H.264 Codecs: What Options Are Out There?

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1gkar

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#20747 4-Apr-2008 17:00

Hi,

I am getting the hardware to upgrade my HTPC for Freeview DVB-T(HD). I was reading Scott Bartley's article on High Definition in the latest NZPC World mag & he stated that it would cost $295 for Cyberlink's PowerDVD Ultra. I just about gagged. There must be options rather than purchase an entire suite for which I would only ever use the codecs.

Would these work? http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/cyberstore/order_77_ENU.html

Or maybe buy a Blu-Ray DVD Writer & get a copy of a semi-crippled PowerDVD or Intervideo alternative suite.

Silverstone LC14 HTPC Case/Intel E4600 CPU/GA-EP35-DS3 MOBO/Asus EN9500GT graphics/2GB RAM/total 2TB HDD space/HVR-2200 & 2X 150MCE tuner cards/LG GGC-H20L BD Drive/MCE2005/Mediaportal/TVServer 1.1.0Final/LG 55"3D LED-TV/Denon AVR-1803 receiver/X1 projector

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#121146 4-Apr-2008 17:40

What? First it's not that much - about US$99 from the Cyberlink on their online store. If you hold a bit - I am just in the middle of trying to get a group discount for Geekzone.

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#121153 4-Apr-2008 18:02

freitasm: What? First it's not that much - about US$99 from the Cyberlink on their online store. If you hold a bit - I am just in the middle of trying to get a group discount for Geekzone.

Brilliant move. I'll be waiting in anticipation. All power to you're negotiation skills.

'enter coupon number' FREE

1gkar

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#121161 4-Apr-2008 18:30

Here's one I found on Reven's XMLTVNZ forum. http://www.coreavc.com/ Very cheap, too US$15

geekiegeek

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#121163 4-Apr-2008 18:36

Or it looks like there is a free version of the cyberlink codec in the twinhan digitaltv software - just ignore the "no supported hardware found" dialog.

http://www.twinhan.com/download_driver&software.asp

Not sure if it does hardware decode as I have this and the powerdvd version - but this one doesnt cobflict with other codecs set as mpeg2 decoder in MP - I had an issue with FFDSHOW

sbiddle

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#121170 4-Apr-2008 18:56

If nobody else looks first I'll have a play with this next week when I'm off and see if infact the free download will offer hardware H.264 acceleration.

geekiegeek

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#121171 4-Apr-2008 19:00

surely it must just be a reg key somewhere that turns it on? guess its just a matter of finding it :-)

geekiegeek

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#121249 5-Apr-2008 09:10

I can confirm that in MP using EVR rendering the free codec does do hardware decoding. CPU is at 20-25% on TV3 feed. Guess that saves buying PowerDVD

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sbiddle

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#121254 5-Apr-2008 09:30

That is great news indeed!

1gkar

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#121378 5-Apr-2008 20:22

geekiegeek:
Or it looks like there is a free version of the cyberlink codec in the twinhan digitaltv software - just ignore the "no supported hardware found" dialog.

http://www.twinhan.com/download_driver&software.asp

Not sure if it does hardware decode as I have this and the powerdvd version - but this one doesnt cobflict with other codecs set as mpeg2 decoder in MP - I had an issue with FFDSHOW

Great Find. I'll look forward to testing it when I finally get my upgraded HPTC up & running.

DS248

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#121496 6-Apr-2008 12:38

freitasm: .... I am just in the middle of trying to get a group discount for Geekzone.

PowerCinema included?

Could offer to beta test PC to get it working fully with NZ Freeview.

freitasm

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#121498 6-Apr-2008 12:40

I have access to all Cyberlink software and tried PowerCinema on my Mac mini with a Hauppage WinTV HVR 900... It wouldn't recognise the stick. PowerCinema looks good but it's very limited in the number of cards it actually works with.

eXDee

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#121605 6-Apr-2008 19:40

geekiegeek: I can confirm that in MP using EVR rendering the free codec does do hardware decoding. CPU is at 20-25% on TV3 feed. Guess that saves buying PowerDVD

So if you just regsvr32 each file in the 3rdPartyApp/H264/ folder hardware decoding will work? If you can confirm this, you could simply tell people to download the zip, extract it and register the files, no need to buy cyberlink.

I assume that means you could also take similar files from cyberlink and regsvr32 those as well if you dont need the rest of the program?

Seasport

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#121617 6-Apr-2008 20:36

Sounds good re the hardware H.264 support. Now what I want to know is how can I get my 8500GT GPU doing h/w decoding with DVBviewer under Windows XP? I've spent enough on my ageing media PC without forking out for Vista and PowerDVD.

Has anyone seen this post re h/w decoding under XP

http://www.dvbnetwork.eu/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=26&func=view&id=194&catid=2&limit=20&limitstart=20

Seems you need a non offical ForceWare XP driver 165.01 for the Nvidia GPU.

Any ideas?

1gkar

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#121796 7-Apr-2008 15:01

Seasport: Sounds good re the hardware H.264 support. Now what I want to know is how can I get my 8500GT GPU doing h/w decoding with DVBviewer under Windows XP? I've spent enough on my ageing media PC without forking out for Vista and PowerDVD.

I haven't setup my system yet: am still accruing the hardware but fromwhat I understand XP -or MCE2005- doesn't support H.264 decoding anyway. You need a frontend like Mediaportal for playback; or DVBviewer, which I've never seen. Is there a dedicated forum to the app?

Has anyone seen this post re h/w decoding under XP

http://www.dvbnetwork.eu/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=26&func=view&id=194&catid=2&limit=20&limitstart=20

Seems you need a non offical ForceWare XP driver 165.01 for the Nvidia GPU.

Any ideas?

Have you tried Guru3D drivers. They seem pretty good as an option. I recently tried version 171.23 beta from there & they worked good. The first ones since Nvidia's ver. 84.21 that didn't have the aspect ratio bug for using my X1 projector as a secondary display. http://downloads.guru3d.com/Videocards---NVIDIA-ForceWare-(32-bit)_c10.html Sorry don't have time to investigate.

geekiegeek

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#121798 7-Apr-2008 15:04

eXDee:
geekiegeek: I can confirm that in MP using EVR rendering the free codec does do hardware decoding. CPU is at 20-25% on TV3 feed. Guess that saves buying PowerDVD

So if you just regsvr32 each file in the 3rdPartyApp/H264/ folder hardware decoding will work? If you can confirm this, you could simply tell people to download the zip, extract it and register the files, no need to buy cyberlink.

I assume that means you could also take similar files from cyberlink and regsvr32 those as well if you dont need the rest of the program?

Not sure. I just installed the App. It may be set to use hardware in the app itself - cant tell as you cant launch it without a twinhan card installed. I guess someone could give it a try.

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