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.

These links are referral codes

1gkar

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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

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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 :-)

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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.

These links are referral codes

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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