Windows Deinterlacing performance Core i3/AMD A6 without DXVA

Hi there,

I've already read serveral threads here and need some help with the setup for my new HTPC:

Mainly I'am planning to use it for Live TV streams of 1080i TS from my Dreambox. At the moment this job is done by an old iMac from 2008.
VDADecode does not work in this situation because the streams are interlaced, so the CPU has to do all the job and this is too much for that machine

The new HTCP will be a Windows machine, so can somebody state something about the CPU load of an Core i3 or AMD A6 when decoding 1080i streams without DXVA? I want to build a SFF HTPC without a discrete GPU but regarding the form factor of the case and the noise it is also quite important that the wokload of the CPU is as low as possible.

I know that decoding of 1080p material will hardly stress none type of that CPU

Regards

Stephan

If you set the render method to DXVA (leaving DXVA2 disabled), the load on the CPU will be about the same as playing progressive content. It allows the player to use the GPU for deinterlacing. The A6 isn't as strong for CPU only decode. But if you're going with new hardware in a SFF htpc, why not use DXVA2? It minimizes heat and power consumption.

(2012-10-05 14:37)nelson01 Wrote:  If you set the render method to DXVA (leaving DXVA2 disabled), the load on the CPU will be about the same as playing progressive content. It allows the player to use the GPU for deinterlacing. The A6 isn't as strong for CPU only decode. But if you're going with new hardware in a SFF htpc, why not use DXVA2? It minimizes heat and power consumption.

I've read here that DXVA2 can cause problems (macroblocks,etc.) so I would like to go without it because the CPU's are so powerful today.

With 1080p stuff this will not be a show stopper, but I've seen a huge CPU load when the CPU has to decode the 1080i stuff....

Am i totally wrong?

No, it depends on the type of media you're playing back. I get macroblocking on high bitrate streams ripped directly from the bluray containing 3 or more reference frames, but on compressed files i have, i get no trouble at all. This is using ati and nvidia hardware. The intel hardware decoding isn't as stable, unless you're using an hd 4000. Switching the render mode to dxva while leaving dxva2 disabled lowers cpu cycles for me. I get about 20% load on an intel core i3 3200t while playing 1080i untouched bluray content (planet earth, moribito). The bitrates are close to 30mbps.

You get 20% load when playing with or without dxva/dxva2?

I'm confused regarding dxva/dxva2? I've read that XBMC only supports dxva2?!

Any clarification is welcome :-)

Just use dxva2...

I have played a video on a phenom x4 with out it and it played fine but I did get Macroblocking on some scenes in particular but then I enabled dxva2 and problem solved.

Here is what I did to my Intel and AMD PC.....

Intel:
-Render Method= Software
-DXVA2= disabled (Sandy Bridge and iVy don't need it)

AMD:
-Render Method= DXVA
-DXVA2= enable

With the configurations above, it can playback blu-ray disc 1080P video and bitstreaming HD audio fluently.....