HD Video Decoding on GPUs with VLC 1.1.0
by Ganesh T S on June 25, 2010 4:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- HTPC
VLC has taken the important first step towards enabling GPU acceleration for various codecs commonly used in high definition videos. However, they have been crippled by their application structure, resulting in the fact that they are unable to provide the same amount of acceleration as other methods like DXVA using MPC-HC / Windows Media Player. While the untested Arrandale provided around 5% CPU usage improvement for VC-1 decode, PureVideo VP2 had speed-ups of around 60% for H264 and 20% for VC1. PureVideo VP4 turned out to be the best of the lot when GPU acceleration is enabled. CPU usage was lesser by a factor more than 65% for H264 and 36% for VC1.
Are these numbers good enough for the occasional HD video watcher? I would say, yes, as soon as the GPU vendors fix their drivers for the remaining minor issues. But, for the HD enthusiast with terabytes of Blu-Ray backups, I would still advise sticking with MPC-HC / Windows Media Player / favourite software Blu-Ray player.
GPU vendors should get their act together and work with the VLC developers to ensure smooth interaction between their drivers and VLC. This has already been done between the MPC-HC / mplayer - VDPAU developers and Nvidia / Intel. VLC, being much more popular, should not have much trouble in this respect (as indicated by how long it took CatalystMaker to tweet regarding Catalyst support for VLC). The vendors and developers should also look into ways to further the performance gains that have been realized with this first release. It will probably not be long before all GPU vendors support this type of acceleration at the basic level. That would be time for the VLC developers to enable GPU acceleration by default, and take away the experimental tag associated with it.
On other HD media aspects related to VLC, it is heartening to note support for WMAPro audio in the past few releases. Would it be wishful thinking to see audio passthrough / HD audio bitstreaming implemented internally in VLC? Hopefully not! Anandtech takes this opportunity to thank the VLC developers for creating and supporting one of the best open source softwares of all time.
Note: Don't forget to check out the update section on the next page, where I have tried to address some comments from readers (both here, and also in private communication)
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electroju - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I think Linux is the best way to handle HD content compared to Windows because it works out of the box if you have either Intel or nVidia as the graphics card. The processing power being used is less than 20%. Though nVidia is better than Intel for graphics.IMHO, Video Lan Client was and still is designed to stream media from one computer and then to the next. It was not designed to be a stand-alone player. Also its reliability is poor compared to other media players that I used. Windows users have to rely on pathetic software for media playback from open source projects or go with the Windows Media Player. In Linux the media players are great except VLC. In Linux, Mplayer is the best and probably the best open source media player that is out there. Though open source software is great, but whatever they use to compile the code for Windows screws up everything.
From what I read on here and other sites, the best way to playback HD in Windows is use commercial software or juggle with the reliability, stability, and high CPU usage when using open source software.
The following is how I playback HD content or any videos using H.264, WM3/9, MPEG, VC with Mplayer and nVidia assuming using 190.x or higher nVidia driver and Mplayer is compiled with VDPAU support.
mplayer -vo vdpau -vc ffmpeg12vdpau,ffwmv3vdpau,ffvc1vdpau,ffh264vdpau [FILE]
VLC is not the best for HTPC. It is the worst to use. XBMC is better.
Kailen - Wednesday, June 30, 2010 - link
I have tried most and no one ever says anything about the player which works the best. I have tried them all and I find for MKV playback SplashHD is the best. You can get it here at http://mirillis.com/en/I purchased the Pro version so I can output digital audio to my amp. Anyways it uses GPU for both NVIDIA and ATI and I have yet to come across a problem with it.
PR3ACH3R - Friday, July 2, 2010 - link
These damn SplashHD advertising goons are a menace.Kailen - Monday, July 5, 2010 - link
Dunno what you are talking about advertising goon. I actually bought it and use it cause its better than all the other hack shit out there and is the easiest to use so my wife and child can use it.