[harry66]

Apologies if this new is old hat but thought I would share it...

Finished a partial build of my 1st HTPC (still need to add a tuner and BluRay).
Used the a AMD 4850e and a Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H 780G chipset motherboard as I had read great things about the 780g built in Hardware decoder for playing HD content.

However, I was initially very dissappointed when KMPlayer, Media Player Classic HC and Media Portal built in player were all reporting 50-60% CPU.
After loads of Googling I discovered the following on another site:

It involves downloading the mpcvideodec.ax codec from the MPC-HC website and registering the file and then using the MPC Video Decoder filter for playing your H.264 files.
Stand alone filters for MediaPortal - MediaPortal Forum

The above has some details or you can download the file from the following location:
SourceForge.net: Files

Click on the standalone filters link for 32 or 62 bit and then get the MPCVideoDec.zip file.

You then extract and copy the MPCVideoDec.ax file into your windows\system32 or similar and then do a regsrv32 on the file from a cmd prompt - in Vista make sure you run the cmd prompt as Admin even if your user is an Administrator - otherwise the registration will fail.

Then in your Media Portal or Media Player Classic HC select the 'MPC Video Decoder' as the filter to use for H.264 files.

I cannot get it to work for KMPlayer despite trying similar steps and reading an article (cannot enable the DVXA) - so have given up - Media Portal built in player seems fine as does the Media Player Classic.

Have played a few 1080p MKV H.264 files for a few minutes each and for both the CPU usage seems to fluctuate between 2% and 10% - giving a rough average of 5%ish.

[lloydsmart]

OMG Thanks! This is exactly what I've been looking for for the past week!

[jwindley]

Yes, MPC video codec is a great codec, and also the first linke is a good codec pack. It only install what you need, without lots of extra rubbish. I've been using this pack for a couple of months now, and I've very pleased. I am also getting 5-10% cpu on any resolution H264 MKV file.

[Maxamus]

Originally Posted by harry66

then do a regsrv32 on the file from a cmd prompt

Sorry im a noob. How do you do this?
Whats the commands to type in CMD prompt?


And, how does this compare with CoreAVC interms of quality?

[harry66]

regsvr32 MPCVideoDec.ax
assuming you are in the same folder as where you have copied the MPCVideoDec.ax file.

Note that you have to run cmd prompt in admin mode - easiest way is to type cmd into the Vista Start Button search field and press Ctrl+shift+enter

dunno about the quality in comparison to CoreAVC as I have not tried CoreAVC.
All I can say is that all the 1080p mkv files I have watched look superbly sharp and clear and rich etc etc.

[harry66]

regsvr32 MPCVideoDec.ax
assuming you are in the same folder as where you have copied the MPCVideoDec.ax file.

Note that you have to run cmd prompt in admin mode - easiest way is to type cmd into the Vista Start Button search field and press Ctrl+shift+enter

dunno about the quality in comparison to CoreAVC as I have not tried CoreAVC.
All I can say is that all the 1080p mkv files I have watched look superb -sharp and clear and rich - almost worth all the hassle of building my HTPC - almost but not quite

[Maxamus]

Tried it on my system CPU usage is still around 45-55%.
Its still the same as using CoreAVC.

Probably because i dont have a built in Hardware decoder on my mobo

[lloydsmart]

Originally Posted by Maxamus

Probably because i dont have a built in Hardware decoder on my mobo

That could be a factor, lol

[harry66]

Originally Posted by Maxamus

Probably because i dont have a built in Hardware decoder on my mobo

Perhaps I should have read your sig before responding - just assumed you had read my original post fully before asking the question...

[vidguyuk]

Good news. I've tried using MPC's filters a while ago (before they had matured) and they looked promising. Are you able to get subtitles working? They we're tricky, thats why I swapped back to CoreAVC.

[harry66]

I can certainly get subtitles when watching TV via VMC - including BBC HD and when watching DVDs.

Not sure about MKV files...will have to check.

[lloydsmart]

Well, I got a copy of PowerDVD free with my new Bluray/HDDVD player (LG), and I think it supports DXVA hardware decoding for the bluray formats. It does some sort of decoding for them anyway because PowerDVD has popped up as a selectable codec for AVC in Mediaportal, so now I'm wondering weather there would be any benefit switching to it over MPC.

Any thoughts?

[aaroe]

This is great news... I have the same motherboard.
But, where in Media Player Classic HC can I select the 'MPC Video Decoder' as the filter to use for H.264 files?

[wHoMe]

Originally Posted by aaroe

This is great news... I have the same motherboard.
But, where in Media Player Classic HC can I select the 'MPC Video Decoder' as the filter to use for H.264 files?

Just download "MPC HC" and it will use their "MPCVideoDec" by default as its already part of the player there is actually no need to download and register "MPCVideoDec.ax" if your using "MPC HC"

The filter can be found on right click the same as most media players

If you want to use the "MPCVideoDec" with any media player the download "MPCVideoDec.ax" and register the file

BTW you can register the file from Start Run in XP just paste in the reg command and click ok

[harry66]

Hi,
Cant remember exactly how I did that but I think I went into
Options->External Filters and then used Add Filter to add the 'MPC - Video Decoder'. I then selected the Prefer radio button.

Hope someone will correct me if I am wrong here...been a while since I did all this and didnt make notes!

EDIT: just saw the above post - I am a bit confused on this bit cos when I downloaded MPC HC the download file did not include the MPCVideoDec.ax file - it just had the mplayerc.exe and a bunch of dll files. I downloaded and registered the .ax file separately later on. Perhaps there is a different install package for MPC HC - I just got a zip file mplayerc_homecinema_x86_v1.2.908.0.zip from the sourceforge.net site

[aaroe]

Well, wHoMe and Harry. Either way, I can't make it work...
CPU usage is still around 50%.
Harry, thats exactly how I did it.
I've had CCCP installed before, but uninstalled it, should this have any effect?

[wHoMe]

Originally Posted by harry66

EDIT: just saw the above post - I am a bit confused on this bit cos when I downloaded MPC HC the download file did not include the MPCVideoDec.ax file - it just had the mplayerc.exe and a bunch of dll files. I downloaded and registered the .ax file separately later on. Perhaps there is a different install package for MPC HC - I just got a zip file mplayerc_homecinema_x86_v1.2.908.0.zip from the sourceforge.net site

Yes the codec isn't in there as a standalone filter its actually part of MPC HC

If you had run MPC HC before registering MPCVideoDec.ax you would have seen the codec is there on right click

[aaroe]

Originally Posted by wHoMe

Yes the codec isn't in there as a standalone filter its actually part of MPC HC

If you had run MPC HC before registering MPCVideoDec.ax you would have seen the codec is there on right click

When not adding any External Filters in MPC HC, I can actually right click -> Filters, and here I have 'MPC Video Decoder' - But it says 'Not using DXVA'

How to fix this?

[wHoMe]

Originally Posted by aaroe

When not adding any External Filters in MPC HC, I can actually right click -> Filters, and here I have 'MPC Video Decoder' - But it says 'Not using DXVA'

How to fix this?

Your graphics card needs to have the hardware that does DXVA your doesn't thats why it makes no difference on your system

[aaroe]

Originally Posted by wHoMe

Your graphics card needs to have the hardware that does DXVA your doesn't thats why it makes no difference on your system

Well, that can't be right.
I have the GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G chipset motherboard.

[wHoMe]

Originally Posted by aaroe

Well, that can't be right.
I have the GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G chipset motherboard.

No it cant be right ?

Maybe you should download MPCVideoDec.ax and register it maybe I was wrong in my previous posts in this thread

[aaroe]

Originally Posted by wHoMe

No it cant be right ?

Maybe you should download MPCVideoDec.ax and register it maybe I was wrong in my previous posts in this thread

I already did that

[aaroe]

Harry, what does your 'DXVA mode' say? - if you right click --> Filters --> 'MPC - Video Decoder' - while playing a 1080p mkv file.

[wHoMe]

Yeah I just read on the main site the codec is embedded so I wasn't wrong, you should read that page as other codecs will stop it working which is probably your problem as you installed CCCP

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/DXVASupport.html

[aaroe]

Originally Posted by wHoMe

Yeah I just read on the main site the codec is embedded so I wasn't wrong, you should read that page as other codecs will stop it working which is probably your problem as you installed CCCP

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/DXVASupport.html

Yeah, I've read that too... But how the heck do I know what codecs that will prevent it from working? There are tons of filters when I click 'Add filter'...

[wHoMe]

Remove any by uninstalling them all get it working then only install codecs you need

[aaroe]

Originally Posted by wHoMe

Remove any by uninstalling them all get it working then only install codecs you need

I've already uninstalled CCCP, ofcourse...
Im soon giving up on this... Damnit!!!
But thanks for helping

[aaroe]

I think I found the solution.
The file I was "testing" with had subtitles.
1080p mkv files with subtitles are apparently not able to use DXVA - even though I disabled the subtitles...

I therefore tried with another 1080p video (.mp4 though) - and it worked. CPU usage was around 2-7%

Just thought I would tell

[wHoMe]

Originally Posted by aaroe

I think I found the solution.
The file I was "testing" with had subtitles.
1080p mkv files with subtitles are apparently not able to use DXVA - even though I disabled the subtitles...

I therefore tried with another 1080p video (.mp4 though) - and it worked. CPU usage was around 2-7%

Just thought I would tell

On the page from the link above

Internal subtitles can work with the MPC Video decoder in DXVA mode, but the rules are even more restrictive :

* Windows XP users, select VMR9 renderless
* Vista users, select EVR custom renderer
* In "Options / Playback", tick the checkbox "Auto-load subtitles"

[aaroe]

Originally Posted by wHoMe

On the page from the link above

Internal subtitles can work with the MPC Video decoder in DXVA mode, but the rules are even more restrictive :

* Windows XP users, select VMR9 renderless
* Vista users, select EVR custom renderer
* In "Options / Playback", tick the checkbox "Auto-load subtitles"

Yeah, I've read that too, on the mpc-hc homepage, but it didn't work for me though