[Rsaeire]

I'm wondering what people have found to be the best quality MPEG-2 codec? My main concern is DVD playback.

I'm currently using Windows Vista and MPC HC for DVD playback. So far I've tested the Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7), Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder, FFDShow Video Decoder and MPC HC's internal MPEG-2 Decoder.

I've found the Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7), which is part of PowerDVD v7.3, gives the best image quality, for one as it allows hardware deinterlacing, but I'm not sure whether I'd see any improvement if I upgraded to PowerDVD 8 or 9; which would give me access to the Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD8/9).

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[gamingdave]

I havent done to much experimentation yet myself, as I am still tweaking and testing out my frontend options.

Would be interested in peoples opinions of codecs for all types. It depends a lot on the hardware used. Some people will have to limit options on older hardware, and some have the latest and greatest cards to offload too.

For me, I am mainly after MPEG2 and H.264 playback, and dont care if its offloaded to the processor (i5 running at 4GHz) or the ATI 5850, which ever gives the best result.

[Rsaeire]

Originally Posted by gamingdave

I havent done to much experimentation yet myself, as I am still tweaking and testing out my frontend options.

Would be interested in peoples opinions of codecs for all types. It depends a lot on the hardware used. Some people will have to limit options on older hardware, and some have the latest and greatest cards to offload too.

For me, I am mainly after MPEG2 and H.264 playback, and dont care if its offloaded to the processor (i5 running at 4GHz) or the ATI 5850, which ever gives the best result.

One of my main concerns regarding MPEG-2 codecs, specifically with DVD playback, is that the codec allows for hardware deinterlacing. At the moment I'm using a Radeon HD 3650 which supports Vector Adaptive (VA) deinterlacing, the best currently available, so if an MPEG-2 codec doesn't allow for hardware deinterlacing, I'd be very reluctant to use it.

Given Intel's history of lacklustre GPU performance, I would say you're better off with a discrete graphics solution. I've read that Intel's latest GPU, the one on your i5, has issues with seamless 24p playback; it seems this is an old issue that Intel have yet to fix.

[jameson_uk]

Originally Posted by Rsaeire

One of my main concerns regarding MPEG-2 codecs, specifically with DVD playback, is that the codec allows for hardware deinterlacing.

Not all codec related. Reading some reviews of the new ATI 5450/5570 cards the drivers for both stop the hardware de-interlacing. This is even though the cards supposedly support it....

[Rsaeire]

Originally Posted by jameson_uk

Not all codec related. Reading some reviews of the new ATI 5450/5570 cards the drivers for both stop the hardware de-interlacing. This is even though the cards supposedly support it....

I've read reviews of both cards too, but I thought it was only when "Smooth Video Playback" was enabled that deinterlacing, i.e. VA, was unavailable?

[Stephen Neal]

Yes - I'd read that there were issues with Vector Adaptive being disabled and the drivers dropping down to Motion Adaptive when Smooth Video Playback was enabled with the 5450 - it appeared to be the most major, if not only, reason that it isn't a perfect choice for HTPC use.

What exactly does Smooth Video Playback do? Does it lock vsync to the video content frame refresh, or lock the video output pixel clock to the video content native frame rate?

[Biffa001]

What exactly does Smooth Video Playback do? Does it lock vsync to the video content frame refresh, or lock the video output pixel clock to the video content native frame rate?

It messes up your live tv and looks awful !!!

[jameson_uk]

Originally Posted by Rsaeire

I've read reviews of both cards too, but I thought it was only when "Smooth Video Playback" was enabled that deinterlacing, i.e. VA, was unavailable?

I did read somewhere that the drivers stuck the 5450 on Smooth Video Playback whether you wanted it or not. In the same article I also remember reading that there was a reason why if you turned off Smooth Video Playback you would loose some other functionality?

Unsuprisingly if you google for Smooth Video Playback you don't get too many relevant hits and I can't find the article now...

[gamingdave]

Been trying to read up on this "Smooth Video Playback" option but not managed to find much. Did a lot of fiddling last night, mainly with ffdshow and MPC, and am now getting some pretty poor playback. I seem to be getting bad tearing a lot of the time.

Noticed this SVP option in CCC, so am definately going to try and disable it tonight. I am using a 5850 card.

Interestingly tried out TMT3 last night. Rock solid playback of everything, though no bitstreaming HD via the 5850. I understand this is being added soon, though maybe only for disks, and not MKVs or TS files. Maybe I should just stick with ripping as ISOs and know that I have maximum compatability.

[Rsaeire]

Originally Posted by jameson_uk

I did read somewhere that the drivers stuck the 5450 on Smooth Video Playback whether you wanted it or not. In the same article I also remember reading that there was a reason why if you turned off Smooth Video Playback you would loose some other functionality?

Unsuprisingly if you google for Smooth Video Playback you don't get too many relevant hits and I can't find the article now...

Originally Posted by gamingdave

Been trying to read up on this "Smooth Video Playback" option but not managed to find much. Did a lot of fiddling last night, mainly with ffdshow and MPC, and am now getting some pretty poor playback. I seem to be getting bad tearing a lot of the time.

Noticed this SVP option in CCC, so am definately going to try and disable it tonight. I am using a 5850 card.

Interestingly tried out TMT3 last night. Rock solid playback of everything, though no bitstreaming HD via the 5850. I understand this is being added soon, though maybe only for disks, and not MKVs or TS files. Maybe I should just stick with ripping as ISOs and know that I have maximum compatability.

I've been reading a lot about SVP recently and that's the thing, there's not a lot of information actually available, just a lot of people talking about the option. ATI are pretty tight lipped on what it does too. Some of the suggestions put forward surmised that it ensures smooth 24p playback, that it prioritises video playback, that it improves playback in Windows 7 with Microsoft's video codecs etc.

At this stage there's no conclusive evidence to say what it actually does, just that it confuses the hell out of people!

[Rsaeire]

Just thought I'd update anyone interested.

AnandTech has an explanation directly form AMD/ATI what the Enforce Smooth Video Playback (ESVP) option does in CCC.

AMD has their own internal test suite that they use to test their low-end cards to see what they’re capable of when it comes to post-processing. If those cards are incapable of a certain feature(s) at certain settings, then using ESVP will have the driver quietly disable those features, so that only the features the card can keep up with are used. In essence, ESVP is a list of monitor-resolution/feature/video-resolution combinations where features need to be disabled when ESVP is active. This is all done driver side, and is not a 5000-series only feature as some people have speculated.

In addition, I tested the Cyberlink Video/SP decoder (PDVD8) and the quality is identical to the Cyberlink Video/SP decoder (PDVD7).

[djcla]

i have a problem with MPC-HC playback of some xvid based Avi's yesterday weird tearing at top of picture i enabled the use of the M$ DTV decoder and it worked fine vey strange