A quick question regarding DGDecNV

[pwnsweet]

I don't know what it is, why it's good, or whether I need it. From what I've been able to gather so far, apparently it's a decoder for AVC/MPEG2/VC-1? Does this mean it replaces ffmpeg mt/wmv9? Is it better than ffmpeg mt/wmv9? (and why is it better?) I need more information. Would using DGDenNV make any difference to my problem outlined here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=161208) regarding low CPU usage during the 1st pass of a 2 pass encode or am I completely off the mark?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

I don't know what it is, why it's good, or whether I need it. From what I've been able to gather so far, apparently it's a decoder for AVC/MPEG2/VC-1?

Yes, it's a decoder for these video formats. And it's implemented as an Avisynth source filter. It is payware and it needs an NVidia GPU.

Does this mean it replaces ffmpeg mt/wmv9? Is it better than ffmpeg mt/wmv9? (and why is it better?)

Because DGDecNV is an Avisynth plug-in, it can replace Avisynth source filters, such as FFmpegSource2() or DirectShowSource() or MPEG2Source() or AVCSource().

It can not (easily) replace FFmpeg-based DirectShow decoders, such as ffdshow-tryouts, in your favorite media player!

Advantages of DGDecNV are that it provides frame-accurate access to H.264 streams and that it can deal properly with "raw" steams as well as with TS/M2TS containers.

Transport streams (TS/M2TS) are still "problematic" with FFmpegSource2() and also with DirectShowSource()+HaaliMediaSplitter, in my experience.

Also DGDecNV uses the hardware decoder of your NVidia(!) graphics card, which isn't necessarily faster than CPU decoders, but leaves the CPU free for other work.

Especially if used as the decoder in an encoding chain, DGDecNV may speed-up the overall process...

I need more information.

http://neuron2.net/dgdecnv/dgdecnv.html

Would using DGDenNV make any difference to my problem outlined here regarding low CPU usage during the 1st pass of a 2 pass encode

Yes, it probably would make a difference:

In situations where the CPU load already is far below 100%, offloading work from the CPU to the GPU will most likely result in even lower CPU usage ;)

[pwnsweet]

Thank you so much for your explanation LM. I had already been to neuron2's page but was unable to get very much information other than the fact that it was a AVC/MPEG2/VC-1 decoder. Your explanation of what DGDenNV is and what it does is basically the best explanation available anywhere.

Unfortunately I didn't understand it 100% because it seems that I'm missing some background knowledge. The video editing/encoding world is still new to me, and whilst I have a fairly good grasp on how to use MeGUI and the common x264's parameters, my knowledge of Avisynth , 'filters', 'frameservers' and decoders is below what it should be. As such, I have trouble understanding some of what you've said. Seeing as this is a different topic, I will create a new thread to seek help regarding these issues.