Struggling with DXVA.

[Anbesol]

I have 2 HTPC's, one of them plays all resolution video files without any problem whatsoever. The other one doesn't. Both are very comparably powered, the one that works is on a newer Radeon (an all-in-wonder), the one thats struggling is the Radeon X700. I finally found out that its hte DXVA and that my X700 PC was not utilizing this. I further looked into it and media center did not have it in the list of DXVA compatible cards, but it also said "this list probably isn't complete". So, I crosschecked with ATI and ATI states that the X700 IS capable of DXVA. So, what am I missing? Is it not the right version of DXVA? Whats going on!? I like this card I don't want to buy a new one.

 

[rwpritchett]

What exactly is the playback problem you are experiencing? Also, more detail on the video files: container, video codec used, etc.

If your video files are encoded with, for example, h264 then you will definitely have stutter issues if your CPU is as old as that X700. I think that X700 only supports DXVA hardware acceleration for MPEG-2 content (like DVD).

Any recent video card will handle video much better than your X700 I'm sorry to say. Pony up $40 and get a cheap HD4xxx card to replace the X700 is my advice. Or spend a little more for a full-featured HD5xxx card. You didn't say if you game on your HTPC.

 

[Anbesol]

Argh, bummer, I didn't think I'd have to replace my X700 so soon, I remember when my card was $200 .

I don't do gaming at all (on PC), so I don't need that.

The problem I'm having is that hi-res video files suck up tons of CPU power. 1080p files are practically pointless as they flood the CPU to 100%, skips and stutters, audio video sync issues aplenty. It will play 720p files well, but it still sucks up a ton of CPU with that. My other machine has the all-in-wonder with what I think is the 4770 series chip in it, and 1080p files play on that and barely nick the CPU @ ~ 10-15%. I'm surprised there is this much difference in the GPU performance, I guess its just the string used for hardware acceleration on H264 codecs. Bummer!

If I were to sell my X700, ATI brand PCIe w/512MB, whats a fair price? $25-$35?

 

[Anbesol]

*edit - so I guess my only question, for confirmation, is there no way I can get my X700 to DXVA H264 codecs?

 

[rwpritchett]

h264 hardware acceleration was introduced in the Radeon HD2xxx series (except the HD2900 for some reason). HD3xxx, HD4xxx, and HD5xxx cards all fully support h264 acceleration. Anything less and your CPU must do the decoding.

The Radeon HD5450 cards have just come out.

Is your x700 an AGP card??? If so, you might do better putting your money towards a new motherboard with built in h264 acceleration.

Edit -I read your post again. WHEW, PCIe still has some life in it.

 

[rwpritchett]

Argh, bummer, I didn't think I'd have to replace my X700 so soon, I remember when my card was $200 ....

... If I were to sell my X700, ATI brand PCIe w/512MB, whats a fair price? $25-$35?

I just did a quick check on eBay. It looks like PCIe X700's are going for about $5.

That's the unfortunate downside with this hobby...

 

[Anbesol]

Argh well I guess I'll just avoid playing 1080p videos on this pc for now. Its only connected to a tube anyway, I only get them for my other HTPC which is hooked to my 40" LCD anyway. Thank you for your help!

Followup question: I'm trying to install hydravision on my new win7 install, I have used it on XP and I really like its capabilities for multi-desktop management. But I installed it and restarted, and when I try to run hydravision propertires it says "Hydravision can only run when an ATI Display driver is installed...", but there is one, which is up to date, and catalyst control center is installed too. Whats going on?

 

[Anbesol]

Best answer selected by Anbesol.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey