ATI 4850 HD Media Playback

[letsgetsilly]

I know this is the hardware forum, but hopefully it's ok to post here:

I've got an Asus 4850 card and I want to play several different HD media formats on it, specifically h.264, x.264, .mkv, blu-ray, etc.

I've just noticed that when using VLC my hardware decoding isn't being taken advantage of, but when I use Media Player Classic Home Cinema my cpu is around 10%. This is important because I only have an athlon 3800+ xp.

The problem is, when I play in Home Cinema, the video is smooth, but it's (hard to describe) 'sloppy'. It's as if the same scene gets rendered twice, so it's almost like slow motion. The video responds well, it's not like the computer is struggling, it's just not being rendered correctly.

I am really new to this and would appreciate any suggestions. I'm really familiar with VLC but looks like that won't be my best option. What is the best software player out there that will take advantage of hardware decoding AND display the picture well?

Also, I'm using CoreAVC codec.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Winterpool]

Does 'tearing' sound like the problem you're experiencing? It's a fairly common issue in HTPC playback; correction often depends on both your hardware and software.

Maximising video quality and hardware acceleration (ie graphics chip assistance) can get rather involved, especially if your output is being fed into a non-computer display (HDTV, projector, etc). I've spent the past month helping the pater build an HTPC for his basement cinema and have learnt this in spades. You can spend all day (and all week) playing round with HTPC configurations.

To start, let me direct you to the AVS Forum, where one find incredibly detailed discussions of every aspect of the home theatre experience, including HTPCs. But as you've already learnt, some apps can take advantage of your graphics power, others can't. The big ones are Media Player Classic - Home Cinema and CyberLink's PowerDVD. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

 

[Winterpool]

This thread is probably a good place to begin, if you haven't already read its like.

 

[letsgetsilly]

Thanks so much for the help. I'll get back to this thread once I've investigated the links posted. Thanks again.