FFDShow Settings... What Have You Set ? Advice please :)

jellybeard999

jellybeard999

jellybeard999

Soldato
Joined
7 Feb 2004
Posts
8,232
Location
North East
Righto...

Im running my HTPC - MCE2005, My Movies plugin displaying via TheaterTek DVD with FFDshow processing.

Movies are ripped via DVD Clone, 100% Quality (ie no compression) but Movie Only, and a single soundtrack (AC3 5.1 usually) along with a good few Divx/Xvid which i am slowly replacing.

Running a 720p 26" HDTV, nVidia 6200 graphics via VGA.

I am wondering what to set and what not to set in FFDShow, and what to ?.
What does Dscaler do ? I thought it scaled the movie, but FFDshow has a resize built in... is Dscaler better ?

Thanks, any help appreciated.
 
This is all you should need to do. Leave post-processing alone as it'll apply it to DVD's too, making it look a blurred mess (you only need post processing for low quality avi's)

scaling.jpg


codecs.jpg
 
^^^^ pretty much. you can play around with the settings under the resize page, but thats all down to preference. anything is else really needed:)

i also have no aspect corrections checked rather than keep original apect ratio, it can do some funky things with the video size otherwise:)
 
how do you know if ffdshow is actually being used im running xp pro and using vlc player?
 
Forgot this one, it's the scaling technique.
Oh if you use no aspect ratio correction it'll stretch 4:3 to widescreen, which you don't want.

ffd2.jpg
 
Hi,

You want to scale to the res of your TV, likely 1280x720 or 1366x768 for 720p sets iirc. You also want as many lanczos 'taps' as your CPU can handle. BiCubic is good also (if you ever resize within PS or similar it'll probably be a bicubic resize, may be a little harsh on the CPU though). Don't forget also that some already high-res stuff may be too much for your CPU to resize. For example, certain TV shows are released in 'HR' divx format, which is already close to 720p, you may be best not resizing these (although it is of course subjective - there are no 'perfect' settings for ffdshow, it's down to how you percieve the quality yourself!). Can be set under 'resize if...' within the settings.

DScaler is probably the best deinterlacer and can be used from within ffdshow, I've never really bothered setting it up though as I don't use ffdshow for 1080i material and don't come across much interlaced content (most AVIs have already been deinterlaced, usually via a rubbish method, unfortunately).

[edit] The whole point of ffdshow is to ensure the best possible resize - therefore you want your PC to output to the native res of your panel, ffdshow to resize up to that same res, and the panel to be outputting 1:1, otherwise the whole excersise can be fairly pointless, as if the output doesn't exactly match what the panel wants it'll only resize it again and undo some of your hard work!

Good luck!
 
Thanks, im running an older version of ffdshow, which has the settings above, but a slightly different layout (newer versions dont work with theatertek :rolleyes: )

Panel = 1366x768 , but over vga its 1280x720, im set at that in driver menu etc, with ffdshow scaling to 1280x720. Will experiment with those "tap" things when i get chance :)

No need to do any sharpening or any of that caper ?

Thanks for the advice :cool:
 
If it's a 1366x768 panel and you're feeding it 1280x720, there is scaling going on, unless you have black borders. Worth investigating as this may make a much bigger difference than any ffdshow tweaks. A DVI>HDMI adapter may allow you to run native at 1:1 which would be a good base to start playing with ffdshow from.

Sharpening and blur etc. is all subjective. I tend to leave it off for good quality sources. However, I have a load of friends DVDs, which are awful quality and interlaced. I found that running a good de-interlacer, then applying a slight blur (reduces deinterlace artifacts), resizing and then a slight sharpening gave the best results, albeit at the expense of a slight detail loss. Experiment, no-one here can tell you what will look best on your screen to your eyes.

[edit] 'Taps' are subject to diminishing returns, but it's worth pushing it a bit if you are at low CPU use anyway :)
 
Last edited:
I run ffdshow with MCE and it causes so many problems :( The main one being randomly turning videos upside down! The setting isn't checked, and it's just not funny any more :p
 
How do i ensure its working - step by step please :o ... i enable OSD etc, and i get no data on screen :(
The nVidia decoder ends up in my system tray, despite being disabled in TheaterTek - i think thats somehow taking priority (have it installed for TV etc)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom