MPC-HC for HD Video Playback Guide

[solarnoise]

I think I'll just use MPC for everything... I never realized how many internal filters it came with!

[timmeah2001]

Don't use CoreAVC, it cannot play files with 16 reference frames. Stick with the more reliable MPC-HC DXVA decoder that can play files with 16 reference frames. Also don't use Haali Splitter, it's extremely buggy and crashes 1,500 times a day according to Microsoft.

Fair enough, ive been using the codec for about 6 months. havnt had a single crash on my desktop or my netbook so far. So please sort your own setup before flaming. and dont base assumptions on Microsoft statistics, those stats could have come solely from Intel GMA graphics setup systems which wouldnt surprise me if it crashes 1,000,000 times. But yeh, each to their own. And the reference frame quote - thats a load of BS. im running a 15GB 1080p rip with 24 reference frames/sec.

[NvIon]

Clearly you don't even understand what is reference frames in H.264 encoding, so I'm not gonna bother with you.

Reference frames != frames per second

My setup is just fine and stable, I don't use crappy things like CoreAVC that can't even play 16 reference frames files. I wouldn't buy or even bother to pirate CoreAVC when I can get DXVA decoding for free and with far better support for 16 reference frames files.

[wardenN]

If I follow the things you wrote in your first post and then try to watch a 720p file i get this weird "cutting" line in the upper third of the screen. It's hard to describe but there is a line where it looks like the on top if it there is still an old frame, when there is a head moving for example it is cut with this line cause on top there is an old frame and beneath the line there is already the new one, dunno what to do :/

[NvIon]

What OS are you using? Remember, use only VMR9 Renderless on XP and EVR Custom Pres on Win7.

[runawayprisoner]

Fair enough, ive been using the codec for about 6 months. havnt had a single crash on my desktop or my netbook so far. So please sort your own setup before flaming. and dont base assumptions on Microsoft statistics, those stats could have come solely from Intel GMA graphics setup systems which wouldnt surprise me if it crashes 1,000,000 times. But yeh, each to their own. And the reference frame quote - thats a load of BS. im running a 15GB 1080p rip with 24 reference frames/sec.

It seems you are misunderstanding something so I have to jump in.

Reference frames are the number of frames that the encoder would use to define future frames. Then when it's decoded, the decoder would compare all of those frames together and pick out the best one to use for the frame being constructed, which means that the higher the reference frame count, the more work it is for the decoder. 1 extra reference frame in 1080P would mean another entire frame to compare. That's like playing back the same movie at almost 20 times its speed (frames per second)... essentially.

The highest reference frame count that H.264 uses is 16, but this is rarely used due to the impact it has on encoding speed, as well as playback performance. It's only useful for when you are encoding/decoding very high quality animated source (anime or cartoon) as they contain some very large number of static frames in-between their transitions. Higher reference frame count usually means you can compress an animated movie much more than usual, and the quality would be as high as it possibly can be. Though it is theoretically possible that 16 reference frame count would improve playback performance with animated source, since the decoder has to compare all 16 frames at any time, the performance gain is almost negated.

Also most live-action movies or 3D-animated movies would use far less reference frames (as low as 4) because more is unnecessary since frames are always changing in those kinds of movies, and more reference frames would only mean that the decoder has more to handle, whereas quality and file size would stay relatively the same.

And last but not least DXVA 2.0 (only available on Windows Vista and 7 as this requires a WDDM driver) supports up to 16 reference frames, however, it would seem that only nVidia has been able to provide proper support thus far, followed by Intel (although you need to hack the registry to allow some contents that are classified as "out of specifications" to be played back), then ATi is last. CoreAVC has the limitation of not being able to play contents that have 16 reference frames... as stated, due to the insane memory requirement, or limitations of the CPU, or something else... but let's just say CoreAVC just doesn't support that. However, DXVA 1.0 (on Windows XP) is far inferior to CoreAVC and has far more limitations, so CoreAVC is the best choice on Windows XP still.

[wardenN]

using windows 7 and i set it to EVR Costum Pres and also i only have it in fullscreen cause the tearing is aprox. at the top inch of the screen

[NvIon]

What version of the Nvidia graphics driver are you using? Also did you install the DirectX End-User Runtimes as suggested in the first post? Nvidia does have newer Geforce 195.39 drivers, but those are beta. New WHQL drivers should be available soon.

[wardenN]

i installed the directx end-user runtimes. i am using the 187.66 modded drivers from runawayprisoner. i enabled the tearing test(ctrl+t) in mpc and the cuts in the line were really bad but as mentioned only in fullscreen (the lines are completely straight the whole time if not in fullscreen), so i changed output from autozoom to "change fullscreen resolution" this way the tearing testlines still had cuts but only small ones. the weird thing though is i changed it back to autozoom and now there is now difference between autozoom and the change fullscreen resolution, meaning i have small cut in the tearing lines now instead of really big ones, but they are still there :/

also when using the display stats option i noticed that i am running 720p at around 15-17 fps and 1080p at 10-13 dunno if that's normal for the mini 311 though, cause it should stay put at 24fps if it can fully handle the content

[wardenN]

feedback would be nice what other people's frames are :>

[PMS421]

i installed the directx end-user runtimes. i am using the 187.66 modded drivers from runawayprisoner. i enabled the tearing test(ctrl+t) in mpc and the cuts in the line were really bad but as mentioned only in fullscreen (the lines are completely straight the whole time if not in fullscreen), so i changed output from autozoom to "change fullscreen resolution" this way the tearing testlines still had cuts but only small ones. the weird thing though is i changed it back to autozoom and now there is now difference between autozoom and the change fullscreen resolution, meaning i have small cut in the tearing lines now instead of really big ones, but they are still there :/

also when using the display stats option i noticed that i am running 720p at around 15-17 fps and 1080p at 10-13 dunno if that's normal for the mini 311 though, cause it should stay put at 24fps if it can fully handle the content

I am experiencing the tearing in the top quarter of the screen in bot full & windowed mode. My setup is as per the first post and am running the 187.66 modded drivers.

I can't say that changing autozoom to fullscreen resolution did much.

Frame rates are 13-16fps on 720p

[runawayprisoner]

Hmm... try going back to Internal Filters, uncheck MKV and MP4/MOV, then go and download Haali Matroska Splitter and install that instead, then see if the problem doesn't go away.