MPC-HC / Radeon 3850 / DXVA / CoreAVC Setup Questions

[Lebowsky]

Hi there,

if this message is in the wrong forum I apologize in advance, but it seemed to be the best fot fpr my problem.

I'm running a Windows XP SP3 Machine with an ATI Radeon HD 3850. CPU is a Pç 2.53GHz. Old but still running everything smoothly. For video playback, I have MPC-HC (last version), and CoreAVC, which is currently disabled. I have issues taking the best advantage of DXVA. Here are my problems:

Using VMR9 (Renderless), DXVA from MPC-HC:
- gpu decodable videos play fine, with the [DXVA] logo in MPC-HC
- non gpu-decodable videos (e.g. MPEG-4 1080p not encoded with h264), playback is awful. no [DXVA] logo

Using Overlay Mixer:
- both type of videos play more or less fine, but MPC-HC doesn't seem to enable DXVA, at least there is no [DXVA] logo


When enabling CoreAVC as external filter and disabling the MPC-HC h264 internal filter:

- When disabling DXVA, playback is catastrophic with VMR9 (as expected), and the same as MPC-HC with the Overlay Mixer
- When enabling DXVA in CoreAVC, the tray icon turns red but there is no image, the video is black with a with line a few pixels from the top, and sometimes if flashes black/white/grey.


Questions:
- Is DXVA only possible with VMR and not the Overlay Mixer? In the Output Configuration tab of MPC-HC, it seems to say the Overlay Mixer supports DXVA...
- Is it possible to choose to always user VMR9 + DXVA and to fallback to an other renderer, when DXVA in VMR is not possible?
- What's the matter with DXVA in CoreAVC? Compatibility issue with the Radeon 3850?

The videos that cannot be decoded using DXVA in MPC-HC are of the following type:

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Simple@L1
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Codec ID : 20

Also, when CoreAVC is chosen as external filter, MPC-HC doesn't choose to use it to play those type of videos. Why? Am I missing a media type in the External Filter configuration?

Thanks in advance!

[wanezhiling]

DXVA is compatible with Overlay Mixer on XP, check Play->Filters->MPC Video Decoder.

CoreAVC need a legal key.

That file is MPEG4 part2, not MPEG4 part10(H.264 A.K.A)

[Lebowsky]

Ok, if I look at the Play->Filters->MPC Video Decoder, then it says DXVA is enabled. So I guess it's a bug in MPC-HC that doesn't show [DXVA] in the status bar?

So these MPEG-4 part 2 files cannot be hardware decoded at all? Or do they need a specific codec to be optimally played?

I have a CoreAVC key, and it works fine for everything except DXVA decoding. But it seems MPC-HC is better anyway.

[mindbomb]

Originally Posted by Lebowsky

So these MPEG-4 part 2 files cannot be hardware decoded at all? Or do they need a specific codec to be optimally played?

They can, but not with a 3850.

[wanezhiling]

I dont know, no xp myself.

Nvidia VP4/5 and AMD UVD3.0 cards can decode those files. MPEG-4 part2 is so easy to handle, your cpu is too too slow.

[Lebowsky]

Using the Overlay Mixer, those files are decoded ok, only not with VMR9. I guess I'll stick to the OVerlay Mixer then. Thanks!