Most efficient decoder for H264?

Scottland · 24 Jan 2010 at 19:55

Hi Just wondering which is the most efficient codec for H264, i.e. low CPU usage.

I'm currently using MPC-HC with FFDShow, tried the DXVA option but it had problems issues whereby it wouldn't resume from pause and seek didn't work.

This is under W7 btw...

Any better to use?

dbmzk1 · 24 Jan 2010 at 20:15

CoreAVC is the most efficient CPU based decoder, plus and supports CUDA (hardware like DXVA), but it's not free.

32-bit MPC-HC is by far the best choice though, free or otherwise. You don't need FFDShow, or any other piece of software.

mrk · 25 Jan 2010 at 01:29

You probably have the EVR settings incorrect and/or a conflicting codec installed too.

Post screenshots of the EVR output settings page?

DXVA via internal decoding should load instantly, much faster in MPC than any external decoder like ffdshow/divx/coreavc.

siumatfung · 25 Jan 2010 at 03:27

i just use CCCP never had any issues sometime had to switch between mpc and mp

Scottland · 25 Jan 2010 at 08:29

dbmzk1 said:
CoreAVC is the most efficient CPU based decoder, plus and supports CUDA (hardware like DXVA), but it's not free.

32-bit MPC-HC is by far the best choice though, free or otherwise. You don't need FFDShow, or any other piece of software.

Yeah I've used CoreAVC before, but don't really fancy paying for it to be honest.

mrk said:
You probably have the EVR settings incorrect and/or a conflicting codec installed too.

Post screenshots of the EVR output settings page?

DXVA via internal decoding should load instantly, much faster in MPC than any external decoder like ffdshow/divx/coreavc.

I'll do that later when I'm home, cheers.

I did notice that using WMP12 resulted in <20% CPU usage, which was at least as good if not better than DXVA in MPC-HC.

This was with a 720P mkv...

OzZie · 25 Jan 2010 at 09:10

DXVA should yield <5% usage when working correctly.

Download Splash Player (Lite) and make sure hardware decoding is enabled. Monitor your CPU usage to get a rough idea of what it should be like. On my quad, it averages out at 1-2%, with the jump when fullscreening etc.

Scottland · 25 Jan 2010 at 09:20

This is only a CULV laptop, so I'd imagine sub 5% would be optimistic for 720P content

NathanE · 25 Jan 2010 at 09:45

I use the PowerDVD H.264 decoder because it seems to be the only codec that can play 1080p on the following hardware:

1.8Ghz C2D (the original E6300).
Geforce 7600GS

Getting a Q6600 soon though so should be able to use standard multi-threaded decoding offered by FFmpeg that's built-in to MPC-HC.

To be honest I prefer VLC as it just works with all files but you really need a powerful CPU to make 1080p work. Can't wait for them to add multi-threading.

wolvers · 25 Jan 2010 at 16:35

Scottland said:
This is under W7 btw...

What's the usage like with the MS decoder? It should be pretty low. You can play mkv and avi in media center if you register the splitters from the MPC-HC standalone filters pack.

Minimal codecs is how I roll these days. ffdshow is only used to bitstream HD audio to the amp.

mrk · 25 Jan 2010 at 16:38

Scottland said:
This is only a CULV laptop, so I'd imagine sub 5% would be optimistic for 720P content

On my Dell 13z (SU ULV 7300 cpu) cpu usage was around 10% on 1080p content via mpc-hc using DXVA!

Scottland · 25 Jan 2010 at 17:03

Really? Impressive!

mrk · 25 Jan 2010 at 17:36

X4500MHD is a hardware based decoder so should work that way

Scottland · 25 Jan 2010 at 20:14

Ok, there are the EVR output settings then?

mrk · 25 Jan 2010 at 20:16

Where are they?

Furton · 25 Jan 2010 at 20:19

wolvers69 said:
What's the usage like with the MS decoder? It should be pretty low. You can play mkv and avi in media center if you register the splitters from the MPC-HC standalone filters pack.

Minimal codecs is how I roll these days. ffdshow is only used to bitstream HD audio to the amp.

Do you mean you can use the built in x264 codec of W7 in WMC? More details please

Scottland · 25 Jan 2010 at 20:26

mrk said:
Where are they?

Sorry, where are they?

mrk · 25 Jan 2010 at 20:28

You said there they are but asked a question at the end

Scottland · 25 Jan 2010 at 20:33

mrk said:
You said there they are but asked a question at the end

I meant where are the EVR output settings!

mrk · 25 Jan 2010 at 20:33

You want my settings?

Scottland · 25 Jan 2010 at 20:40

You said to post screenshots of the EVR settings page, I'm asking where the EVR settings are

Although I'll take your settings if you're offering, this Asus is pretty similar in spec to the 13z...