H264 decoder

[Floatingshed]

I know we don't ask what is best here, but please help me discover what is best for my setup.

I want to play my own H264/mp4 encodes on an itx pc, although it has a 2Ghz processer it is not a very fast machine at all, it is a Via Esther cpu.

If I use ffdshow to decode the cpu runs at 100% and video can be choppy, plus I get sync errors. CoreAVC is considerably better with cpu usage at around 80-90% and only occasional errors. Is there a 264 decoder that is even less resource hungry than CoreAVC?

Thanks.

[Blue_MiSfit]

You can try Divx H.264 or DiAVC. The latter is payware.

Your VIA Esther is probably just not fast enough. I'd strongly suggest you look into adding a video card with DXVA for full hardware decode.

Derek

[Floatingshed]

Hmm, that was what I was expecting to hear but hoping not to!

[jmartinr]

Try VLC Media Player. It has very low CPU usage.

[Mangix]

do you have a video card with dxva support?

[Floatingshed]

To be honest I don't know. It is all on-board so I can't imagie that it is anything fancy. I'll check the specs.

[roozhou]

Try overclocking your CPU.

[pandy]

Buy cheap H.264 hardware player - it consume less energy than any PC can do.

[Ghitulescu]

I think there are HW decoders, like the old Hollywood card for MPEG-2, they might take away the load from your CPU.
I also agree with pandy's idea, get yourself a standalone.

[yetanotherid]

I wouldn't bother with a hardware decoder if you already have, or can add, a GPU with DXVA support.

Sometimes sync errors can be caused by other codecs and splitters etc on the system. For a while I'd been having sync issues with some MP4s (I use Media Player Classic Home Cinema) and found the only way to fix them was to remux the MP4 into a new MP4 or MKV file. As this fixed the problem, I assumed the issue was with the files themselves.

Recently I installed the latest version of the Combined Community Codec pack. When it installs it asks if it can disable any splitters or codecs etc it finds which it doesn't like. Previously I've told it not to, but this time I let it. All my sync issues then disappeared. (I tried the previous version of CCCP again on a second PC to make sure it wasn't just the newer version of CCCP fixing the sync issue. It wasn't)

The latest version includes DXVA support, either via MPC-HC or ffdshow. If you install CCCP select the DXVA option at the settings screen. If your GPU supports DXVA it'll work, if not run the CCCP setup wizard again and disable it. Even so, you might find a nice fresh install of CCCP will play the video smoothly.

Every so often my old AMD3200 PC would start stuttering on HD video. I'd run the CCCP setup wizard and reset everything and it'd settle down again. I don't know why.

Do you have the EQ in ffdshow's audio decoder enabled? For some reason enabling it causes stuttering problems for me when playing some HD video containing AAC audio. Not all, only some. I'm still yet to work out why and it happens even when using the GPU to decode the video. All other audio formats are fine. Watching CPU usage the video begins to stutter before CPU usage gets very high, although it eventually pushes one of the CPU cores to 100%. As soon as I disable the EQ, the stuttering stops and the CPU usage drops back to virtually nothing.

[azmoth]

Yetanothrid writes
Recently I installed the latest version of the Combined Community Codec pack. When it installs it asks if it can disable any splitters or codecs etc it finds which it doesn't like. Previously I've told it not to, but this time I let it. All my sync issues then disappeared. (I tried the previous version of CCCP again on a second PC to make sure it wasn't just the newer version of CCCP fixing the sync issue. It wasn't)

So you talk with your software do you as well?

[Ghitulescu]

To be honest I don't know. It is all on-board so I can't imagie that it is anything fancy. I'll check the specs.

I think there are HW decoders, like the old Hollywood card for MPEG-2, they might take away the load from your CPU.

I wouldn't bother with a hardware decoder if you already have, or can add, a GPU with DXVA support.

Via Esther is usually sold as a kit with the mainboard as well, probably in ITX or smaller format. They are designed to be part of multimedia players. The laptops, notebooks, netbooks and so on are also targeted. People also use them for small projects, like intelligent routers, NASes, video surveillance and many more.

The SD (the makers of hollywood card) x.card is fully "TV-compatible" because it's designed to be interfaced with such a unit, unlike PC graphic cards with TV-out.

Should the OP watch the media files on a TV, the x.card is better (low consumption, no fans, smaller footprint) than any nvidia. Will he watch on a PC monitor, he should better take the nvidia.

[nm]

The SD (the makers of hollywood card) x.card is fully "TV-compatible" because it's designed to be interfaced with such a unit, unlike PC graphic cards with TV-out.

Sigma Designs XCard doesn't support H.264 decoding, only MPEG-4 ASP.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Ghitulescu:

You've been talking an awful lot about "designed for" recently without providing any real evidence for what this actually means and what real world application it implies..

I can see how possibly a card "designed for" decoding MPEG-4 ASP and creating an analog NTSC or PAL signal for delivery over composite / S-Video could be much better than a cheap TV-Out on a video card.

However, the OP is talking about HD H.264, which implies several things:
1) H.264 decoding, which said card cannot do
2) HD resolutions, which said card cannot do
3) (probably) a digital interface like HDMI, which renders any argument about "designed for" utterly null and void.

Please refrain from posting unrelated FUD. You could seriously confuse new users. Consider this a courteous warning.

The OP can do one of the following:
1) Get a GPU with DXVA - may not be possible due to this highly integrated form factor
2) Get a hardware decoder card like a Broadcom Crystal HD - again this may not be possible due to the form factor, or may force the OP to give up a mini PCIe slot that's currently used for WiFi etc...
3) Start using H.264 with the heavyweight decode options like CABAC and Deblocking disabled, ideally at a lower resolution
4) Give up / get a faster computer

Those are the only options that I can see.

[Ghitulescu]

Which parts of these messages are misleading, apart from suggesting the x.card (I've read only the ads so I got lied too):
I think there are HW decoders, like the old Hollywood card for MPEG-2, they might take away the load from your CPU.

Via Esther is usually sold as a kit with the mainboard as well, probably in ITX or smaller format. They are designed to be part of multimedia players. The laptops, notebooks, netbooks and so on are also targeted. People also use them for small projects, like intelligent routers, NASes, video surveillance and many more.

The SD (the makers of hollywood card) x.card is fully "TV-compatible" because it's designed to be interfaced with such a unit, unlike PC graphic cards with TV-out.

Should the OP watch the media files on a TV, the x.card is better (low consumption, no fans, smaller footprint) than any nvidia. Will he watch on a PC monitor, he should better take the nvidia.

I suggested the HW solution because, at least in DE, there are lots of projects that use Via Cx CPUs in linux, because their processing power is not enough to fluently assure multimedia on Windows. DXVA is AFAIK a windows-only solution.

You did yourself suggest a HW solution, see below:

Ghitulescu:

You've been talking an awful lot about "designed for" recently without providing any real evidence for what this actually means and what real world application it implies..

I can see how possibly a card "designed for" decoding MPEG-4 ASP and creating an analog NTSC or PAL signal for delivery over composite / S-Video could be much better than a cheap TV-Out on a video card.

However, the OP is talking about HD H.264, which implies several things:
1) H.264 decoding, which said card cannot do
2) HD resolutions, which said card cannot do
3) (probably) a digital interface like HDMI, which renders any argument about "designed for" utterly null and void.

Please refrain from posting unrelated FUD. You could seriously confuse new users. Consider this a courteous warning.

The OP can do one of the following:
1) Get a GPU with DXVA - may not be possible due to this highly integrated form factor
2) Get a hardware decoder card like a Broadcom Crystal HD - again this may not be possible due to the form factor, or may force the OP to give up a mini PCIe slot that's currently used for WiFi etc...
3) Start using H.264 with the heavyweight decode options like CABAC and Deblocking disabled, ideally at a lower resolution
4) Give up / get a faster computer

Those are the only options that I can see.

[yetanotherid]

Yetanothrid writes
Recently I installed the latest version of the Combined Community Codec pack. When it installs it asks if it can disable any splitters or codecs etc it finds which it doesn't like. Previously I've told it not to, but this time I let it. All my sync issues then disappeared. (I tried the previous version of CCCP again on a second PC to make sure it wasn't just the newer version of CCCP fixing the sync issue. It wasn't)

So you talk with your software do you as well?

LOL! Do you know how foolish you sound?
Here's something for you to "think" about. It wasn't a verbal instruction.

PS I've had enough of your nonsense. You're now on my blocked list so if you imagine your childishness has a purpose relating to me, and it isn't just immaturity, hopefully you're at least adult enough to understand there's now no longer any point to it. Unless of course you just enjoy looking childish.

[Wilbert]

@azmoth, yetanotherid. I'm getting tired of you both. Stop spamming our forum with off topic remarks and insults and take your fights elsewhere if needed.