Getting the Best out of an Ivy Bridge HTPC: Windows 8, madVR and More..
by Ganesh T S on January 20, 2013 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Intel
- HTPC
- Ivy Bridge
- Windows 8
- Passive Cooling
HTPC Decoding and Rendering Benchmarks: madVR
In the preceding section, we looked at EVR and EVR-CP. Videophiles often prefer madVR as their renderer because of the choice of scaling algorithms available as well as myriad other features. In our original Ivy Bridge HTPC review, I had been very satisfied with HD 4000 and madVR except for a few corner cases involving high frame rate material which also required both luma and chroma scaling (such as 720p60 material). One of the issues in our initial testbed was that we were using DDR3-1333 DRAM. Our current system under consideration uses DDR3-1600. This is more than enough to get madVR working with default scaling algorithm settings for all video material 1080p60 or lesser. Readers interested in seeing madVR in action on the HD 4000 should definitely check out Andrew's excellent piece in Missing Remote comparing HD 2500 and HD 4000 for madVR.
It is not possible to use native DXVA2 decoding with madVR because the decoded frames are not made available to an external renderer directly. To work around this issue, LAV Video Decoder offers three options. The first option involves using software decoding.
| LAV Video Decoder (Software Fallback) + madVR | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 70.84 | 48.19 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 72.8 | 50.41 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 75.88 | 58.23 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 61.51 | 59.05 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 61.22 | 55.09 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 62.22 | 59.85 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 73.65 | 60.91 |
The second option is to use either QuickSync or DXVA2 Copy-Back. In either case, the decoded frames are brought back to the system memory for madVR to take over. The power consumption profile improves quite a bit, particularly for the 720p60 and 1080p60 streams.
| LAV Video Decoder (QuickSync) + madVR | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 71.37 | 47.72 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 71.28 | 49.83 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 75.76 | 54.92 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 62.5 | 56.15 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 62.02 | 55.81 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 61.86 | 55.94 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 66.31 | 56.58 |
One of the interesting features to be integrated into the recent madVR releases is the option to perform DXVA scaling. This is particularly interesting for HTPCs running Intel GPUs because the Intel HD Graphics engine uses dedicated hardware to implement support for the DXVA scaling API calls. AMD and NVIDIA apparently implement those calls using pixel shaders. In order to obtain a frame of reference, we repeated our benchmark process using DXVA2 scaling for both luma and chroma instead of the default settings.
| LAV Video Decoder (QuickSync) + madVR (DXVA Scaling) | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 50.33 | 43.54 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 52.39 | 44.33 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 57.34 | 48.82 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 62.63 | 55.52 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 62.34 | 55.21 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 62.06 | 55.51 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 65.56 | 55.33 |
DXVA scaling results in much lower GPU usage for SD material in particular with a corresponding decrease in average power consumption too. Users with Intel GPUs can continue to enjoy other madVR features while giving up on the choice of a wide variety of scaling algorithms.
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clarkn0va - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
Mediaportal (I hadn't heard of it until your post) seems to really play up the fact that it's "free" and "open source" on their web site, and yet it only runs on a non-free OS. XBMC, meanwhile, runs great on Linux.Of course not everyone cares about software freedom, but some of us certainly do, which is why I'm sticking with XBMC for now.
guidryp - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
" I would strongly suggest HTPC users relying on WMC (irrespective of the OS) to move on to other platforms."What other platforms.
The only reason anyone I know uses WMC is for recording with a Tuner. I have an HTPC and I use it for this reason alone.
There really is no free alternative for EPG based Tuner recording.
I see ZERO reason to consider Windows8. Win7 Home Premium comes with WMC and if you actually need WMC this is the sane choice while it is available.
Bob Todd - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Very true about zero competition for people who use this for TV/DVR purposes (including me). It's probably worth posting this again even though someone else already brought it up.http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/featu...
If anyone thinks they may ever want to run a HTPC on Windows 8 you can get yourself a free WMC key until the end of the month. Doesn't hurt to grab one and stash it away just in case.
guidryp - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
It is not free.First you need Windows 8, if you are not already there.
You also need Win8 PRO, which is more expensive than Win7 Home Premium.
Stick with win7.
amdwilliam1985 - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - link
I bought windows 8 pro over the weekend for $39.99.Yes it is windows 8 pro not just windows 8.
amdwilliam1985 - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - link
I bought it from Microsoft site, no special deal, no discount site, no special coupon.Just bought it from Microsoft official site for $39.99 with no tax.
guidryp - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - link
But that is an Upgrade price.So you are paying the price of Windows 7 + $40.
So obviously it is $40 more than Windows 7.
lummoz - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
As mentioned before MediaPortal is a free (open source) alternative that allows for EPG based TV tuner recording while being a lot more flexible than WMC. It was originally forked from XBMC so it looks pretty fantastic as well.http://www.team-mediaportal.com/
jeffkibuule - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Doesn't support CableCard.guidryp - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
I tried MediaPortal and it's TV-Tuner recording is a MESS.I had better luck getting MythTV working under Linux. Pulling EPG from the DVB info worked in MythTV, but never really got it working in MediaPortal. Not that it is all that useful for guide recording anyway.
So I still maintain there is no credible EPG-Tuner recording software to WMC.