nvidia, mpeg2 hardware decoder

[aSkobs]

i just bought a geforce 5600 with the hardware decoder on board. I just cannot figure out how to use this decoder with any player softwares including sage recorder which is what i am using now. for some reason there is no file that i know of that gives me access to the deocoder like .ax or .dll. the bfg tech support was no help at all please please help someone.
thanks, alex

[Narflex]

What video decoder filters does it list as being installed in Setup for SageRecorder?

[aSkobs]

i have installed no video decoder so, all it has is the default in the video decoder list box thus it will not render video. My question is how do i get the hardware decoder on the nvidia board to appear in that decoder list box? How do i find and install the driver that will make the supposed full mpeg2 hardware decoder work?

[Narflex]

You need to install the MPEG2 decoder that came with your video capture card (if it has one). Which video capture card are you using?

[aSkobs]

i am using the geforce 5600 fx which is supposed to have a hardware decoder. i cam e with nvdvd which is a software decoder but if i install that the cpu will be doing the decoding and not the card

[Narflex]

Are you just using SageRecorder for playback or also for Recording? The Geforce is not a video capture card, it's just a video card. SageRecorder can be used for playback without a video capture card, I just want to be clear if that's what you're trying to do.

[aSkobs]

Okay i will tell you the whole story about what i am trying to do. I have a geforce 5600 fx which is supposed to have a full mpeg2 hardware decoder on it. I also have a pvr-250 that i use to capture mpeg2 's with sagerecorder or wintvcap2. I just formated my computer so i did not yet install a mpeg2 software decoder I want to play back mpeg2's using the hardware decoder on the card but for some reason i am not able to find the driver that i need in order to use that decoder with out installing a third party software decoder. i am asking jeff, shs or anyone who would know about the geforce fx cards if the hardware decoder on board can be used withoout a software decoder

[Narflex]

No, it cannot. All of the nVidia, ATI, and other mass market graphics cards that have full MPEG2 hardware decoders still require the use of an MPEG2 software decoder in order to correctly interface with DirectShow and make use of DiretX Video Acceleration (which is the MPEG2 hardware decoding).

Full is somewhat misleading. :)

[ku71]

There was another thread recently posted here with some registry changes to enable hardware support for mpeg 2 decoding

However, this only offloads some steps of the decoding process to the graphics chip. I have not heard of any "VGA" graphics cards with "full" mpeg2 decoding. There are some cards like the PVR 350 or the xcard which do this.

mpeg2 acceleration may improve performance and/or picture quality, but it's probably not going to make an earth-shattering difference. Your best call, as already mentioned here, may be to install the decoder software which came with your card, switch decoders and see if it makes a difference.

[KJake]

What about the Hollywood II Plus from Sigma Designs? It also decodes MPEGII streams from DVDs and other Video, would this be a possible option?

[aSkobs]

these are great options but a vga card that would do it would be by far the best because then you could play an mpeg2 back in a window in your monitor without using any cpu power

[Narflex]

What does make the 'earth-shattering' difference is that using DXVA also gets you hardware deinterlacing that otherwise wouldn't be occuring (in some cases).

[Watter]

Originally posted by Narflex
What does make the 'earth-shattering' difference is that using DXVA also gets you hardware deinterlacing that otherwise wouldn't be occuring (in some cases).
What is DXVA?

-Watter

[SHS]

DXVA = DirectX Video Acceleration

[sshapiro63]

Anybody know if Elecard decoder has DXVA support, and how it is enabled/disabled?

[Narflex]

Elecard does NOT have DXVA support

[jasonrushton]

nvDVD 2.55 supports DXVA (DirectX Video Acceleration). See here (http://www.nvidia.com/page/nvdvd_specs.html), 3rd bullet under video section.

I'm currently using the MPEG2 decoder included with nvDVD 2.55 Retail with SnapStream. This codec is sweet, but I'm looking for an alternative to SnapStream.

I'm not sure if nvDVD OEM provides the same codec, or if it can be shared by other applications.

[Narflex]

Sage will make use of DXVA with the NVDVD codecs. It works fairly well with Sage.