the cpu is being used

[mariush]

With Cyberlink 8 codecs in MPC-HC it says it plays MPEG 2 videos using DXVA, here's what DXVA Checker show:

http://savedonthe.net/image/673/mpeg2.png

The Leadtek one below though doesn't use DXVA (the option to enable is grayed out)

With the others, when videos play it shows about 6% gpu usage and about 5% cpu... but I think that 5% gpu usage is just resizing or something to do with the tv tuner running on the second display.

[NikosD]

I think "min" is the most interesting value, you dont want to drop any frames during video playback, its not like a game after all.

Well, I think in the way I chose to do benchmarking - because it unleashes the full potential of driver/hardware - we see speeds over the real (x1) playback, even if it's 60fps.
So in most cases min value of all codecs/decoders is well ahead of the valid framerate. (x1)

We really don't care if we have a difference in min values of 57 or 67 fps when the valid framerate is 24fps or 30fps.
There are no dropped frames. At all.

With one exception of course, H.264 1080p60Fps.
In that case none of the decoders is capable of min and avg values over valid framerate of 60fps. They are all below.


Also i think we should start adding cpu usage and gpu usage to each benchmark, so its clear when the cpu is being used

I have already done that in some of my posts, but only to show what the really good DXVA decoding is capable of.
When I say really good DXVA decoding I mean full bitstream decoding. And the really good or exceptionally good bitstream decoding is one with ~0% GPU usage and very low CPU usage < 10% for a typical Core2Duo.
Everything else is not a really good DXVA decoding (see Intel 4500MHD)
In all of my tests average GPU usage is ~0% (with spikes up to 7%) and CPU usage is ~7% (with spikes up to 13%)

[NikosD]

With Cyberlink 8 codecs in MPC-HC it says it plays MPEG 2 videos using DXVA, here's what DXVA Checker show:

The Leadtek one below though doesn't use DXVA (the option to enable is grayed out)

With the others, when videos play it shows about 6% gpu usage and about 5% cpu... but I think that 5% gpu usage is just resizing or something to do with the tv tuner running on the second display.

You seem to confuse DXVA versions (DXVA1, DXVA2) with DXVA implementations (assisted, full bitstream).
All the above implementations of MPEG2 DXVA, are assisted.

[NikosD]

@Tetsuo

How difficult/ possible is it for you to use AMD Fast (DnD) decoder for DXVA ?
It is the recommended decoder by ATI for all DXVA video formats (MPEG2,WMV,H.264,VC-1)
And the fastest one according to them and the benchmarks.

[NikosD]

@ namaiki

It seems that Intel H.264 DXVA decoding, misses one of the initial steps of the H.264 pipeline - a part of the frontend.
This part still uses CPU host.
To make it easier to understand, the situation is similar with VP2 and VC-1 DXVA. It is not completely accelerated by GPU.
So, I was completely right from the beginning, that something wasn't right about the definition of full support even though I have never used Intel IGP.
Wikipedia and Intel are lying about FULL bitstream DXVA H.264 support.
It is almost full. And almost full, is not full.

[Underground78]

What tweaks did You perform?

(filler)

[namaiki]

@ NikosD

It seems that Intel H.264 DXVA decoding, misses one of the initial steps of the H.264 pipeline - a part of the frontend.

Could you please link where you have read this? It might assist with this bug: https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/mpc-hc/ticket/168

With a driver tweak I got 6x performance!
What driver tweak did you do? There are other users' posts that you have not responded to.