HD PVR Playback in Vista/7

[424justin]

As most of us with HD PVRs are largely aware, hardware acceleration is not an option when playing back HD PVR recordings in BTV under Windows Vista / 7.

This leaves the heavy lifting up to the CPU.

So my question is, what CPUs are people using in their link/server boxes to do this CPU-intensive decoding?

The point would be to develop an extensive list of user experiences with varying CPUs (AMD and Intel) so that people that are thinking about building Link boxes to playback HD PVR content can choose an appropriate CPU for their system.

(For example: will an AMD Athlon II x2 245 handle playback?)

I'm currently using the CoreAVC decoder alongside either Core 2 Duo E7400s or an E6600 in my link machines and CPU usage hovers around 40% with no issues to speak of.

[424justin]

Rather surprising that either :

(a) people are by-and-large not using Windows Vista / 7, Beyond TV and the Hauppauge HD PVR in combination

or

(b) unwilling to share their CPU-specific playback experiences to help in the decision-making process for others building Link boxes.

[ZetaVu]

I've had no issues playing back HD PVR's down to an x2 3800 (which pretty much maxes out, so nothing else goes on). W7 eats a lot more background resources, I turn off indexing and a lot of the extra crap I never use in W7, that helps.

The issue with H.264 HW accel is W7 needs EVR to do it, stupid if you ask me. Zoom, SAge, and even TME can work with EVR, hopefully SS is planning to fix this in the next development cycle. W7 seems to be successfully growing and I see it overtaking vista early next year, XP not too long after that, so SS will definitely have to address the EVR issue if they plan on sticking around (which they plan on).

[HomeyFour]

Originally Posted by 424justin

So my question is, what CPUs are people using in their link/server boxes to do this CPU-intensive decoding?

My Core 2 Duo (I have 2 of them) play back HD-PVR files just fine in Windows 7. My Atom 330 ION box will NOT play back HD-PVR in Windows 7 (as you stated, no hardware support without EVR) but plays back fine in XP.

I think that the majority of folks using Beyond TV for HTPCs are in no rush to upgrade from XP - I only upgraded because the graphics chipset needs Vista or better to playback Blu Ray on my BTV server, and the other box (a Link box) is only Windows 7 because it needed a reformat and I said what the heck and loaded up 7 - otherwise it would also have XP on it.

[424justin]

Thanks for the replies, being able to get away with an x2 3800 is a little surprising to me -- but encouraging.

My most immediate dilemma is that I want to build small, quiet and cool microATX system for playback (at my in-laws, actually) of HD PVR files that I have recorded in my setup. I was eyeing an Athlon II x2 245, but don't want it to fall short on performace.

I was aware that BTV had no support for EVR and that's why hardware acceleration wasn't an option in Vista & 7. With the ever shortening life span for support of XP people may be interested in upgrading to 7 (especially on PCs that serve more than a single, HTPC purpose) and would also like to know what kind of CPU is going to be necessary.

[Zogg]

The Athlon II X2 245 should work fine but you could always go with a Phenom II X2 to get the L3 cache. Couple that with a 785G motherboard and you'll do fine.

You might check out the Acer Aspire Revo AR1600 though. It would fit the bill very well.

[jrandeck]

I got a couple of sample clips from Zogg and I can say that my Celeron 450 link box won't play back HD-PVR files very well using the Snapstream codec. I don't have the Arcsoft one and can't get Cyberlink's to show up in BTV, so that's all I have to go on.

[Zogg]

Look in the HDPVR software forum at SHPVR for a link to download the CD which contains TME. On my early CD you don't need an HDPVR connected to install TME which gives you the Arcsoft codec. Not sure about this version but worth a shot.

[ZetaVu]

I got TME to work in W7 with the newer version (SHPVR's disk) but the original was incompatible with W7. Either of the last two versions of TME work with hardware acceleration in W7. Any of the TME versions will install a working arcsoft codec in BTV, but none will provide hardware acceleration in W7. They will improve playback regardless over the SS codec, so you should install them.

Also, the Acer AR1600 works fine in xp (it comes with that default) because it has hardware acceleration, if you upgrade to W7 it doesn't play as well. It has the Atom 230, the AR3610 has the Atom 330 and comes with W7 installed, I believe that one handles H.264 even without the hardware acceleration.

Hopefully everyone using W7 will keep pestering SS and they will work on EVR, it is within their scope of development (as it will apply to enterprise as well) its just a matter of convincing them that it is a short term priority.

[Wolfie351]

Originally Posted by ZetaVu

the AR3610 has the Atom 330 and comes with W7 installed, I believe that one handles H.264 even without the hardware acceleration.

Mine doesn't, it stutters every 5 seconds or so and I tried every decoder available.

[RiderFan]

I've read several posts refering to EVR.

Is this something you download like a CODEC?

Please enlighten me. I did a few google searches, but I am still unclear.

Thanx

[ZetaVu]

From what I understand, EVR is more like a new type of overlay. It doesn't work with BTV's viewscape, so they need a rewrite to fix it. Most other programs have modified to work with it.

[424justin]

Originally Posted by Wolfie351

Mine doesn't, it stutters every 5 seconds or so and I tried every decoder available.

I wonder if you have tried CoreAVC as the codec for playback in BTV?

The new versions of CoreAVC support CUDA and Physx, which is also apparently supported by nVidia's ION chipset. I wonder if this would be a workaround for the lack of EVR support in BTV and the playback of HD PVR files in Vista or 7.

Would be interesting if there was a way to get HD PVR files to get playing back well with Atom-based nettops.

[HomeyFour]

Originally Posted by 424justin

I wonder if you have tried CoreAVC as the codec for playback in BTV?

The new versions of CoreAVC support CUDA and Physx, which is also apparently supported by nVidia's ION chipset. I wonder if this would be a workaround for the lack of EVR support in BTV and the playback of HD PVR files in Vista or 7.

I thought the same thing and tried it, but the BTV ViewScape crashes immediately when I try to play a show with that CODEC. I don't remember who it was, but someone else here had the same problem...

[Wolfie351]

Originally Posted by 424justin

I wonder if you have tried CoreAVC as the codec for playback in BTV?

The new versions of CoreAVC support CUDA and Physx, which is also apparently supported by nVidia's ION chipset. I wonder if this would be a workaround for the lack of EVR support in BTV and the playback of HD PVR files in Vista or 7.

Would be interesting if there was a way to get HD PVR files to get playing back well with Atom-based nettops.

I tried it, didn't work. Don't recall which version it was though, I'm sure it was a "newer" version, but maybe not the newest. When Acer finally decides to send me my restore disc, I can try again (I wiped the drive and installed XP)