DXVA and WMV acceleration on ATI Radeon 9550

[tcsenter]

I have an ATI Radeon 9550 128MB (128-bit memory) AGP that I'm testing with WMV-HD clips. The R9550 is a die shrink of the R9600 GPU with lower core clock (250 vs. 325), otherwise identical. I've the latest Catalyst 6.2 driver + Catalyst Control Center with WMV acceleration enabled in Catalyst Video Properties, using WMP10 on XP Home SP2 with all available updates.

ATI SmartGART and DXDIAG report everything is kosher with my graphics subsystem. AGP mode is running at the maximum supported by my motherboard (AGP 4x). Following ATI's instructions for enabling DXVA WMV acceleration, I installed the DXVA patch for WMP10, then selected 'Use High Quality Mode' in WMP10 video acceleration properties.

Playing a 720p clip with the R9550, CPU utilization varies between 80% ~ 90% no matter if high quality or overlay mode is selected. I even deselected WMV acceleration in Catalyst Control Center, no difference at all. There are no dropped frames and the video looks correct, but this is exactly the same performance I get using a Radeon 8500 128MB AGP!

1080p clips are dropping frames like mad and play choppy, but not any more so than with the Radeon 8500. CPU utilization for both R9550 and R8500 when playing 1080p clips runs between 95% and 100%.

In short, I am getting absolutely no better results in terms of decoding performance or CPU utilization using R9550 than with R8500.

I realize the R9550 isn't an X1800 or anything, but shouldn't this GPU be doing more hardware DXVA and WMV acceleration than a R8500?

TIA

 

[xtknight]

Probably not... There isn't much difference in shader processing speed between the 8500 and 9550 or is there?

 

[dug777]

Almost sounds like you aren't getting any GPU help...with my 9800 Pro & 9550@faster than 9600XT speeds 1080p was smooth as butter & about 60% CPU usage max(for the 9800 pro, still perfectly smooth on the 9550, no idea what the CPU usage was tho)...on a tbred-b @2.1Ghz...

 

[necro007]

I am also have the same problems, somtimes it happens in games or when i watch a clip... for eg. thouse clips on ATI's website.

The video drop's frames and when you are playing a game that you are really into this is the last thing anyone needs:|.

I highlly doubt it's my PC or yours for that matter.

Any other guys have any info on this.

 

[tcsenter]

I tested all settings with a Radeon 9600 NP 256MB (128-bit) AGP - no difference. 720p video quality is good with no dropped frames, but CPU utilization is 80% ~ 90% from start to finish. 1080p clips are dropping gobs of frames and playback is choppy with 100% CPU utilization.

What is going on? I was not expecting 20% CPU utilization from such an older DX9 card that is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I was expecting a good 10% ~ 20% less CPU utilization than a much older DX8 class R8500. Sheesh!

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
I tested all settings with a Radeon 9600 NP 256MB (128-bit) AGP - no difference. 720p video quality is good with no dropped frames, but CPU utilization is 80% ~ 90% from start to finish. 1080p clips are dropping gobs of frames and playback is choppy with 100% CPU utilization.

What is going on? I was not expecting 20% CPU utilization from such an older DX9 card that is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I was expecting a good 10% ~ 20% less CPU utilization than a much older DX8 class R8500. Sheesh!

like i said, it doesn't look like it is working, whcih could be due to a myriad of user specific problems For instance i can't get it working on my 6600GT with WMP (although it does fine with my HD Tuner software), but i had it working perfectly & making a massive difference with my 9800 pro & my 9550@9600XT...

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: tcsenter
I tested all settings with a Radeon 9600 NP 256MB (128-bit) AGP - no difference. 720p video quality is good with no dropped frames, but CPU utilization is 80% ~ 90% from start to finish. 1080p clips are dropping gobs of frames and playback is choppy with 100% CPU utilization.

What is going on? I was not expecting 20% CPU utilization from such an older DX9 card that is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I was expecting a good 10% ~ 20% less CPU utilization than a much older DX8 class R8500. Sheesh!

like i said, it doesn't look like it is working, whcih could be due to a myriad of user specific problems For instance i can't get it working on my 6600GT with WMP (although it does fine with my HD Tuner software), but i had it working perfectly & making a massive difference with my 9800 pro & my 9550@9600XT...

sowd you get ti to work? 9800pro at xt i had dropepd frames everywhere. Now i'm getting a x800xt.Firegl X3 256 so how would i go and install and enable the acceleration?

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: tcsenter
I tested all settings with a Radeon 9600 NP 256MB (128-bit) AGP - no difference. 720p video quality is good with no dropped frames, but CPU utilization is 80% ~ 90% from start to finish. 1080p clips are dropping gobs of frames and playback is choppy with 100% CPU utilization.

What is going on? I was not expecting 20% CPU utilization from such an older DX9 card that is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I was expecting a good 10% ~ 20% less CPU utilization than a much older DX8 class R8500. Sheesh!

like i said, it doesn't look like it is working, whcih could be due to a myriad of user specific problems For instance i can't get it working on my 6600GT with WMP (although it does fine with my HD Tuner software), but i had it working perfectly & making a massive difference with my 9800 pro & my 9550@9600XT...

sowd you get ti to work? 9800pro at xt i had dropepd frames everywhere. Now i'm getting a x800xt.Firegl X3 256 so how would i go and install and enable the acceleration?

I literally just followed the recommended process, but i can't get it to work now with my 6600GT & WMP, No idea why, but one of the hotfixes won't install (that installed perfectly before with my 9800 pro in the system)

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: dug777
I literally just followed the recommended process, but i can't get it to work now with my 6600GT & WMP, No idea why, but one of the hotfixes won't install (that installed perfectly before with my 9800 pro in the system)

You are having a PICNIC Dug My 6600GT worked perfectly with WMP and WMV HD 1080p content and so do both my 6800GS PCIe.

Is the patch that is giving you trouble windowsmedia10-kb888656-x86-global-enu? You usually seem to know your shat, so you did uninstall all the ATI stuff and then run driver cleaner to fully nuke all the ATI stuff when adding the 6600GT, right? You could try downloading and doing an overlay install of MP10.

tcsenter, make certain fastwrites is enabled.

Originally posted by: xtknight
Probably not... There isn't much difference in shader processing speed between the 8500 and 9550 or is there?

That is probably the answer though.