New nVidia Beta 84.12 Driver enables H.264 decoding and PureVideo

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
I

Ig

Senior member
Mar 29, 2001
236
0
0
nVidia's PureVideo decoder is only for mpeg-1/2. It wasn't updated for h.264 hardware decode acceleration. You need Cyberlink PowerDVD/Intervideo WinDVD/Nero Showtime with h.264 hardware accelerated enabled decoders. Dunno if they're actually ready yet.

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_purevideo_requirements.html

NVIDIA also offers an MPEG-2 decoder that is optimized for PureVideo technology. NVIDIA® PureVideo? Decoder combines the industry?s highest quality DVD and MPEG-2 playback with rich surround sound and is capable of supporting any Microsoft DirectX 9 compatible graphics product.

PureVideo?s H.264 (also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC) decode acceleration and post processing effects are available through a special application programming interface (API). The following partners have announced support of PureVideo?s H.264 decode acceleration in their applications:

* CyberLink PowerDVD? with H.264 (AVC) and AAC Pack
* InterVideo® WinDVD®
* Nero® ShowTime
Click to expand...

Seems like we have to buy another decoder for h.264 support. This really sucks. At least there isn't anything substantial to watch right now that requires h.264. Movie trailers don't count :p I can watch those with no problems using CoreAVC :)
 
X

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
12,974
0
71
PureVideo/NVDVD codec is irrelevant to H.264.

The NVIDIA display driver implements the needed APIs, and players like WinDVD/PowerDVD/ShowTime use said APIs. The PureVideo decoder is irrelevant, and does not decode H.264, only MPEG-2.

DXVA is irrelevant to media player (for most part). It can potentially force codecs out of the DXVA_A/DXVA_B color spaces but it usually does not by default. It is however dependent on the codec the player requests (or obtains automatically from the DirectShow filter graph manager).
 
A

aggressor

Platinum Member
Oct 10, 1999
2,079
0
76
Yea, this seems pretty stupid. Guess I'll go back to whatever MPC uses to decode DVD, and install my own free h264 codec to playback that content :\
 
G

Gstanfor

Banned
Oct 19, 1999
3,307
0
0
When you install purevideo you also get an applet called nstant media. Shortcuts aren't generated for it, but you'll find it in Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\ForceWare\nStant Media. It should play back everything purevideo supports.
 
MDE

MDE

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
13,199
1
81
Do these actually do anything for H.264 acceleration on AGP 6800 cards?
 
Zebo

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Originally posted by: MDE
Do these actually do anything for H.264 acceleration on AGP 6800 cards?
Click to expand...

That's what I'm wondering :confused:
Click to expand...

You guys could have read dapunishers post. But since you don't read threads nevermind I'm prolly wasting my typing.
 
S

SynthDude2001

Lifer
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
2
71
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: SynthDude2001
Originally posted by: MDE
Do these actually do anything for H.264 acceleration on AGP 6800 cards?
Click to expand...

That's what I'm wondering :confused:
Click to expand...

You guys could have read dapunishers post. But since you don't read threads nevermind I'm prolly wasting my typing.
Click to expand...

His post seems to indicate that there isn't yet any software/decoder support for this H.264 decoding assist. That doesn't answer the question of whether or not this will be available on all 6-series GPU's when the decoder software catches up (and in fact, the chart on Nvidia's site seems to indicate that it won't...)

Sorry to irritate you. :roll:
 
moonboy403

moonboy403

Golden Member
Aug 18, 2004
1,828
0
76
hey people!

they added vsync for direct3d games?

that means vsync will finally work under direct3d games?
wow....now i have to rethink about goin sli!
great news!
 
S

SynthDude2001

Lifer
Mar 19, 2003
18,289
2
71
Originally posted by: Zebo
:D I was just messin with you.. DP has AGP 6800GT FWIW...
Click to expand...

I see. ;)

I guess we won't really know if this works until updated decoders show up...this isn't as important to me as it once was (since my dual-core CPU can handle software h.264 decoding with ease), but it'd still be nice...
 
thecoolnessrune

thecoolnessrune

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2005
9,672
578
126
Originally posted by: Qbah
I am sick and tired of nvidia's level of drivers and stability. Every driver after 81.98 is totally unacceptable for me! EVERY time I try to do something using all the later ones gives me a BSOD. EACH AND EVERY TIME! If I want to play a game and alt-tab to desktop, bam, system stops after I reeneter the game and after 10s or so I get a BSOD. I can't play movies, cause the system HANGS each time I try to change something in the PureVideo controls. Bah, even opening them hangs the system!

After installing 84.12s I launched a DVD and :shocked: It looked so damn impressive! No pixels, no artifacts, no NOTHING! Perfect image quality! PureVideo at it's finest. But since I can't do anything else with those drivers, I went back to 81.98s. I launched the DVD again and almost cried. It looked so ugly, with plenty of artifacts and pixels (those drivers don't support PureVideo in DVDs). Games play fine - well, WoW mostly, but the shimmering is starting to give me a headache in this game! I tried so many different settings, none solve the problem.

I am desperate now. Please, PLEASE, I want a driver with 84.12s support for PureVideo, but completely stable and useable! The 10mins I watched my beloved Underworld completely spoiled me. I CAN'T watch it without PureVideo now, cause my eyes bleed once the first scenes show. The terrible IQ makes me wanna shoot myself!

As soon as a x1900xl or similar hits the market it's bye bye nShitia forever. Never again will I make the mistake of buying their products again!

EDIT: Some minor spelling mistakes.
Click to expand...


Here we have an example of people who give no company a second chance. Luckily we dont have too many of these people otherwise companies like AMD would have went down quickly.
 
Qbah

Qbah

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 2005
3,754
10
81
Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
Here we have an example of people who give no company a second chance. Luckily we dont have too many of these people otherwise companies like AMD would have went down quickly.
Click to expand...

Err... I've been fighting with my 7800GT for the most part of last 5 months... First with AA/AF issues, then with random lockups and now with with DVD playback (which finally looked RIGHT, until I had to do a driver reroll anyway :disgust: ).

So yeah... no second chances :disgust:
 
DAPUNISHER

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
28,498
20,622
146
Originally posted by: Zebo
:D I was just messin with you.. DP has AGP 6800GT FWIW...
Click to expand...
I have 2 6800GS PCIe now brudda :) I traded that BFG to Keysplayer way back.

The version of ShowTime I have definitely doesn't have the support, but there is a newer version listed as most current, so perhaps that version does. As I posted, I played with various H.264 decoders and Players, tweaked stuff with graphedit. I can't believe the CPU usage on both cores using Zoom standard edition, almost 100% on both cores@times! but man is the PQ awesome, and playback buttery smooth. The ones with the lowest usage, sometimes only spiking slightly above 50% a couple times, failed to play smoothly during heavy action. VLC i think it was, almost totally loaded the 2nd core while barely using the 1st, only when the core was maxed out did it start using the other :confused: QT7 played it perfect but the CPU usage was same as it ever was obviously.

BTW, played a couple hrs of CoD2 and no worries there.
 
W

Wag

Diamond Member
Jul 21, 2000
8,286
4
81
CoreAVC is still faster for H.264, it's in software, will work on any videocard.
 
Keysplayr

Keysplayr

Elite Member
Jan 16, 2003
21,209
50
91
Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Originally posted by: Zebo
:D I was just messin with you.. DP has AGP 6800GT FWIW...
Click to expand...
I have 2 6800GS PCIe now brudda :) I traded that BFG to Keysplayer way back.
Click to expand...

And it is still kicking bootay... ;)
 
P

puffpio

Golden Member
Dec 21, 1999
1,664
0
0
Originally posted by: Wag
CoreAVC is still faster for H.264, it's in software, will work on any videocard.
Click to expand...

yeah but coreavc sacrifices image quality for decoding speed...i've played back HDTV H264 content w/ it and compared w/ ffdshow and ffdshow is obviosuly superior (it was noticable to me on monotone color gradiants..like a hallway w/ one light bulb)
 
X

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
12,974
0
71
Tried CoreAVC. It is a lot faster for some reason(???) Too bad it won't be free. :( Still slow as molasses on Nero Showtime (Nero 7 Ultra) for me with these drivers.
 
D

DefRef

Diamond Member
Nov 9, 2000
4,041
1
81
Hmmmm....After the upgrade, HD trailers from Apple with play back w/o sound (X3 teaser) or w/o picture and with scratchy, garbled, unintelligible sound (Basic Instict 2, Brothers Grimm) in WinDVD 7 Platinum. QT7 Pro is fine, but that's not HW accelerated IIRC. Anyone else seeing this?

EDIT: Got the PureVideo decoder and now there's no sound in WMP DVD playback and silence and a stretched image in Fantastic Four and X3 trailers. The problem may be here:

NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder System Requirements

* Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP Home Edition
* DirectX 9.0 or higher
* Windows Media Center or Windows Media® Player 9.0 or higher for DVD Playback
* DirectShow compatible software for MPEG-2 file playback
* DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) compatible graphics processor supports, such as NVIDIA GeForce4? series, GeForce FX series, GeForce 6 series, or GeForce 7 series
* DVD-ROM drive required for DVD viewing

Graphics Chips Supported
All Microsoft DirectX® 8.x compatible chips, including:

* NVIDIA GeForce 7 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 6 series
* NVIDIA GeForce FX series
* NVIDIA GeForce4 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 3 series
* NVIDIA Quadro FX series
* NVIDIA Quadro4 series
* NVIDIA Quadro DCC series

Audio Chips Supported

* NVIDIA nForce Audio
* Creative Labs® Ensoniq Audio PCI
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 PCI
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 +WavEffects
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster 512 3D Audio PCI
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy MP3+
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy X-Gamer
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 MP3+
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Platinum
* Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 X-Gamer
* Philips® Rhythmic Edge PCI
* Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
* SIIG® Soundwave Pro PCI 32-bit

Where's the Creative X-Fi?!? Uh-oh...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom