6600gt mpeg encoding decoding...

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

just got a leadtek 6600gt, it says it can do mpeg 1/2/4 encoding and
decoding natively.

So how does this work exactly ?, everytime you play a mpeg video in
windows does it automatically get hardware accelerated ? or do you need
a specific program to take advantage of it.

--
Eps

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:34sin8F4dgojaU1@individual.net...
> just got a leadtek 6600gt, it says it can do mpeg 1/2/4 encoding and
> decoding natively.
>
> So how does this work exactly ?, everytime you play a mpeg video in
> windows does it automatically get hardware accelerated ? or do you need a
> specific program to take advantage of it.
>
> --
> Eps

I think you need the "purevideo" codec which comes with the Nvidia DVD
player, which you have to pay for!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

> I think you need the "purevideo" codec which comes with the Nvidia DVD
> player, which you have to pay for!

What about encoding ?, you need a special nvidia program to use that as
well ?

--
Eps

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

burchill wrote:
>
>> I think you need the "purevideo" codec which comes with the Nvidia DVD
>> player, which you have to pay for!
>
>
> What about encoding ?, you need a special nvidia program to use that as
> well ?
>
> --
> Eps

I did some searching on google and found this...

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=2

Apparently the video processor on the 6X00 cards is broken, it is
probably broken in hardware but nvidia are hoping to make it work with a
driver or possibly a bios update.

Frustrating, while mpeg encode/decode wasn't a dealbreaker it says on
the box that it can do it. If it can't then thats a serious problem.

--
Eps

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:34su58F4fs85rU1@individual.net...
> burchill wrote:
>>
>>> I think you need the "purevideo" codec which comes with the Nvidia DVD
>>> player, which you have to pay for!
>>
>>
>> What about encoding ?, you need a special nvidia program to use that as
>> well ?
>>
>> --
>> Eps
>
> I did some searching on google and found this...
>
> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=2
>
> Apparently the video processor on the 6X00 cards is broken, it is probably
> broken in hardware but nvidia are hoping to make it work with a driver or
> possibly a bios update.
>
> Frustrating, while mpeg encode/decode wasn't a dealbreaker it says on the
> box that it can do it. If it can't then thats a serious problem.

If you read the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs again, you'll find WMP decode (and if
you Google more, WMP encode too) is broken on the 6800 (NV40), but the 6600
is fine. MPEG decode on the 6800 works fine (as does MPEG encode AFAIK).

Dan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:34su58F4fs85rU1@individual.net...
> burchill wrote:
>>
>>> I think you need the "purevideo" codec which comes with the Nvidia DVD
>>> player, which you have to pay for!
>>
>>
>> What about encoding ?, you need a special nvidia program to use that as
>> well ?
>>
>> --
>> Eps
>
> I did some searching on google and found this...
>
> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=2
>
> Apparently the video processor on the 6X00 cards is broken, it is probably
> broken in hardware but nvidia are hoping to make it work with a driver or
> possibly a bios update.
>
> Frustrating, while mpeg encode/decode wasn't a dealbreaker it says on the
> box that it can do it. If it can't then thats a serious problem.
>
> --
> Eps

The article actually says it is broken on 6800 GT and Ultra cards only, 6800
Standard and 6600 and it's variants are not affected as the chips are newer
variants of the NV4x core and the issue was fixed.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"Spack" <news@worldofspack.co.uk> wrote in message
news:34susqF4ac5ueU1@individual.net...
>
> "burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
> news:34su58F4fs85rU1@individual.net...
>> burchill wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think you need the "purevideo" codec which comes with the Nvidia DVD
>>>> player, which you have to pay for!
>>>
>>>
>>> What about encoding ?, you need a special nvidia program to use that as
>>> well ?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Eps
>>
>> I did some searching on google and found this...
>>
>> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=2
>>
>> Apparently the video processor on the 6X00 cards is broken, it is
>> probably broken in hardware but nvidia are hoping to make it work with a
>> driver or possibly a bios update.
>>
>> Frustrating, while mpeg encode/decode wasn't a dealbreaker it says on the
>> box that it can do it. If it can't then thats a serious problem.
>
> If you read the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs again, you'll find WMP decode (and
> if you Google more, WMP encode too) is broken on the 6800 (NV40), but the
> 6600 is fine. MPEG decode on the 6800 works fine (as does MPEG encode
> AFAIK).

And I forgot to say that the 6600 does MPEG decode/encode too - thought I'd
mention it just in case you didn't realise I was implying that only the 6800
is broken.

Dan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

>
> If you read the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs again, you'll find WMP decode (and if
> you Google more, WMP encode too) is broken on the 6800 (NV40), but the 6600
> is fine. MPEG decode on the 6800 works fine (as does MPEG encode AFAIK).
>
> Dan

I have done a bit more reading and it seems that its the AGP cards that
are affected, pci-e cards have working video processors but AGP do not.

It is very annoying. Hopefully Nvidia can sort this out with a driver.

I can tell you for a fact that there is no hardware acceleration when
playing videos with my 6600gt.

--
Eps

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

> The article actually says it is broken on 6800 GT and Ultra cards only, 6800
> Standard and 6600 and it's variants are not affected as the chips are newer
> variants of the NV4x core and the issue was fixed.

Have done some more reading and it definitely seems to be an issue that
affects a lot of users and different types of cards.

Not that I really care about that, I just want my card to work properly.
This feature is advertised by the card maker and by nvidia, so it is
not unreasonable to expect it to be there.

--
Eps

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

http://www.techreport.com/onearticle.x/7535

I have found this article which claims that the driver enabling the
video proccessor hasn't been released yet. So I might be ok, I would
have thought so what with only just buying it and the 6X00 range having
been out for at least 6 months.

But when are they going to release the driver ?

I am still not sure exactly what is going on except that I have no video
acceleration.

--
Eps

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:34sv47F4c2jbdU1@individual.net...
>
>>
>> If you read the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs again, you'll find WMP decode (and
>> if you Google more, WMP encode too) is broken on the 6800 (NV40), but the
>> 6600 is fine. MPEG decode on the 6800 works fine (as does MPEG encode
>> AFAIK).
>>
>> Dan
>
> I have done a bit more reading and it seems that its the AGP cards that
> are affected, pci-e cards have working video processors but AGP do not.
>
> It is very annoying. Hopefully Nvidia can sort this out with a driver.
>
> I can tell you for a fact that there is no hardware acceleration when
> playing videos with my 6600gt.
>
> --
> Eps

What are you using to play them? I have windvd 5.0 working with Hardware
Accelleration enabled with my 6600GT agp. This isn't "purevideo" though,
from what i'v read.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

> What are you using to play them? I have windvd 5.0 working with Hardware
> Accelleration enabled with my 6600GT agp. This isn't "purevideo" though,
> from what i'v read.

It seems that nvidia have downplayed the capabilites of the video
processor...

http://www.nvidia.com/page/purevideo_support.html

I was testing it with divx which is an mpeg 4 codec, on the back of the
GFX card box it says it can encode and decode mpeg 1/2/4.

According to the above link the 6600gt can decode mpeg2 and wmv9 through
hardware but no encoding and no hardware acceleration for mpeg 1 and 4.

--
Eps

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:34t0n4F44i1acU1@individual.net...
>
>
> http://www.techreport.com/onearticle.x/7535
>
> I have found this article which claims that the driver enabling the video
> proccessor hasn't been released yet. So I might be ok, I would have
> thought so what with only just buying it and the 6X00 range having been
> out for at least 6 months.
>
> But when are they going to release the driver ?
>
> I am still not sure exactly what is going on except that I have no video
> acceleration.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

You have to buy the hardware decoder driver, it's not part of the ForceWare
drivers.

Dan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

> http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html
>
> You have to buy the hardware decoder driver, it's not part of the ForceWare
> drivers.
>
> Dan

Nope that is software decoder and it is for mpeg 2 decoding only.

Do you have a 6X00 card ?

Do a google search for the nvidia 6600 video processor to understand
what it is supposed to do.

--
Eps

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:34t3t4F4eavp0U1@individual.net...
>
>> http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html
>>
>> You have to buy the hardware decoder driver, it's not part of the
>> ForceWare drivers.
>>
>> Dan
>
> Nope that is software decoder and it is for mpeg 2 decoding only.
>
> Do you have a 6X00 card ?
>
> Do a google search for the nvidia 6600 video processor to understand what
> it is supposed to do.
>
> --
> Eps

Have a look here, a more recent article detailing all the features of the
6x00 Video Processor, please note which models are affected, only 6800 GT
and Ultra are not feature complete.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2305

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"NDF" <none@entered.com> wrote in message
news:%meGd.799$z84.68@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...
>
> "burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
> news:34t3t4F4eavp0U1@individual.net...
>>
>>> http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html
>>>
>>> You have to buy the hardware decoder driver, it's not part of the
>>> ForceWare drivers.
>>>
>>> Dan
>>
>> Nope that is software decoder and it is for mpeg 2 decoding only.
>>
>> Do you have a 6X00 card ?
>>
>> Do a google search for the nvidia 6600 video processor to understand what
>> it is supposed to do.
>>
>> --
>> Eps
>
> Have a look here, a more recent article detailing all the features of the
> 6x00 Video Processor, please note which models are affected, only 6800 GT
> and Ultra are not feature complete.
>
> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2305
>

According to that article you need driver 67.01. It seems strange for
Nvidia to "anounce" the arrival of "purevideo" when the current driver
dosn't support it?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:34t3t4F4eavp0U1@individual.net...
>
>> http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html
>>
>> You have to buy the hardware decoder driver, it's not part of the
>> ForceWare drivers.
>>
>> Dan
>
> Nope that is software decoder and it is for mpeg 2 decoding only.

No, that is the decoder that includes the driver to enable the hardware
decoding. 3rd item in the list

"Enables PureVideo technology on GeForce 6 Series GPUs "

PureVideo is the name given to the hardware decode/encode on the 6x00 cards.
nVidia h

http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_17568.html

Read that. Make careful note of the first 2 bulleted features

"High-definition MPEG-2 Hardware Acceleration. A dedicated 16-way vector
processor enables smooth playback of HD video with minimal CPU usage."

"WMV High-definition Hardware Acceleration. Programmable support of the
newest format enabled by Microsoft Windows Media Player and Windows XP Media
Center Edition 2005 for fluid playback of WMV and WMV HD content."

Now, seeing as the only way to enable PureVideo according to nVidia is with
the nVidia DVD Decoder, and PureVideo is the name for the video hardware
acceleration, the only way you're going to get the hardware acceleration
working (unless someone else comes up with a way to enable PureVideo outside
of the DVD Decoder, or nVidia decide to release it as part of the ForceWare
drivers) is to buy the nVidia DVD Decoder. If you download the trial version
and try playing back some MPEG videos, you'll find that the CPU utilisation
drops.

And according to
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_purevideo_requirements.html you need the
latest ForceWare driver that has the PureVideo driver, plus the DVD Decoder
to utilise it, and Windows Media Player 10.

> Do you have a 6X00 card ?

Yes, BFG 6600GT OC AGP.

> Do a google search for the nvidia 6600 video processor to understand what
> it is supposed to do.

I know exactly what it's supposed to do. And I've read up on the hardware
decode/encode features quite a bit recently as I work in tech support and
have had to deal with questions about why the decoder doesn't work, or
appear to work, on the 6x00 series.

Dan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

"John Russell" <john_e_russell@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:41ea4740$1_1@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
>
> "NDF" <none@entered.com> wrote in message
> news:%meGd.799$z84.68@newsfe2-win.ntli.net...
>>
>> "burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
>> news:34t3t4F4eavp0U1@individual.net...
>>>
>>>> http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html
>>>>
>>>> You have to buy the hardware decoder driver, it's not part of the
>>>> ForceWare drivers.
>>>>
>>>> Dan
>>>
>>> Nope that is software decoder and it is for mpeg 2 decoding only.
>>>
>>> Do you have a 6X00 card ?
>>>
>>> Do a google search for the nvidia 6600 video processor to understand
>>> what it is supposed to do.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Eps
>>
>> Have a look here, a more recent article detailing all the features of the
>> 6x00 Video Processor, please note which models are affected, only 6800 GT
>> and Ultra are not feature complete.
>>
>> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2305
>>
>
> According to that article you need driver 67.01. It seems strange for
> Nvidia to "anounce" the arrival of "purevideo" when the current driver
> dosn't support it?
>

Managed to find a "recent" version of the release notes which indicates
version 65, which includes 66.93 and 67.01, supports new video processing
modes.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

> Managed to find a "recent" version of the release notes which indicates
> version 65, which includes 66.93 and 67.01, supports new video processing
> modes.

Yeah I tried watching a DVD yesterday and the CPU usage was very low.
But there is no effect on mpeg 1 or 4. This was without the nvidia dvd
decoder so mpeg2 decoding support has been enabled in the driver.

The frustrating thing is though is that decoding is where you need the
least help, anyone who has a GF6 card will have a computer capable of
decoding a DVD in software with good quality. How many people really
multi task when watcing a DVD anyway ?. I was interested in having
hardware help in encoding mpeg files.

Anyway it seems that the video processor either physically can't help
with decoding and encoding of mpeg 1 and 4 or has been crippled in
software for some reason. I'm not gonna hold my breath to see if
further driver updates unlock encoding support.

I emailed the card maker (leadtek), pretended to be ignorant and asked
how do I enable hardware support for mpeg 1/2/4 (as stated on the back
of the box). If they reply I'll post the repsonse here.

I can't believe that more people are not as upset about this as I am,
its plainly false advertising.

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that becasue the early 6800 cards
had problems with the video processor nividia decided to restrict the
capability across the whole of the 6X00 series so that 6800 owners
wouldn't sue nvidia. This assumes that the video processor is capable
of doing what it was originally intended to to do, which is probably
wishful thinking.

--
Eps

 

[NaDa]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

John Russell wrote:

> "NDF" <none@entered.com> wrote:
>
>>"burchill" <burchill@btinternet.com> wrote in message
>>news:34t3t4F4eavp0U1@individual.net...
>>
>>>>http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html
>>>>
>>>>You have to buy the hardware decoder driver, it's not part of the
>>>>ForceWare drivers.
>>>>
>>>>Dan
>>>
>>>Nope that is software decoder and it is for mpeg 2 decoding only.
>>>
>>>Do you have a 6X00 card ?
>>>
>>>Do a google search for the nvidia 6600 video processor to understand what
>>>it is supposed to do.
>>>
>>>--
>>>Eps
>>
>>Have a look here, a more recent article detailing all the features of the
>>6x00 Video Processor, please note which models are affected, only 6800 GT
>>and Ultra are not feature complete.
>>
>>http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2305
>>
>
>
> According to that article you need driver 67.01. It seems strange for
> Nvidia to "anounce" the arrival of "purevideo" when the current driver
> dosn't support it?

Funny enough, I've heard rumors that the devoding doesen't work right
with 6800 line of cards, but 6600 models handle mpeg's and DVDs just fine.