HD video running choppy

[T9D]

I need some help getting my HD-DVD video running smoother. I would think my CPU should at least just be able to run it at least. But maybe it's just not quite good enough?

It's actually always done this even with my one windows HD media I bought a while back. And now with HD-DVD. It's just not quite enough processing power I guess. Maybe someone can help me tweak something or do something that will help? I dont think I can be all that far from being able to run it smooth. But how it is now I can't really watch it like this at all and enjoy it.

I have 3.4 Prescott
2 gigs ram
Geforce 6800 GT

My processor is running at 94 - 97%. Shouldn't it be smooth is it's not 100%? Is it maybe my video card? Should I try to overclock my card maybe?

Edit: And hyperthreading is on if that matters

Edit 2: got it figured out. My Prescott was just on the edge of handling HD but was getting to hot when it played so it would downclock a tad and then not be able to run smooth. I crancked the fans up. It's loud but oh well it works. Darn Precotts for being so hot

Thanks for all the help everyone

 

[krotchy]

Depending on the codec, some HD video can require a dual core CPU to decode.

 

[Aeros]

It really does depend on the codec.
I use FFdshow codec and hit 50% cpu usage on a P4EE Northwood playing 1080p rez video.
I do get stutter and dropped frames on some scenes. But FFdshow lets you tweak settings to get the best playback and dropped frames and stutter have improved though still there.

Mayby somone can recommend a better codec?

 

[tuteja1986]

option 1 : Get a Dual core/Quad core CPU
option 2 : get a 8600 series GPU... They aren't that great for price vs performance but they are the best GPU for HD content Decoding.
option 3 : ATI HD 2400, 2600 , 2900 all should have the same type of decoding performances.
option 4 : wait for Nvidia driver update and hope it improves decoding performance of 8800 series.

 

[T9D]

How do I get powerDVD to use a different codec? That's the only player I can find that plays HD-DVD's. I cant seem to find any options for codecs in the settings.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Originally posted by: tk109
How do I get powerDVD to use a different codec? That's the only player I can find that plays HD-DVD's. I cant seem to find any options for codecs in the settings.

You can't.

 

[krotchy]

Originally posted by: tk109
How do I get powerDVD to use a different codec? That's the only player I can find that plays HD-DVD's. I cant seem to find any options for codecs in the settings.

The codec can really only be chosen during the recording stage. Once its recorded with a codec at a certain bittrate, thats how it has to be decoded

 

[ViRGE]

Presumably you're using a PCI-E and not a AGP card(since the AGP 6800's have a dysfunctional video unit), so there's not much you can do here. Since it needs to be a DRM-compliant decoder to play HD-DVDs, you get the choice of PowerDVD or WinDVD and you're already using the faster of the two. In practice you need at least a dual core CPU(and realistically a medium-grade or higher one) to play back 1080i/p content unless you have complete offload acceleration.

 

[Megatomic]

Nvidia's released the PurevideoHD codec, so now there a third option for HD video playback. I'm considering buying it (I have the standard Purevideo) once I verify I can use it with my Geforce Go 7400 chipset.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Nvidia's released the PurevideoHD codec, so now there a third option for HD video playback. I'm considering buying it (I have the standard Purevideo) once I verify I can use it with my Geforce Go 7400 chipset.

Do you have a link to back this up? The last time I checked Nvidia was not going to release a separate H.264/MPEG4 codec.

 

[evolucion8]

That happened to me also with my good old X800XT PE, once I upgraded to the X1950XT, that choppiness dissapeared. Try to do a driver update, I use WinDVD, though is a bit slower than PowerDVD, but I like it hehe. Also when I install K-Lite Mega Codec, sometimes when I play different formats of movies, K-Lite overrides the codec usage of WinDVD and make WinDVD to use the other codecs installed by K-Lite, that also happens with WMP.

 

[superunknown98]

This maybe obivious, but have you enabled hardware acceleration/ decode in powerdvd? It's in the options somewhere.

And if you haven't, read the artice on the Geforce 8600 video decoding on the mainpage. it will help you understand the topic a bit more.

 

[T9D]

I'm still on AGP. And I got kind of gipped from nvidia with the 6800 series and video decoding. I bought it when it first came out and they were saying purevideo was going to be on it or added later. Then turned out it never was.

I guess I'll have to buy an X1950XT AGP or something in a month or two. I want to hold out on this system before doing a full rebuild maybe next year.

I can handle 720p fine. I dont think I'm that far from being able to play 1080p. In fact I can play the HD-DVD for about 30 seconds before it starts getting choppy. And WMV-HD for about 20 minutes before it gets choppy. Not sure whats going on. It's wierd. I wonder if my processor is getting to hot and kicking in it's downclocking.

 

[zephyrprime]

It's normal for that level of cpu usage to occur with HD video using an mpeg4 derivative (which hddvd uses) on a cpu of that speed. The only things you can do to address your problem are to get a faster cpu or a new video card that supports h.264 acceleration. Nvidia cards need purevideo to support that which nvidia charges extra for.

 

[T9D]

I cranked up my fans in my case. It's loud but it's working great now. Stupid prescotts for being so hot. Oh well I'll just buy an external fan adjuster and turn it up when I watch HD movies I guess.

It was probably getting just hot enough and downclocking just enough to not be able to handle it. At 97% I think I'm just sqeaking by in handling HD content all on CPU. Would have still been nice if it had purevideo though.

Well I'm glad I didn't have to blow a bunch more money at least. And I got HD-DVD for pretty dang cheap (got the x-box HD-DVD player for $100 from my brother).

Thanks for all the help everyone.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: Megatomic
Nvidia's released the PurevideoHD codec, so now there a third option for HD video playback. I'm considering buying it (I have the standard Purevideo) once I verify I can use it with my Geforce Go 7400 chipset.

Do you have a link to back this up? The last time I checked Nvidia was not going to release a separate H.264/MPEG4 codec.

Linkage That's where I got my info from.

 

[Auric]

PV HD is just branding for the hardware capabilities of the 8000 series just as PV was previous. So it is totally unrelated to ye olde PV DVD software. DxVA decoders such as from CyberLink are still required to make use of the hardware for HD content -particularly for AVC and VC-1 whereas the undesirable MPEG-2 variety could be managed by software-only on the CPU but is included for DVD and transitional HD discs anyway.

tk109, chances are the 6800GT you have is indeed defective. Which is a pity because the combo of PV and a 3.4 Prescott sporting SSE3 is sufficient for high-bitrate AVC. Replace it with a 7300GT or better and yer laughin. On the ATI side, X1650XT is close but really an X1950 is needed to be equivalent for AVC. However, Avivo does nothing for VC-1 while the the assist from PV is much less significant than for AVC. The plan seems to be leaving the less decode intensive VC-1 to the CPU which doesn't help those on the borderline especially while it remains quite common for HD-DVD.

So, even if planning on waiting a few months and even if 8000 and X2000 series AGP models materilized they wouldn't necessarily be a panacea.


See this thread too.

 

[Megatomic]

I'm far from an expert, but I only have PureVideo installed and I play back DVD video on my computer without PowerDVD or WinDVD being installed. I use WMP along with PV decoder. What am I missing here?

 

[Auric]

You're missing the ability to play back HD content and the fact that Nvidia does not offer the required software.

Contrary to what I thunk, a quick perusal of Nvidia's marketing giberish reveals that the PV HD moniker is not exclusive to the 8000 series but rather denotes the combo of even previous hardware capabilities (but including HDCP) and the third-party software.

 

[Megatomic]

But I can play back HD content. I've downloaded HD clips and trailers and played them in WMP. I can't playback HD DVDs as I don't have an HD DVD player.

What else can I not do without PowerDVD or WinDVD?

 

[Auric]

Beyond commercial discs (and direct backups), VC-1 is rare however AVC is also the standard used for broadcast in much of the world so there is muy content available. It is decode intensive so where the CPU alone is not up to the task (which includes at least some in the ranks of the almighty C2D), a DxVA decoder and hardware are desirable. Even when the CPU is adequate, utilization is reduced significantly so as to better allow multi-tasking.

Generally, trailers are atypical of such content and simple to decode even in software. Of course, if you don't have the content then you aren't missing be able to play it or with 'nuff resources left over to do other schtuff simultaneously -particularly when output to a secondary display. If curious though, try at least a 20 Mbps 1080 AVC clip.

 

[Megatomic]

Auric, can you link me to something I shouldn't be able to play without PowerDVD or WinDVD when just using PureVideo and WMP? I'd love to do an experiment and I can take screenshots of Task Manager. My CPU is a C2D T7200 and I have 2GB of PC5300. Video card is Geforce Go 7400.

 

[Auric]

Try these:

BBC HD Tests (449MB, 21Mbps)

Footagehouse HD Demo (109MB, 60Mbps)

 

[Megatomic]

WMP Playback - for some reason it's in black and white, but it did play with no dropped frames.

Quicktime Playback - even smoother than with WMP.

The other file is still downloading, it's going slowly on my normally speedy cable connection. Not many seeds for this torrent appartently.

 

[Auric]

The BBC test shouldn't be a problem since it is significantly less demanding... but a lot more pleasing to watch

I wonder why the frame-rate achieved with the Footagehouse demo is only 25.9 with WMP though and if it is full rate with QTP? The CPU useage is lower but then it wasn't maxed out with WMP either. I don't recall a way to monitor frame-rate with QTP but it has been a long time since using it.

I suppose the other question for laptop useage (besides ability and multi-tasking) is efficiency. It's possible that utilizing the dedicated capabilities of the GPU could demand less power than the software-only approach via brute-force of the CPU and thus prolong battery life.