how do i play 1080p videos smoothly - UPDATED AND FIXED!!!!!

[secretanchitman]

so my family and i are going to be using my current machine as an HTPC. new computer will consist of the core 2 duo and other goodies. my comp is as follows:

intel pentium 4 2.4C@3.3Ghz
asus p4p800 mobo (i have agp)
2x256MB (512MB) of geil PC4000 (clocks really high!)
oem nvidia geforce3
onboard 5.1 sound
win xp pro w/ SP2

i can play 720p fine, but it stutters at 1080p, even if i overclock to 3.3Ghz.

so i was thinking of ordering 2GBs of ram (PC4000 in dual-channel of course) and a 6600GT because ive heard that it helps with h264 acceleration, and its a newer core than the 6800 series (in agp).

i use combined community codec pack and media player classic and windows media player 11 beta to play my videos.

would this help me playback 1080p more smoothly? thanks for you help/input.

 

[2Xtreme21]

Don't get the 6800 series in AGP as they screwed up HDR with it. Not sure if they fixed it in the 6600 series, but definitely later than that.

Edit: And wow, I totally misread that part of your post. But yeah, another vote for the 6600 series.

 

[Sonikku]

An X1800 or X1900 card would probably help with offloading work from the cpu.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

similarly, can my machine be made to run 1080p without dropping frames? even with coreavc and mpc i'm losing frames.

 

[firewolfsm]

They just said a 6600 can handle it...why don't you try that?

 

[Todd33]

Don't use WM10. I found Nero Showtime can play 1080P smooth as buutter and WM10 stutters. I have no idea why though.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

An X1900XT won't really make much of a difference at this point in time. A dual-core CPU is still the best way to ensure smooth 1080p playback at this point. Also software codecs like CoreAVC still offer greater performance than compared to both PureVideo and AVIVO.

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1
An X1900XT won't really make much of a difference at this point in time. A dual-core CPU is still the best way to ensure smooth 1080p playback at this point. Also software codecs like CoreAVC still offer greater performance than compared to both PureVideo and AVIVO.

coreavc? i will have to check that out later tonight.

thanks guys, looks like its 2 votes for the 6600GT.

btw, we will be displaying the picture on the projector we're getting, the sony vpw-1000 something i forget the model name.

 

[TheCanuck]

Are there any 1080p movies you can play right now? I thought all the HD players that are out only support 1080i...

But ya the 6600GT is supposed to have acceleration for 1080, just not sure that it'll be useful for another year or two. By that time you could pick up a 6600gt for $30.

 

[Auric]

Make sure HT is enabled then it prolly just comes down to the decoder and configuration (including renderer). I don't see why it couldn't manage it all in software on that CPU. Are you using libavcodec then? As others have said try Ahead, Core, Cyberlink, whatever. There are oodles of AVC decoders to choose from.

Cyberlink's AVIVO HWA AVC decoder is out now. Unfortunately I don't have an appropriate X1xxx card to test with; although it does allow enabling with my X800XL I am doubtful it will make any difference. In any case, software decoding is fine with my 3.0E.

 

[secretanchitman]

hyperthreading is enabled. cpu is at 3.3Ghz...i think i just need to up the ram and get the 6600GT.

i use combined community codec pack. im thinking of getting purevideo if i get the 6600GT (which seems likely).

what is the best codecs to playback 1080p smoothly, in your alls opinion?

 

[Auric]

Okay, I've got the 3.0E @ 3GHz and tested:

QT HD - Ice Age 2 (trailer D) (1080p).mov
QT HD - King Kong (1080p).mov

always using Cyberlink AAC decoder, and Cyberlink AVC decoder was far and away better than Apple and libavcodec; it was smooth while the other two were not (actually I was surprised how poorly Apple did because it seemed okay the last time I tested it but that was at 3.6GHz and also an earlier version). I could not get Ahead/Nero to be used within a few minutes of messin' so gave up. I know you mentioned using CCC but while I have heard of it I am not familiar. I understand it includes ffdshow so guess you are using libavcodec? It is crucial to know and be able to control which renderer, decoder and filters, &c. are in use (which is one reason among many that WMP is crap and MPC is good).

 

[2Xtreme21]

Would VLC play it you think? I've never had problems with it.

 

[terentenet]

i never played 1080p content, just 720. i run it with media player classic, ffdshow decoder. i do double the resolution (resize and aspect x2) and apply blur and noise reduction hq. it rarely drops a frame.
processor is the main thing you have to focus on. X2 is not such a big thing, no decoder knows how to use it. it maxes one core while the other is resting.

 

[AlucardX]

your cpu looks ok.. you're not getting any GPU acceleration though with that old card.

you'll need at least the 7800 nV series for proper HD h.246 (or whatever it is) decoding with pure video. you also need a compatible player that can use purevideo codec. all of this is on nzone.com or nvidia site, i think they give out trials of their pure video codec as well. it's not free, i think it's $20 to buy

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: AlucardX
your cpu looks ok.. you're not getting any GPU acceleration though with that old card.

you'll need at least the 7800 nV series for proper HD h.246 (or whatever it is) decoding with pure video. you also need a compatible player that can use purevideo codec. all of this is on nzone.com or nvidia site, i think they give out trials of their pure video codec as well. it's not free, i think it's $20 to buy

heh, that is why im getting the 6600GT. its one of the only cards that will do h264 acceleration (and in AGP) for a decent price.

 

[secretanchitman]

just ordered the 2x1GB of gskill DDR500 ram and the leadtek 6600GT!

will be arriving this friday...i cant wait! its my own video card upgrade since my moving from a geforce2 32MB to a geforce3 64MB and ive been stuck with it for 2 years!

1080p better play a lot smoother for me...

will i need to get the nvidia purevideo decoder, as my 6600GT takes full advantage of it to fully support GPU offloading...? or will MPC playback (with 2GB of ram and the 6600GT of course) the 1080p clips/movies fine? will it matter even more if i increase the resolution from 1280x1024 to 1900x1200?

thanks for your help!

 

[pctwo]

it depends on what kind of files you're trying to play:

1) apple trailers = H264. You want CoreAVC (software) or cyberlink powerDVD (hardware accel.) for that. Note that getting hardware acceleration to work on H264 is kind of a crapshoot. You have to get the right card and driver. go to the HTPC section in avsforum.com for the gory details.

2) mpeg2 transport (.ts, .trp, .mpg) files. You want nividia purevideo decoder.

3) WMVHD files seem to have lower req than H264 and you may be able to get away with software decoding with a fast CPU.

With a AMD X2 3800+ I can actually play 1080p mpeg2 smoothly with just software decoding. H264 is okay too but CPU usage is high. Coreavc really helps there.

The whole thing is a big headache b/c even though the card maker may advertise h/w accel. for H264 / mpeg2 / wmvhd, getting it to actually work is a PITA.

 

[TheRyuu]

With a fast enough processor, you can do it all through software. Not sure about yours though. Five CoreAVC a shot, and also PowerDVD (as said in above post) also a shot because of it's hardware aceleration.

On my Dual Core Opteron, 1080p plays just fine using software. But then again, I have a fast Dual Core Opteron (and you don't in your HTPC).

If you have an nvidia card, it's worth getting the newest Purevideo Decoder version, and the latest nvidia drivers.
I'd get the XTreme-G 91.28.v2 from TweaksRus: http://www.tweaksrus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=502&Itemid=1

Then see if you can't get Purevideo Decoder to work in Hardware Mode. (cause for me it dosn't, but thats because I use ffdshow for my dvd playback).

 

[SpeedZealot369]

why didnt u just get a 7600gs instead of that 6600gt?

 

[Howard]

I don't think you need more memory unless utilization is close to 100% during 1080p playback.

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: SpeedZealot369
why didnt u just get a 7600gs instead of that 6600gt?

i didnt know that the 7600GS was in AGP...and i needed to get one asap because my family is moving on with their home theater...which this computer is going to be used for.

"I don't think you need more memory unless utilization is close to 100% during 1080p playback."

i only have 512MB of ram, dual channel PC4000 though...

in addition to the combined community codec pack, and along with the nvidia purevideo decoder, and MAYBE even powerdvd7, 1080p playback shouldnt be a problem, correct?

i just played "coral reef adventure", a 1080p clip on MPC and i got around 20ish frames...this was with firefox and AIM open.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Hey secretanchitman, maybe your summer rig will play 1080p smoothly?

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: Todd33
Don't use WM10. I found Nero Showtime can play 1080P smooth as buutter and WM10 stutters. I have no idea why though.

hijack...

Really? What settings did you change? I find that Nero Showtime is the worst for dropping frames on my system.

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: SpeedZealot369
Hey secretanchitman, maybe your summer rig will play 1080p smoothly?

heh heh im hopeful that it will...but im kinda worried that my current rig wont be able to handle 1080p even with all the codecs, players, decoders, and even the 6600GT for hardware acceleration and 2GB of ram...

i read that the geforce 6-7 serires agp has h264, wmvhd all broken. apparently, FW 91.28 fixes the h264. oddly, on nvidias site, they have the purevideo compatible cards list, and in their AGP section, the wmvHD acceleration is gone from the list. in PCI-E, everything is fine.

grrr at nvidia...