Thumbs up for Nvidia's new DVD decoder

[Josch]

I have had several configurations since I tried BTV 3.4 over a year ago. I ran in the beta 3.5 program, and saw it through to the final 'Gold' release (running it now). And I must admit, I thought I had the picture quality to the point where it was the best you could get with it. So then I had posted this string to tell about how I specifically got it as good as I did: So far, 3.5 smooth as SILK w/ Nvidia!

But about a week ago, I (just for kicks) went to the Nvidia website, and downloaded the Nvidia hardware DVD decoder (ver 1.00.58). And all I can say is WoW! This particular decoder wouldn't work in overlay mode (which was the only way I could get decent PQ before with all the other software decoders), so I had to set it to 3D accelerated mode for this new decoder, because if you tried it in overlay it would always open a separate pink window when you tried to play recordings or liveTV. So, in 3D accel mode, it worked great and the picture is not all washed out like with all the other decoders. I'm using DirectXc and it works great (no missed frames- except for the first 10 seconds of startup into viewing the show there is maybe 2-3 lost frames, but after 10 seconds the playback is totally smooth). But wow, the picture REALLY sharpened up a lot! It is just as sharp as the regular Satellite TV not going through the PC. It is simply amazing. I thought it was pretty good before (maybe I was possibly kidding myself before)? But Now all I can say it's simply amazing. Fast motion scenes are absolutely perfect in quality (no smearing at all). I'm so happy I decided to make this $20 upgrade. The encoder, I guess works with any video card that supports hardware decoding. That's what it said in the Nvidia FAQ page for the decoder. I'll try to post some screen shots if I can (if they turn out)

[Josch]

Here's a screen shot that's alright to demonstrate. My camera doesn't do it justice, as I didn't have a tripod. (You can see the OSD even looks a tad bit fuzzy). But it still kinda gives an idea of the detail. This was from just a standard 27" color TV. I would've gotten a picture of it on my 120" bigscreen too, only I got that system taken down because I'm in the process of moving.

[Jobo]

I think you just like looking at Rachel Hunter, I heard she's got it going on.


Anyway, I keep hearing the nVidia decoder is pretty nice. I have not tried it out yet, but I gues I should give it a try.

Thanks for post.

[Josch]

Yeah, as long as your vid card supports hardware decoding. I don't know how well it'll work if you run the decoder in software mode as I haven't tried it on that mode yet.

Yeah, I'm lovin my BTV now more than ever


PS- She DOES have it going on. Seems really smart too

[Jobo]

OK, which cards support hardware decoding (besides the PVR350)?

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by Jobo

OK, which cards support hardware decoding (besides the PVR350)?

Don't even bring the 350 into the equation. It's on-board mpeg decoder doesn't work with BTV (yet).

They are talking about video cards.

[Jobo]

Originally Posted by Rich A

They are talking about video cards.

Oops, missed that, thanks.

As far as I know there aren't too many. And the one's that exist are pretty pricey. I don't think there are any from ATI or nVidia in the Radeon / FX series. Or are there?

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by Jobo

Oops, missed that, thanks.

As far as I know there aren't too many. And the one's that exist are pretty pricey. I don't think there are any from ATI or nVidia in the Radeon / FX series. Or are there?

Actually all FX and up Nvidia cards have hardware exceleration (DXVA). I am not as sure about the ATi Cards but I think anything 9xxx an above does too. It takes usually takes the faster fx-5700 or Ati9600 and above cards to do overlay properly though. I just put an FX-5500 in my system, which is sort of a hotrod 5200 with a 128 bit 256k memory bus. It will do overlay with the older Nvidia 2.55 codec. I may just have to try out the newer one in the future.

[CollinR]

Just downloaded this, am I missing something? I don't see how to activate it. It doesn't appear in any of the settings, frontend or webadmin?

TIA,
Collin

[Rich A]

Originally Posted by davefred99

Actually all FX and up Nvidia cards have hardware exceleration (DXVA). I am not as sure about the ATi Cards but I think anything 9xxx an above does too. It takes usually takes the faster fx-5700 or Ati9600 and above cards to do overlay properly though. I just put an FX-5500 in my system, which is sort of a hotrod 5200 with a 128 bit 256k memory bus. It will do overlay with the older Nvidia 2.55 codec. I may just have to try out the newer one in the future.

Isn't Hardware Accerlation and and mpeg de-coding two different things?

[Josch]

In order for it to show up in your codecs, you must ad the command to the customsettings.xml file. I don't have the command string here, as I'm using my laptop away from home right now so I can't look to see it. There is another thread let me try to find it... ...ahh, here, I found it on the other post here:

"For anyone else who sees this, you need to find the CustomSettings.xml file., and after the line that says <type>Decoder</type>, paste this:

<Item>
<PropertyCollection>
<Property>
<Name>Guid</Name>
<Value>71E4616A-DB5E-452B-8CA5-71D9CC7805E9</Value>
</Property>
<Property>
<Name>Filter Name</Name>
<Value>NVIDIA Video Decoder</Value>
</Property>
<Property>
<Name>DMO</Name>
<Value>FALSE</Value>
</Property>
</PropertyCollection>
</Item>

"

Ad that to the customsettings.xml file, then it will show up.

[Josch]

By the way, to do this, you first close the BTV icon in the bottom right of taskbar. Then open the customsettings.xml file using notepad, paste the above command, so it fits in just like all the other codec's commands, then save the file so that when you re-run BTV it will lookup the new tables in the file and recognize that it needs to include that codec.

[CollinR]

Thanks a bunch man! That is a big improvment.

[k_kirk]

This is the "NVIDIA DVD Decoder" right? Is there a trial download somewhere? I could not see it listed on the NVidia site. Would like to give it a try if possible before buying.

Update - Nevermind. Temptation got the better of me and I bought it. In the process of installing it now.

[dougyndot]

There is a link on their home page, but here's the decoder page:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

I spent the 20 bucks and it works great. Since installing 3.5 I've had various quality problems and done most of the hacks and tweaks found on the boards. I installed the new NVidia decoder and then BTV 3.5, made the customsettings.xml change and it worked great first time! No tweaking needed, and the picture is virtually the same as the regular TV.

We'll see how a football game or old NASCAR race goes tomorrow.