CUDA and CoreAVC: GPU acceleration for EVERY 1080p H264 mkv! (Cost US$15)

Just played the Cloverfield clip on my system using CoreAVC 1.9.0 without the CUDA ... plays smooth, no stuttering or dropped frames. CPU usage on average is about 60% spiking to 82% twice.

System specs:
AMD X2 4600+
4GB RAM
8800GTS (the old one)
Windows XP SP3

fitbrit wrote: ↑I have seen for myself - that's why I started the thread!
That's great news. I've found a really big difference depending on the GPU. On my 8800GT I see about 70% CPU usage on one of my test scenes. On my 9600GT, which is similar to the 8800GT for games, the CUDA processing is much better - around 15 to 20%.

I agree $15 for CoreAVC is definitely worth it!

Hmm, why is there such a drastic difference in CPU usage between the 8800gt and 9600gt? The 8800gt has many more shaders than the 9600gt, so shouldn't the CPU usage drop accordingly?

http://rapidshare.com/files/216175172/i ... .m2ts.html

That's a sample from the ignhd release of casino royale. Basically straight from the blu-ray. It's higher bitrate sample than cloverfield and chops up worse on my computer without cuda but runs with under 10% cpu usage with cuda.

(Can only be downloaded 10 times, I should've used megaupload.com ... If someone wouldn't mind uploading it to another sharing site before my link expires, that'd be great!)


Also, I was browsing through some items on ncix and found this:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=36236&vpn ... ture=Zotac

It has an integrated 9300 with CUDA!!! Also comes with an expandable pci-e x16 slot in case you wanna put in a dedicated card. To me, that motherboard is equivalent to a luxury compact sedan if there is a such a thing.

Hello- wrote: ↑http://rapidshare.com/files/216175172/i ... .m2ts.html

That's a sample from the ignhd release of casino royale. Basically straight from the blu-ray. It's higher bitrate sample than cloverfield and chops up worse on my computer without cuda but runs with under 10% cpu usage with cuda.

(Can only be downloaded 10 times, I should've used megaupload.com ... If someone wouldn't mind uploading it to another sharing site before my link expires, that'd be great!)


Also, I was browsing through some items on ncix and found this:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=36236&vpn ... ture=Zotac

It has an integrated 9300 with CUDA!!! Also comes with an expandable pci-e x16 slot in case you wanna put in a dedicated card. To me, that motherboard is equivalent to a luxury compact sedan if there is a such a thing.

Thanks for the sample. I'll report back how it goes.

Derringdo wrote: ↑Hmm, why is there such a drastic difference in CPU usage between the 8800gt and 9600gt? The 8800gt has many more shaders than the 9600gt, so shouldn't the CPU usage drop accordingly?

Hmmm... could be that the PureVideo implementation is better on the 9000 series?

Also, my comparison was approximate. While the same model mobo was used in both tests and the 2 GB RAM was consistent, the 9600GT was paired with a 2.4 GHz x2 CPU and the 8800GT with a 2.2 GHz x2 CPU. Further, the 9600GT was driving a single 1920x1080 display, whereas the 8800GT is connected to two 1920 x 1200 displays.

From the Casino Royale Clip:

MPC decoder, no DXVA: Peak of 100% CPU. Average around 90%. Some stuttering

MPC decoder, with DVXA: Peak 35% CPU. Average around 30%. No stuttering.

Core AVC decoder, no CUDA: Peak 100% CPU. Average around 75%. No Stuttering.

Core AVC decoder, with CUDA: Peak 42% CPU. Average around 35%. No stuttering.

Picture quality looked the same in all four tests.

System:

AMD 4200 X2 dual core 2.2 GHz S939, stock speed.
ASRock S939-dual SATA2 mobo
2 GB RAM (4 x 512 MB, dual channel)
eVGA 8800GT
Auzentech HD-A Xplosion sound card
Two 24" 1920 x 1200 screens

AC3filter used for audio.
Haali splitter used for splitting.
Haali renderer used for CoreAVC.
VMR9 renderer used for MPC codec.

Hah, those are some pretty scientific analysis of video playback. How do I turn DXVA on and off?

Hello- wrote: ↑Hah, those are some pretty scientific analysis of video playback. How do I turn DXVA on and off?

You have to go into the MPC-HC decoder options. In the codecs tab you have to uncheck h264 (DXVA). You will see a confirmation in the other tab during playback that DXVA isn't being used.

fitbrit wrote: ↑You have to go into the MPC-HC decoder options. In the codecs tab you have to uncheck h264 (DXVA). You will see a confirmation in the other tab during playback that DXVA isn't being used.

Awesome, works great! Thanks fitbrit. Just got into this gpu accelerated playback stuff so I'm still learning.

Hello- wrote: ↑Awesome, works great! Thanks fitbrit. Just got into this gpu accelerated playback stuff so I'm still learning.

You're welcome. I'm learning as I post myself, so don't worry!

I don't know, if you have noticed, but when I tried CoreAVC, I just could not bare to watch it's video, because image quality was so poor compared to every codec I have tried before (it is fast though).
I recommend you to use MPC that has integrated GPU spupport. Here is a guide, where you can download it and see, how to use it. It offers similar performance, because you GPU is doing the work, but image quality is excellent.

sonac wrote: ↑I don't know, if you have noticed, but when I tried CoreAVC, I just could not bare to watch it's video, because image quality was so poor compared to every codec I have tried before (it is fast though).
I recommend you to use MPC that has integrated GPU spupport. Here is a guide, where you can download it and see, how to use it. It offers similar performance, because you GPU is doing the work, but image quality is excellent.

You should read the whole thread. When we talk about DXVA we are talking about the MPC decoder. Also, I don't see any problems with my coreavc playback, and I'm rather picky. Perhaps there's something else going on too?

Thanks for the link to the guide.

I played many of the clips: cloverleaf, tropics, and the ducks?birds? one, and no stuttering on 8800gt+c2d3.2ghz

Not sure what the fuss is about. My system's not even considered recent or bleeding edge.

silentio wrote: ↑I played many of the clips: cloverleaf, tropics, and the ducks?birds? one, and no stuttering on 8800gt+c2d3.2ghz

Not sure what the fuss is about. My system's not even considered recent or bleeding edge.

Great. Good for you. Well done. Awesome. You da man.

I noticed my black levels were off using CUDA on my LCD Monitor. Ended up changing 2 settings. In CoreAVC Video Decoder Properties, set Input Levels to TV (16-235) and Output Levels to PC (0-255). Has to do with broadcast colors having a narrower range when directly translated for an LCD Monitor. Maybe this is why sonac was saying his picture quality was lower in CoreAVC+CUDA vs. MPC-HC+DXVA.

Blacks are blacker and whites are whiter now. I'm happy.

silentio wrote: ↑I played many of the clips: cloverleaf, tropics, and the ducks?birds? one, and no stuttering on 8800gt+c2d3.2ghz

Not sure what the fuss is about. My system's not even considered recent or bleeding edge.

The goal is to find a computer in the dumpster and have it play 1080p. You're playing a whole different game.

The minimum card that supports CUDA is an 8000 series card. I suppose they're aiming this software towards single core cpus?

After a long time wrestling with ATI's inferior (nonexistent?) DXVA support for H.264 files encoded above L4.1, I finally switched to an Nvidia card in my HTPC. At first I tried using DXVA on my 8500GT which worked pretty well for the most part due to Nvidia's support for L5.1. However, I noticed artifacting in several movies so I gave the new CUDA-capable CoreAVC a try, and I couldn't be happier!

I actually get comparable CPU usage to DXVA using CoreAVC. For example, I tried several 1080P files and CPU usage for MPC-HC was averaging around 10-12%, occasionally dipping down to 7% and spiking up to 17% at the highest. I'm very impressed with this software, especially on an 8500GT which only has 16 SPs!

For reference, my HTPC has the following specs:

Athlon X2 3800+ S939 @2.4ghz
DFI Infinity RS-482 mATX motherboard
1gb PC3200 (2x512mb)
MSI 8500GT 256mb (replaced the super loud fan with a passive cooler scavenged from an Asus 7300GT )

Hooked up to a Samsung HL-T6189S
Vista 32bit
AC3Filter
Haali Media Splitter
Latest MPC-HC build on EVR and lockback buffer set to 3
CoreAVC 1.9.5

Edit: remember to select "Prefer CUDA acceleration" in the CoreAVC options screen. If you enable the tray icon, it'll turn green when CUDA acceleration is working.

Derringdo wrote: ↑After a long time wrestling with ATI's inferior (nonexistent?) DXVA support for H.264 files encoded above L4.1, I finally switched to an Nvidia card in my HTPC. At first I tried using DXVA on my 8500GT which worked pretty well for the most part due to Nvidia's support for L5.1. However, I noticed artifacting in several movies so I gave the new CUDA-capable CoreAVC a try, and I couldn't be happier!

I actually get comparable CPU usage to DXVA using CoreAVC. For example, I tried several 1080P files and CPU usage for MPC-HC was averaging around 10-12%, occasionally dipping down to 7% and spiking up to 17% at the highest. I'm very impressed with this software, especially on an 8500GT which only has 16 SPs!

For reference, my HTPC has the following specs:

Athlon X2 3800+ S939 @2.4ghz
DFI Infinity RS-482 mATX motherboard
1gb PC3200 (2x512mb)
MSI 8500GT 256mb (replaced the super loud fan with a passive cooler scavenged from an Asus 7300GT )

Hooked up to a Samsung HL-T6189S
Vista 32bit
AC3Filter
Haali Media Splitter
Latest MPC-HC build on EVR and lockback buffer set to 3
CoreAVC 1.9.5

Edit: remember to select "Prefer CUDA acceleration" in the CoreAVC options screen. If you enable the tray icon, it'll turn green when CUDA acceleration is working.

Thanks for the data points there. Very interesting.

I'm beginning to think I was wrong about the cards being better at CUDA depending on how 'powerful' the card is. I think I was confusing CUDA with the Badaboom h264 encoding that these cards can also do.

silentio wrote: ↑The minimum card that supports CUDA is an 8000 series card. I suppose they're aiming this software towards single core cpus?

No, not necessarily. A lot of us have older S939 dual core CPUs in otherwise fully functioning machines. With CoreAVC 99% of my movies play back fine without any type of GPU assistance. What bugs me is that that number isn't 100%.
One or two movies that I have are so intensive in certain scenes that the video/audio stutters, or flat-out causes a BSOD. With DXVA and CUDA I can be assured that every h264 encoded mkv file will play back just fine.

Also, now that new ffdshow builds support dolby trueHD too, I can save the CPU to process the audio tracks rather than working at 95% on video alone. I was planning on building a new HTPC with a new mobo, CPU and RAM tihs summer. Now, since I have a young baby, a business to run and a new job, my tie is extremely valuable/scarce. Developments like extended DXVA and CUDA support through CoreAVC/nVidia means one fewer project I feel compelled to get involved in without having the time to do a great job.

fitbrit wrote: ↑
Well... now CoreAVC using nVidia cards and CUDA acceleration eliminates stuttering from all your mkvs.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it removes TEARING from all the mkvs...

Check thread for details:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/show ... ost8958309