A few HTPC questions.

Runningkid · 12 Apr 2009 at 22:11

Hi guys,

Ive got a few questions and hope you can help me out. I've been hearing about Hardware Decoding a lot and I was wondering does the software for utilising this come with the graphics card? Or is it with the blu-ray drive? Or with the motherboard (780G chipset with hd3200)? Or do I have to purchase it?

Also, is Hardware acceleration supported in Windows XP or only vista?

Thanks,

RK

KingZeddy · 12 Apr 2009 at 22:21

hardware decoding is built into some video cards hardware acceleration is in xp and vista

fobose · 12 Apr 2009 at 23:16

You will need a codec that suppports hardware acceleration such as the one that comes with PowerDVD. Obviously the GPU used needs to support hardware decoding aswell.

PowerDVD is supplied with some (if not all?) bluray drives. In the PowerDVD options you can enable hardware acceleration via a tick box. Without the tickbox enabled my CPU usage was around 50%, but with the tick box enabled it dropped down to 5-7% (using PowerDVD as the player that is).

Grimley · 12 Apr 2009 at 23:20

If you're using a low power CPU to playback 1080p media files try Core AVC.

rob77 · 13 Apr 2009 at 00:15

I use Media play classic home cinema which is free and uses GPU acceleration for my mkv files. Theres an great guide here http://www.guru3d.com/article/accelerate-x264-1080p-movies-over-the-gpu-guide/ on how to set it up and what is needed.

fobose · 13 Apr 2009 at 11:43

I've been using media player classic (not the home cinema version) and coreAVC (although I have haali splitter, AC3 filter and powerDVD installed too) and playback has been fine but the CPU is highly loaded.

I just tried that guide using MPC home cinema but I cant get it to offload to my intel GMA x4500HD. The sound also only works in some .mkv movies too, others it just hisses loudly

Runningkid · 13 Apr 2009 at 22:00

Thanks for the replies guys. So to make use of my GPU for decoding I will need either a software with the codecs supplied such as PowerDVD (which is supplied with most blu ray drives?) or use the MPC method?

Because my main worry is that if the blu ray drive doesnt come with a software like powerdvd, then I will be using just raw cpu power. Since I am going (most probably) with a 5050e I think i may not have enough decoding power.

So just to confirm, the MPC method (if I manage to get it working) does not need anything except a GPU that supports ahrdware decoding (in my case it would be the 3200 on the motherboard)?

freddie64 · 14 Apr 2009 at 09:04

The 5050e should be ok, my mate uses a 4850e on a Gigabyte 780g mobo and he plays Blu-ray fine.

One thing to be aware of, the supplied PowerDVD will probabley only do 2.1/Stereo sound.

Runningkid · 14 Apr 2009 at 16:28

ok thank you guys, especially rob77 for linking to that great guide. Going to get it built soon, let's hope everything goes well!

Lanz · 14 Apr 2009 at 16:50

My 780G uses about 3% CPU when running 720p MKVs, this is with powerdvd, MPC or the Win7 built in codec. So you're blurays will be fine if your system is configured correctly.