[bznotins]

I was hoping I could get some feedback here, sorry for the newb questions if they have been asked and answered before. I have searched, but there is a haystack of info out there and the needles I do find seem to be stale.

Anyways, first my setup:

Core i3 2300
8GB RAM
Gigabyte Z68 Mobo
OCZ Vertex SATA2 SSD
Gigabit Ethernet (Wired) from a SMB server (where all the media is stored)
Using HD2000 HDMI out to Onyko TX-SR608 then to Samsung UN55C6300
XBMC Eden downloaded yesterday, AEON MQ3 Skin downloaded today
Video settings:
- Render method forced DXVA
- Allow hardware acceleration checked
- Adjust display refresh rate to match video OFF
- Sync Playback to Display OFF

[takes a breath]

First, I was thrilled to find that XBMC can play BD ISOs. And they play buttery smooth on my system. But periodically I get coloured "snow" on the screen. Best described with this screenshot:



The CPU usage seems quite low and DXVA2 is kicking. Is there something I'm doing wrong that results in that "snow"?

As a follow-up, I tried setting the "Adjust refresh rate to match video" to ON, and if I do that the 24fps carries from the HTPC through the receiver to the TV (all display 24hz), but I get a consistent but horribly slow framerate. Visually it looks like 3-4 FPS maybe. The only way I can get smooth playback is if I turn that flag off and everything resets back to 60hz.

Now on to the next oddity, DVD ISO Playback: I must be got spoiled with my Netgear EVA-9150 dedicated streamer (perhaps the best upscaling DVD device I have ever used), but with XBMC, things are a bit choppy. Especially when big things are moving across the screen (like the Unversal logo) or it pans. Not huge chop mind you, but just enough to notice. Also there seem to be more artifacts. Which really strikes me as odd since the high-bitrate BD is smooth as silk, but the DVD ISO is not.

I checked the info screen and there is no sign that my CPU is using DXVA2 except that the usage is again very low (3-4%). It just says that it's decoding MPEG2, with no DXVA2 flag like it does with the BD.

Finally, my last question: Any tips for getting the "multiplex" view type to work in Aeon MQ3? I can activate it in the settings but when I try to flip to it in my movie display, no luck.

Anyways, sorry about the noob questions. FWIW, my wife was floored by the UI and she's already in love with it. Now if I can get the picture quality of playback anywhere near what it was with the Netgear streamer, I'm the hero. I probably won't get lucky but at least I'll be out of the doghouse.

[jhsrennie]

What video card is installed in your PC? If it's the Intel video card there are some known issues with using DXVA. You could try turning off DXVA to see if the video corruption disappears.

The judder you describe sounds like telecine judder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine_ju...ine_judder) in which case the "adjust refresh rate to match video" setting is the usual way to fix this. This setting shouldn't kill the 1080p playback. It might be worth playing with the other video settings to see if they help. Also check System settings, System, video output and check that "Use fullscreen window rather than true fullscreen" is disabled.

I find DXVA is sometimes not used for MPEG2 sources. Whether DXVA is used or not depends on whether the video driver supports it for whatever encoding the video is using.

JR

[bznotins]

What video card is installed in your PC? If it's the Intel video card there are some known issues with using DXVA. You could try turning off DXVA to see if the video corruption disappears.

The judder you describe sounds like telecine judder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecine_ju...ine_judder) in which case the "adjust refresh rate to match video" setting is the usual way to fix this. This setting shouldn't kill the 1080p playback. It might be worth playing with the other video settings to see if they help. Also check System settings, System, video output and check that "Use fullscreen window rather than true fullscreen" is disabled.

I find DXVA is sometimes not used for MPEG2 sources. Whether DXVA is used or not depends on whether the video driver supports it for whatever encoding the video is using.

JR

Thanks for the help.

I'm using the onboard graphics of the Sandy Bridge CPU.

I tried turning DXVA off and it didn't really help. In fact, I tried turning on/off most of the settings in the Video configuration panel and the way I have it set up above is the smoothest.

If DXVA were being used for the MPEG2 decoding, does it show up in the stats when you press the "O" key?

[jhsrennie]

I'm using the onboard graphics of the Sandy Bridge CPU.

I don't work on the video code (it's muuuuuch too hard :-) so I don't know the current status of the Intel GPU support. However I think there are still some problems.

The DXVA/MPEG2 is a separate issue. MPEG2 isn't going to need DXVA to decode it, and in any case DXVA will make no difference to telecine judder. The only way to eliminate telecine judder is to sync the refresh rate to the video, but if this breaks BluRay playback that's obviously not an option.

JR

[CrystalP]

yeah every time we think dxva support is finally fixed for Intel, something new happens. oh well...

if that color effect happens even with dxva disabled, chances are there is a problem with the file, as software decoding is usually good. You can try another player such as vlc or mpc-hc and see what happens with them.

[bznotins]

yeah every time we think dxva support is finally fixed for Intel, something new happens. oh well...

if that color effect happens even with dxva disabled, chances are there is a problem with the file, as software decoding is usually good. You can try another player such as vlc or mpc-hc and see what happens with them.

The color effect happens only when dxva is enabled. The reduced framerate at 24p happens both with and without dxva enabled.

I still haven't found a way to get multiplex view working in the Aeon MQ3 skin.

Thanks for the help, guys. I'm really impressed with this software.

[bznotins]

Just following up here. Beta 2 fixed the problem I had with low framerates when I had XBMC set to match display refresh rates with content. So 24p works great.

The only problem there is that the constant flipping of refresh rates between the menus and the content will occasionally make my AVR lose track of the signal and just go blank. Going to have to play with that a bit.

But the problematic decoding of BD content with DXVA enabled (the screenshot above) persists.

I'm having lots of fun with this, but I'm learning that setting up an HTPC can be tricky. The WAF was initially sky-high but with XBMC losing focus from time to time (and other issues like those noted in the thread) are getting increasingly frequent eye-rolls from her.

Must redouble my efforts!