[tk2k]

Hi all,

Got a mac pro that's being used as a server and XBMC front-end, plenty of CPU power and ram, but the GTX 285 is having trouble keeping up with high quality downloaded video files (like 1080p 30Mbps + , DTS-HD, x264)

Looking for GPU recommendations, this is really the only video work the computer gets

[Ned Scott]

That should hardware decode video, I believe. I don't know why it would be having issues with that. Even with the older GPU, I really doubt that is the issue.

[tk2k]

That should hardware decode video, I believe. I don't know why it would be having issues with that. Even with the older GPU, I really doubt that is the issue.

Well, if I fire up the 'codec' menu I get the attached screnshot, which implies to me its not hardware decoding? VCPU utilization on these files is often very high.

[Ned Scott]

Can you run MediaInfo (wiki) on one of the video files and tell us what it says?

[tk2k]

Sure, here's the first file


General
Unique ID : 247216518565248533784210194872282710577 (0xB9FC2B69EF7D3876993753C60D650231)
Complete name : /Volumes/Array 2/Documentaries/Africa.S1.2012.BluRay.1080p.DTS.x264-CHD/Africa.S1E03.2012.BluRay.1080p.DTS.x264-CHD.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 8.62 GiB
Duration : 57mn 22s
Overall bit rate : 21.5 Mbps
Movie name : 非洲S1E03 by R.Q
Encoded date : UTC 2013-03-26 01:04:51
Writing application : mkvmerge v6.0.0 ('Coming Up For Air') built on Jan 20 2013 09:52:00
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 57mn 22s
Bit rate : 20.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.386
Stream size : 7.84 GiB (91%)
Title : Africa.S1E03.2012.BluRay.1080p.DTS.x264-CHD
Writing library : x264 core 129 r2245 bc13772
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-4:-4 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=tesa / subme=11 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.05:0.10 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=48 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-5 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=8 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=20000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.70 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=2:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 57mn 22s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 509 Kbps
Channel count : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 619 MiB (7%)
Title : DTS 5.1 1509k
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No



And here's the second (one from screenshot)


General
Unique ID : 242477055969359525147894928993777455555 (0xB66B61DDE08596759F2698FD00D991C3)
Complete name : /Volumes/Array 2/Movies/World.War.Z.UNRATED.CUT.2013.Blu-ray.DTS.720p.x264.HDBRiSe/World.War.Z.UNRATED.CUT.2013.Blu-ray.DTS.720p.x264.HDBRiSe.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 6.60 GiB
Duration : 2h 3mn
Overall bit rate : 7 674 Kbps
Movie name : "Encoded_by_HDBRiSe"
Encoded date : UTC 2013-09-04 01:20:14
Writing application : mkvmerge v6.1.0 ('Old Devil') built on Mar 2 2013 14:32:37
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 12 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 2h 3mn
Bit rate : 6 162 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 528 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Original display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.380
Stream size : 5.17 GiB (78%)
Writing library : x264 core 133 r2334 a3ac64b
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=12 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=6162 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=50000 / vbv_bufsize=50000 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 2h 3mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 509 Kbps
Channel count : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 1.30 GiB (20%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Text #1
ID : 3
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Compression mode : Lossless
Language : Romanian
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Text #2
ID : 4
Format : ASS
Codec ID : S_TEXT/ASS
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Compression mode : Lossless
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

[tk2k]

Anyone?

[Ned Scott]

From my limited understanding of the technical side of things, I would think those files would be hardware decodable with that GPU and Mac OS X. For both video examples to fall back to software decoding is weird to me, but like I said, I have a limited understanding of those technical details.

I'll see if someone can move this thread to the Mac OS X support sub forum to see if we can get some more feedback there.