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: EVR / EVR-CP
In our Ivy Bridge HTPC review, we had covered the CPU / GPU utilization during playback of various types of clips. In the Vision3D 252B review, we had graphs of CPU and GPU loading with various renderers and codecs. Unfortunately, AMD doesn't provide similar data / sensors for use with their APUs. Hence, we had to resort to power consumed at the wall along with GPU loading in the Trinity HTPC review. In order to keep benchmarking consistent across all HTPC reviews, we started adopting the Trinity HTPC review methodology starting with the review of the ASRock Vision HT.
The tables below present the results of running our HTPC rendering benchmark samples through various decoders when using the Enhanced Video Renderer / Enhanced Video Renderer (Custom Presenter) (EVR / EVR-CP). Entries in bold indicate that there were dropped frames which indicate that the unit wasn't up to the task for those types of streams. Fortunately, none of the streams presented any problem to the system and there were no dropped frames. The recorded values include the GPU loading and power consumed by the system at the wall when playing back the streams using MPC-HC v1.6.5.6366 and LAV Filters 0.54.
Enhanced Video Renderer (EVR)
The Enhanced Video Renderer is the default renderer made available by Windows 8. It is a lean renderer in terms of usage of system resources since most of the aspects are offloaded to the GPU drivers directly. EVR is mostly used in conjunction with native DXVA2 decoding.
| LAV Video Decoder (DXVA2 Native) + EVR | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 24.05 | 35.04 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 21.38 | 36.06 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 26.13 | 36.6 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 28.9 | 39.95 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 28.19 | 37.06 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 31.23 | 45.57 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 30.11 | 37.09 |
The GPU is not taxed much by the EVR despite hardware decoding also taking place. Deinterlacing and other post processing aspects were left at the default settings in the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel (and these are applicable when EVR is chosen as the renderer)
Enhanced Video Renderer - Custom Presenter (EVR-CP)
EVR-CP is the default renderer used by MPC-HC. It is usually used in conjunction with MPC-HC's video decoders, some of which are DXVA-enabled. However, for our tests, we used the DXVA2 mode provided by the LAV Video Decoder.
| LAV Video Decoder (DXVA2 Native) + EVR-CP | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 26.69 | 38.78 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 24.43 | 37.88 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 32.76 | 40.4 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 40.16 | 42.02 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 39.75 | 41.62 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 40.99 | 48.45 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 41.33 | 42 |
In addition to DXVA2 Native, we also used the QuickSync decoder developed by Eric Gur (an Intel applications engineer) and made available to the open source community. It makes use of the specialized decoder blocks available as part of the QuickSync engine in the GPU.
| LAV Video Decoder (QuickSync / DXVA2 Copy-Back) + EVR-CP | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 27.16 | 38.42 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 25.26 | 38.05 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 36.84 | 41.6 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 44.2 | 43.41 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 44.32 | 43.02 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 43.56 | 43.26 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 48.28 | 45.13 |
In general, using the QuickSync decoder results in a higher power consumption because the decoded frames are copied back to the DRAM before being sent to the renderer. Using native DXVA decoding, the frames are directly passed to the renderer without the copy-back step. The odd-man out in the power numbers is the interlaced VC-1 clip, where QuickSync decoding is around 5W more efficient compared to 'native DXVA2'. This is because there is currently no support in the open source native DXVA2 decoders for interlaced VC-1, and hence, it is done in software [Clarification: This restriction is only on Intel GPUs. On both AMD and NVIDIA cards, DXVA2 native decode acceleration is supported for all VC-1 streams]. On the other hand, the QuickSync decoder is able to handle it with the VC-1 bitstream decoder in the GPU.
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BReal - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
In every test I still wonder about how Linux/Ubuntu (insert random distro) will preform these task...how would a linux setup do it's job? :)Gigaplex - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
It's usually pretty good with the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. Other platforms, not so much, you're generally better off with Windows in terms of performance.powerarmour - Monday, January 21, 2013 - link
Pretty good with the Intel Mesa drivers too, VA-API is quite well supported now, especially in XBMC.Fx1 - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Home Theatre PC? LOLMy Panasonic GT50 will play MKV ripped full 45gb Blu rays right off a HDD without problem
i have netflix and a ton of other video stuff right on the TV.
I fail to see why you would spend any money on a HTPC any more.
Bob Todd - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Your Plasma TV has built in CableCard tuners and terabytes of storage for DVR duty? CableCard leases are usually ~$2 a month vs. ~$10-20 a month for DVRs from your cable company. It's easy to have 8+ HD tuners with basically limitless storage with WMC. HTPCs can be a lot more than glorified media streamers, and your TV doesn't come anywhere close to fulfilling all of the use cases a HTPC can.Fx1 - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
For a start the UK doesnt suffer your cable company issues. We have 2 providers that are not that expensive and include DVR for FREE. Plus you can connect a 2TB HDD to the TV and play Blu ray rips and record like a DVR on the same drive. God knows why you would want to store all those TV shows anyway they are pretty much on every torrent website anyway. Quite frankly a HTPC in this era just isnt worth the money. No matter how you spin itganeshts - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Problems start cropping up when the decoder in your GT50 refuses to play the MKV off the torrent site.I bet your GT50 doesn't do HD audio bitstreaming, and I am pretty sure the online experience (quick check up of something on the browser or automatic metadata downloading) doesn't work out to be the same as that of a HTPC.
Even without using tuners, I would recommend going the HTPC route if you can afford it.
jeffkibuule - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
I just recently ran into the problem where my Samsung TV would play some, but not all MKVs I've downloaded. Plus, the interface for playing video files on a NAS is terrible on all devices. Pretty much any app is better. UI, metadata, and remembering how much of a video you played is just as important as being able to watch a video.Bob Todd - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
DVRs usually aren't really "free", they just increase the package price to compensate. My HTPC has already paid for itself and is now saving me money every single month. That isn't "spin", it's just a fact. And your entire post is ludicrous considering you are pointing out geographical differences and that your situation doesn't match everyone else's, then turn around and say nobody has a reason to have a HTPC. Your provider gives as many DVRs as you want for free? Here some providers include one "for free" but the package is really another ~$20 a month vs. leasing a CableCard. And every 2nd/3rd/4th DVR or STB you need is more money out the window every single month. It cracks me up how myopic people like you can be and how you think your single use case applies to everyone on the planet.Fx1 - Sunday, January 20, 2013 - link
Our 1TB DVR is free and quite honestly not that much of a big deal. There must be some weird American obsession with recording tv shows that the rest of the world doesn't share. To build a pc for the sole purpose is pretty extreme.Also I have yet to have an mkv that won't play on the Panasonic tv. I was surprised myself but really this review just shows how a htpc is just an excuse to build a pc