ffdshow with Mediaportal

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1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 31444 17-Mar-2009 21:04

OK. Who's using ffdshow for MP upscaling of media files & possibly TV playback?

I have it set up OK for use with media file upscaling. Can get my 672x*-720x* XVid files upscaled to my LCDTV's res: 1360x768 with very good viewing quality, but leave my BD transcoded *.mkv rips untouched.

What I want to achieve is the following:

1) lower res media file uscaling: achieved

2) upscaling of Prime TV only. I can achieve this with setting ffdshow raw filter inside 'MP>config>Television>Postporcessing' area. Only, I can't get the 'profiles' area of ffdshow figured out. I need to set a profile so it activates only the Prime channel's lower res. Anyone got this working? Have tried setting a profile with the condition of using fourCC match with both x.264 & H.264 set. Didn't work.

3) Is it at all feasible to set profiles for ffdshow activation of certain TV channels but leave the other channels using the Nvidia hardware acceleration? Or is it all or nothing? As TV3's higher res causes stutter from maxing out the CPU.

Then:

There's Avisynth. Can anyone answer this: does using AVS scripting reduce CPU useage compared with setting the options in ffdshow's panel? In other words: is it a better solution within ffdshow?

One issue I have noticed: using the chapter buttons, I have to use ff>15seconds otherwise the video hangs but the audio continues.Anyone else suffering this???

[rant]God, I wish this forum had a proper preview option. I hate writing long posts here.[\rant]

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1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 203765 27-Mar-2009 17:07

OK. I'm partially there. As there appears to be some interest in this subject, & I hate leaving uncompleted threads, I will elaborate on my settings.

I have got the video side of things sorted.

I don't set the ffdshow raw video filter inside the MP config>movies>post processing area as recommended in the WIKI. A lot of my research was determined using this thread.

Instead, I simply set up a single default profile that utilises the options inside the profiles area of ffdshow.

I have set my resize to my screen's resolution simply because I prefer to minimise the CPU load & set the extra loading to the filters like Sharpen, Blur & NR, etc.

I have set 'resize if...' so 'x' won't resize on anything larger than 1200 & 'y' to 800. This will prevent my Blu-ray transcodes to activate the resize profile. Notice I have changed the centre box from 'or' to 'and'. You could also change the less than [<] boxes to greater than [>]. I set 'y' to this figure because standard DVD uses a standard PAL resolution of 720x576. It is an arbitrary figure, to a degree.

There is debate as to which filter is best to use: Spline or Lanzcos. I am still experimenting. Same with the luma & Chroma sharpening. Blur & NR is disabled in these images, but have since set this filter active with a minimal increase in CPU load.

Here is the profile setup. You can see I have used a FourCC match with both XVid & DivX, as my lower resolution DVD transcodes are all done with these encoders.

So what happens: when I want to watch a movie or TV programme rip inside Mediaportal, I start it up & anything ripped with Xvid or DivX at a resolution lower than HD, it will be upscaled to the set resolution; in this case, 1360x768. With the sharpening & Blur filters, it does give a better perceived PQ when watching from normal viewing distance. About 31/2 metres for me.

Next: I have to get Prime upscaled whilst leaving the FreeviewHD channels untouched. ffdshow is still used as the video decoder & my CPU load is around 30-45% on these channels with no filters set. This allows perfect viewing with no stutter or audio synch issues.

Here is proof that the settings work. Below you can see from the Graphedit filter chains that the Blu-ray HD MKV rip does not activate ffdshow codec, so retaining the GPU's video acceleration.

kiwijunglist

2812 posts

Uber Geek

# 203927 28-Mar-2009 22:51

i had the same idea, however i found that install ffdshow messed up play back of some videos even though i had set it up to not load. eventually i gave up. might give it another go after i ghost my install again.

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1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 203955 29-Mar-2009 11:18

kiwijunglist:

i had the same idea, however i found that install ffdshow messed up play back of some videos even though i had set it up to not load. eventually i gave up. might give it another go after i ghost my install again.

I know what you mean. I have had similar issues over time. The version of ffdshow I am using here seems to be a lot better at loading when designated, but I haven't really tested it out with other players. I mainly use Zoomplayer outside of MP & have set ffdshow in ZP's blacklist config so they don't load, also.

Get the version of ffdshow from the software package off the sit I have linked in my second post, third paragraph.

stevenz

2785 posts

Uber Geek

# 203958 29-Mar-2009 11:29

Isn't Mediaportal based off XBMC and hence uses the mplayer libraries, not directshow, thereby rendering ffdshow obsolete?

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 203963 29-Mar-2009 11:54

stevenz: Isn't Mediaportal based off XBMC and hence uses the mplayer libraries, not directshow, thereby rendering ffdshow obsolete?

I'm confused: obselete, how?

kiwijunglist

2812 posts

Uber Geek

# 204057 29-Mar-2009 20:59

I installed ffdshow, i found all the processing settings made video look worse.
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/manual/Postprocessing

The video i was looking at was some xvid sienfeld episodes. I found it produced artifacts around the edges, particularly the resize function.

1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 204129 30-Mar-2009 10:02

I also found the default settings on the WIKI to be less than desirable.

Look at 2nd image in my 2nd post & set to those.

Also, in Blur & NR, set only: check Denoise3d & HQ. =Luma: 4.00; Chroma: 3.00; time: 6.00

in Sharpen: use xsharpen. I have left at default at present.

Please remember these are very experimental at this stage, as I am still working on getting Prime TV to resize. When I have accomplished that, I will then work on my filter tweaks. Aslo remember that the order of the filters can affect the image & CPU load.