1080p x264 playback

SilverJag · Dec 30, 2009

Hi all,

Having no knowledge whatsoever on the matter, I come to you guys for help/advice.

The issue is in regards to my father's computer who has a few x264 1080p movie files he would like to play. He has VLC installed, however, either it be his monitor, or VLC, the image is not very crisp (not pixelated, but "dusty", if that makes sense). K-lite codec pack is installed on his HTPC (if that makes any difference). Is there a program that will play these .mkv files clearly and in actual 1080p?

His system:
Hanns G 28" @ 1920x1200
ATi 4870
Q9550

I don't see his specs holding the image back at all, so from my speculation it must be that video software that doesn't provide actual HD image.

edit: Attached is a screenshot of the movie quality.

Any tips?

Thanks in advance!

knowledgegrante · Dec 30, 2009

Convert to MKV, I had the same problem. They look stunning in MKV.

EDIT: VLC is the best thing around you will find for under 1k....not to mention...its free.

jgv115 · Jan 1, 2010

Read the post the files are already mkv. Have you tried media player classic? It comes with klite

Old Thrashbarg · Jan 1, 2010

Having the KLite codec pack installed isn't doing you much good at the moment, since VLC won't use it.

Go with Media Player Classic, definitely. Actually, to be specific I'd recommend using MPC-Homecinema, which is an updated version of MPC which has a bunch of bug fixes and improvements, and also adds hardware acceleration support. Dunno if hardware acceleration will do you much good since you have an ATi card, but it's worth a try at any rate.

VLC is terrible at high quality video. Well, really, it's just terrible in general.

Mpegger · Jan 1, 2010

That's because VLC is pure software with all the codecs built into it. Makes it very portable, but not the best or efficient.

I agree with OT, get yourself Media Player Classic Homecinema, but also, dump k-lite. Those codec packs sometimes end up causing more problems then they solve.

If your father is running Win7 on that computer, or even Vista, he already has all the codecs installed that he'll need. If he's running XP, I'd suggest getting CoreAVC. Although you won't get DXVA with CoreAVC, its still the fastest and currently the best looking h264 codec out.

Try this link also to get the most out of MPC-HC: http://nunnally.ahmygoddess.net/watching-h264-videos-using-dxva/

Old Thrashbarg · Jan 1, 2010

but also, dump k-lite. Those codec packs sometimes end up causing more problems then they solve.

It depends which version of K-Lite it is. The 'Standard' one is fine, it has a little more stuff than necessary, but nothing that should cause a problem. It doesn't seem to be like the huge jumbled codec packs of old.

I also disagree about CoreAVC being the best looking software decoder. It is the fastest, but that speed comes due to compromises in quality. Usually it's not enough of a quality difference to notice, but if you're picky, it's probably best to stick with the ffdshow or MPC built-in codec for h.264. A Q9550 should be able to handle it without problems anyway.

Mpegger · Jan 1, 2010

I find the latest CoreAVC to have better quality then ffmpeg. It's also less problematic getting the correct codec to be used for other video types since ffmpeg installs a wide variety of codecs that need to be manual turned off one by one during install or in the options window. It's still currently a software only codec (I know they're working on DXVA support in the near future for ffmpeg), so no help from the video card for decoding. It could be an option though if he gets that ATI bug when attempting DXVA, but its one less software install on the PC that's not needed unless the stock codecs give problems.

Old Thrashbarg · Jan 1, 2010

To each his own, I guess... to me CoreAVC looks noticeably lower quality.

And ffdshow's wide variety of options is a good thing, IMO. An all-in-one lightweight package where stuff can be turned on and off at will is far superior to having a bunch of separate codecs for every random format you run across. And anyway, ffdshow's default configuration tends to work pretty well to begin with, so there shouldn't need to be much manual configuration of things anyway.

SilverJag · Jan 1, 2010

Hey guys, happy holidays!

My father is using Win7 64

I've tried playing the movie with media player classic, even with GPU decoding, and still no improvement. The only thing, however, is that MPC allows me to play around with the shaders, which probably improves the image by 5%. It is still incredibly grainy and dusty as you can see in the picture. I've tried to research the topic online, and there does in fact seem to correlate to a problem that VLC is having. Not just that, though, because every software player I have tried is rendering the same, poor image quality. I am not familiar with codecs whatsoever, but I will uninstall k-lite and take it from there.

I will try out your guys' suggestions and will report back. Thanks for everything!

SeanBest · Jan 1, 2010

How did he gets the files? If ripped they might be a very low bit rate which would result in bad quality. If downloaded elsewhere ... could be the same issue.

Mpegger · Jan 1, 2010

I'm gonna agree with SeanBest here. If its the case of a badly encoded file or recording, there's nothing you can do that will improve the quality.

Old Thrashbarg · Jan 1, 2010

Yep, if it doesn't look good in MPC, it's probably just crappy quality to begin with. Just because it was encoded in 1080P x264, doesn't automatically mean it's any good.

You can compensate somewhat by running some noise reduction and sharpening filters, maybe playing with the colors and contrast, and with that you can probably make it look fairly decent. However, those are quite CPU intensive and difficult to tune properly, and they're not going to magically add detail that wasn't in the video to begin with.

Mr.Guvernment · Jan 1, 2010

scap everythiung

get

Media player classic home cinema edition and FFDShow - done.

As said above, likely bad source / encode, stop downloading crappy movie rips and go buy them

looks like a bad camera version.

Blazing fire · Jan 2, 2010

Mr.Guvernment said:
scap everythiung

get

Media player classic home cinema edition and FFDShow - done.

As said above, likely bad source / encode, stop downloading crappy movie rips and go buy them

looks like a bad camera version.

MPC and FFDShow gives the best video quality? Why?

Mr.Guvernment · Jan 2, 2010

Cant say i have had any complaints with quality, but it is also just installing 2 programs to get everything working, instead of installing codecs packs.

the OP issue is not quality of his codecs, it is a bad copy they got.

I would love to see some revies of CoreAVC vs FFDShow vs VLC, alot of people claim X codecs / player is so much better then the other but i think it is more the user thinking it is.

For me i want the least amount of items installed to do what i need done, and i refuse to useVLC cause it cant even fast forward half the time through a video with out crashing.

vgta88 · Jan 2, 2010

ATI cards do have hardware acceleration. The 4870 should be able to handle it.

From what I've heard you need video files that are specifically encoded for dxva support and a decoder that supports dxva (vlc does not do that)

So far, all I've used is vlc to keep things low profile. Don't need to install any stuff and it runs 1080p h264 videos (batman trailer), I guess with pure software mode, just fine. (all dxva will do is support better video extras like de interlace, noise reduction, etc, along with lower cpu usage. With the q9550, that doesn't seem like a problem.)

Yes I've heard windows 7 has h264 codecs from the get go and windows media player will dxva.

To rule out the crappy video source, just download h264 trailers from apple or window's website. That's the first thing I did when I got my laptop; Watch 1080p videos of flying planes, formula 1 and terminator 1080p re-release trailer.(typical guy stuff)

Nhut Pham · Jan 2, 2010

Definitely listen to the people here and use hardware acceleration, it will make it look great.

As suggested, Media Player Classic Home Cinema is good, since you're using Windows 7 x64 I recommend getting the latest Sharky007 codec pack, you can pick between different codecs including the one MPC-HC uses. Installing the Sharky007 codec pack lets you use the standard WMP to view movies with DXVA.

Just make sure you pick the right settings in CCC so you get the right amount of adjustment, I prefer no color adjustments with automatic deinterlacing, dynamic contrast, pulldown detection, and smooth video playback.

So if you want to go integrated, get sharky007, otherwise use MPC-HC x64.

Mpegger · Jan 2, 2010

Don't bother with Sharky. Just use MPC-HC. I'm with the "do not install codec packs as they usually end up causing more problems" group. So just like K-Lite, I do not recommend Sharky, K-Lite Mega, CCCP, Cole2k, etc etc etc, or any other codec pack out there. MPC-HC already has all the codecs you should need built in (very decent ones at that), along with the ability to use any external codecs you might possibly need, including those built into Win7 itself. The only reason you should even bother with any other codecs is if you need a specific codec for a specific reason, in which case you should get the specific codec needed, and not install a bunch of codecs that you may not even need or want, from those codec packs. (Example; installing the newest CoreAVC to take advance of Cuda decoding of h264 videos on you Nvidia card.)

If you do have a need for additional codecs for some obscure video format you may have, just go with Mr.Guvernment suggestion and install FFDShow and disable those codecs within FFDShow that you would rather have some other codec used in MPC-HC instead.

MPC-HC, and FFDShow if needed and your done.

Old Thrashbarg · Jan 2, 2010

ATI cards do have hardware acceleration. The 4870 should be able to handle it.

They can do it, but not very well. The problem is that ATi's inplementation of DXVA doesn't work with much other than official Blu-Rays. A lot of the rips people do (or download) are encoded in higher profiles, which can have some quality advantages at higher compression, but won't work in DXVA with ATi cards. Nvidia, OTOH, will play just about anything out there, both through DXVA and CUDA.

vgta88 · Jan 2, 2010

I'm not sure if I trust that since the review I read with the 3200 ati and the 8200 nvidia integrated cards were using a variety of different video formats. well i'm just talking about mpeg2 h264 vc-1.

1080p x264 playback

Member

Attachments

Registered

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads