CoreAVC 2.0 issues

[-Kh-]

Hi, I downloaded an encode from UnAnime Corp, and had some playback problems:

Spoiler for screenshot:

I asked them in their comments, they said that it was because I was probably still using CoreAVC 1, that I should update to 2.0

After getting the new version and installing, the video played perfectly, however I started having problems with the Explorer, when trying to open my Video folder an Explorer error would occur and said it had to be restarted. Basically I was unable to browse the files because of this, although they would still play if I somehow managed to click on them before the error message.

Uninstalling the coded didn't solve the problem, however a System Restore did, currently I don't have any Explorer problems, but I'm still unable to watch any CoreAVC 2.0 encodes without any artifacts.

So does anyone know what should I do to have CoreAVC 2.0 run properly? Do I need to uninstall any previous codecs before I install this new version, or should I do something else?

My system: Vista 32b, C2D 6600 @2.4, 4GB ram, HD3870.

Thanks.

[synaesthetic]

You didn't get CoreAVC 2.0 from a uh... unofficial source, did you?

That blocking does look like the same problem I had with CoreAVC 1.9.5 and new x264 encodes. When I updated to CoreAVC 2.0, I made sure to uninstall and remove all traces of previous CoreAVC versions before installing the new codec.

This is usually a good idea before installing new codecs.

[-Kh-]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try again uninstalling every other version before.

[SeijiSensei]

Try SMPlayer and see if this solves your problems.

[-Kh-]

Surprising, I didn't have any problems with this player, even tho there's still blocking when played with MPC-HC 1.3.2121

Thanks SeijiSensei

[TCman]

Originally Posted by -Kh-

Surprising, I didn't have any problems with this player, even tho there's still blocking when played with MPC-HC 1.3.2121

Thanks SeijiSensei

Hi,

recently, I was searching some info about x264 codecs at Doom9's forum and found this: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.ph...81#post1412281

It's suggested that H.264 AVC videos encoded with "--open-gop display" will show this kind of artifacts when playing back these videos with CoreAVC 2.0 decoder with or without CUDA enabled.

For the time-being, you can use divx 7/8 H.264 decoder or ffdshow for watching H.264 AVC videos with similar issues.

Hope this info is helpful to you,

Good luck!

[namaiki]

Originally Posted by -Kh-

Surprising, I didn't have any problems with this player, even tho there's still blocking when played with MPC-HC 1.3.2121

Have you made sure that CoreAVC is actually being used with MPC-HC?

Please open the affected video in MPC-HC and tell what is inside the menu - Play-> Filters.

The above issue could be caused by DXVA on ATi.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by -Kh-

Surprising, I didn't have any problems with this player, even tho there's still blocking when played with MPC-HC 1.3.2121

That's because SMPlayer is a stand-alone player. MPC-HC, on the other hand, is probably using Core AVC to decode the file.

Did you update Core AVC to ver. 2.0?

[Dante of the Inferno]

Unrelated to -Kh-'s particular problem:

I had CoreAVC 2.0 installed on my laptop (2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR2 RAM, Windows 7 x64) last night, and I have noticed some side-effects.

1. It now rejects playing certain mp4 and flv files (crashes MPC-HC before playing or plays audio but not video). I have a feeling this now has to do with the codecs of the files, as they previously played perfectly with my combination of CCCP and K-Lite.

2. CPU usage during playback is through the roof when skipping around the playable mp4 files, and the video lags a bit as it tries to resynch with the audio. My friend had said that CoreAVC functions similar to streaming. As such, that may provide smoother playback, but I don't want that to be at the cost of CPU and the ability to skip around the video.


Any ideas as to what is causing this? If so, please list any ways to correct it.

[namaiki]

Originally Posted by Dante of the Inferno

laptop

What is the GPU of your laptop?

Originally Posted by Dante of the Inferno

codecs - CCCP and K-Lite.

Please uninstall all codec packs and then install the latest CCCP beta. Open the CCCP Settings application and tick the CoreAVC box on the first page and then click next and apply. Make sure to use the MPC-HC that comes with CCCP and that CCCP has installed.

Originally Posted by Dante of the Inferno

at the cost of CPU and the ability to skip around the video.

If you use CoreAVC's CUDA thing, CPU usage will be lower, but I think it seeks slower. If it doesn't seek slower, then you have nothing to care about.
If you don't have a recent nVidia GPU (generally GeForce 8x00 or newer), then don't worry about this point.

[Dante of the Inferno]

Originally Posted by namaiki

What is the GPU of your laptop?


Please uninstall all codec packs and then install the latest CCCP beta. Open the CCCP Settings application and tick the CoreAVC box on the first page and then click next and apply. Make sure to use the MPC-HC that comes with CCCP and that CCCP has installed.



If you use CoreAVC's CUDA thing, CPU usage will be lower, but I think it seeks slower. If it doesn't seek slower, then you have nothing to care about.
If you don't have a recent nVidia GPU (generally GeForce 8x00 or newer), then don't worry about this point.

Alright, I uninstalled the previous codecs, and installed the new CCCP beta, and it works well enough. There is, however, one issue that pops up when I try to play my higher-definition files. The CPU still goes through the roof (especially when playing "Skittles"). My video card is an NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, which shows up as a CUDA-compatible card. I enabled the "CUDA-preferred" option in CoreAVC and the "show in tray" option. However, I still don't see it anywhere. Do I need to do anything in particular to enable CUDA?

I'm installing the latest driver. I'll edit this post with the results.


EDIT/UPDATE:

So, updating the driver worked FOR THE MOST PART. "CUDA preferred" option is enabled in CoreAVC. CUDA now works when it deems it necessary, and the MPC-HC now runs no higher than 19%. HOWEVER, there are some files that fall apart with this setting. It seems that it will only run when CUDA is DISABLED (i.e. the file actually requires 45%+ CPU to run) or else it falls apart. (It also requires that DXVA H264 in CCCP setting be disabled).


Here are the file details (using MediaInfo):

MPEG-4(Base Media/Version 2): 517 MiB, 4mn 40s
1 video stream: AVC
1 audio stream: AAC

First video stream:
English, 15.3 Mbps, 1920*1080 (16:9), at 29.970 fps, AVC (NTSC) (Main@L4.2) (CABAC/3 Ref Frames)

First audio stream:
English, 15 Kbps, 48.0 KHz, 2 channels, AAC (Version 4) (LC)



CUDA apparently also causes large mkv files (1080p RAWs in particular) to lag severely as well.


Is it just that the graphics card isn't powerful enough, or could it be something else?

[NvIon]

It's not the GPU or decoder hardware that lacks power, it's the lack of GPU memory, 256MB is just barely enough to store the decoded frames, especially if it's 1080P L5.1 16 reference frames encodes. It could also be bugs in CoreAVC, which isn't new since even their software decoder is well known to be buggy, weightp encodes anyone and recently open-gop issues.

The VP2 decoder ASIC in the NVS 140M does all the decoding job just fine, btw, even H.264 L5.1 16 reference frames encodes have been supported by the Nvidia drivers since 2008. Of course, it's old hardware and isn't as good or powerful as the newer VP4 decoder ASIC found in newer Nvidia DX11 GPUs, but VP2 should be more than enough for 40Mbps H.264 streams.

[Dark Shikari]

Originally Posted by NvIon

It's not the GPU or decoder hardware that lacks power, it's the lack of GPU memory, 256MB is just barely enough to store the decoded frames, especially if it's 1080P L5.1 16 reference frames encodes.

((1080 * 1920 * 1.5 * 16) / 1024) / 1024 = 47.4609375

47.5 megabytes is not very close to 256 megabytes.

[Dante of the Inferno]

Ok, some time has passed, and I updated my computer with the latest K-Lite, CCCP, and MPC-HC programs, codecs, and filters. After doing so, most stuff plays fine. It's when I try to play the 1080p files that I run into a snag.

Each 1080p file I try to play suffers severe lag (audio only bothers to run for about a second before it just gives up trying to follow the stuttering video). MPC-HC also says "playing DXVA" for each file, even though the CCCP settings do not have the DXVA box checked. I tried checking that box, but the result was the same. I noticed that the CPU wasn't that exhausted (the range was about 19-37%). CoreAVC is enabled in both cases.

The computer statistics are still the same (2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M, 4GB DDR2 RAM, Windows 7 x64). Any ideas on how to fix this?

[namaiki]

I can't imagine what kind of mess is installed on your computer at the moment...

Please uninstall any copies of MPC-HC, all codec packs, restart, re-install CCCP and--
Go to the CCCP Homepage, click Webchat and link to this thread.