Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Wed, 2007-08-22 at 03:02 +, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: On Tue, Aug 21, 2007 at 02:20:26PM -0400, Chris Ahlstrom wrote: * Lennart Sorensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-21 13:34:53 -0400]: Another good test scene: Maria in the Mother Superior's office, the Nvidia driver lets the viewer see the MS's facial expression change as Maria talks, with the nv driver you miss this subtle facial acting. I too was surprised that having the hardware decoding made a qualatative difference rather than just using more system resources. Wow, I hadn't expected the Xv extensions to be able to make that kind of difference to the decoded video. Or perhaps there is some serious bug in the open nv driver. Or try different video output drivers. In mplayer, -vo I think is the switch. The selected driver can make a difference. Could you elaborate on output drivers? I'm in the midst of a reinstall so don't have VLC or the docs installed. I haven't tried mplayer. Also, I don't actually own any DVDs. The Sound of Music was borrowed from family from out-of-town over the Christmas holidays. mplayer -vo help lists the different options. there are options like x11 (unaccelerated output), xv (Overlay-based output), gl (opengl-based output), gl2 (multitexturing opengl-based output), aalib (text-mode output) -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Mon, Aug 20, 2007 at 08:18:27PM -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: I did a direct comparision of the nv driver with the debian-packaged nvidia non-free driver. The difference I noticed was with playing back a DVD. Card: Asus EN7300GT silent (nVidia EN7300GT), 256 MB. MB/CPU: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe, Athlon64 3800+, 1x 1GB ram stick. Display: Intergraph 21 CRT at 1600 x 1200 x 32-bit, 85 Hz. Test movie: 40th anniversary edition DVD of __The_Sound_of_Music__. Ideal test scene, near the beginning where the Nuns are in the chapple, shot on location, good contrast, facial details, candle flames, etc. VLC setup: full-screen (so the picture gets enlarged from the default DVD), de-interlace blending. Nvidia driver: CPU 98% idle, little memory used. fine detail clear, lines in old nun's face, great dynamic range (subtle shading light to dark), clear definition around candle flame on dark background, motion smooth. nv driver: CPU 94% idle, little memory used. blurred fine detail, old nun has a younger (smoother) face, less dynamic range (some dark details lost), candle flame blurred, motion slightly rough. Another good test scene: Maria in the Mother Superior's office, the Nvidia driver lets the viewer see the MS's facial expression change as Maria talks, with the nv driver you miss this subtle facial acting. I too was surprised that having the hardware decoding made a qualatative difference rather than just using more system resources. Wow, I hadn't expected the Xv extensions to be able to make that kind of difference to the decoded video. Or perhaps there is some serious bug in the open nv driver. -- Len Sorensen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
* Lennart Sorensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-21 13:34:53 -0400]: Another good test scene: Maria in the Mother Superior's office, the Nvidia driver lets the viewer see the MS's facial expression change as Maria talks, with the nv driver you miss this subtle facial acting. I too was surprised that having the hardware decoding made a qualatative difference rather than just using more system resources. Wow, I hadn't expected the Xv extensions to be able to make that kind of difference to the decoded video. Or perhaps there is some serious bug in the open nv driver. Or try different video output drivers. In mplayer, -vo I think is the switch. The selected driver can make a difference. -- Tux rox! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Tue, Aug 21, 2007 at 02:20:26PM -0400, Chris Ahlstrom wrote: * Lennart Sorensen [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-21 13:34:53 -0400]: Another good test scene: Maria in the Mother Superior's office, the Nvidia driver lets the viewer see the MS's facial expression change as Maria talks, with the nv driver you miss this subtle facial acting. I too was surprised that having the hardware decoding made a qualatative difference rather than just using more system resources. Wow, I hadn't expected the Xv extensions to be able to make that kind of difference to the decoded video. Or perhaps there is some serious bug in the open nv driver. Or try different video output drivers. In mplayer, -vo I think is the switch. The selected driver can make a difference. Could you elaborate on output drivers? I'm in the midst of a reinstall so don't have VLC or the docs installed. I haven't tried mplayer. Also, I don't actually own any DVDs. The Sound of Music was borrowed from family from out-of-town over the Christmas holidays. I do know that at the time I fiddled with all of VLC's options. Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Sun, 2007-08-19 at 22:10 -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: I have an nVidia EN7300GT based card. I'm quite happy with it when I use the nVidia driver to watch DVDs. With the nv driver the fine image detail is less clear. I'm assuming that this is because the nv driver isn't accessing the hardware decoding engine. Are there any good video cards that do hardware decoding/accelleration that use a free driver? I'm asking on this list since my box is an Athlon64 running amd64 and I don't know if, for example, there are fewer choices of free drivers for amd64. Thanks, Doug. Free XvMC support is offered by Intel onboard graphics (which would require moving to a superior core2-based system), or by the S3/Via Chrome series cards, e.g. http://www.s3graphics.com/en/products/chrome_s27/ -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
* Jo Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-20 08:48:57 +0100]: On Sun, 2007-08-19 at 22:10 -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: I'm asking on this list since my box is an Athlon64 running amd64 and I don't know if, for example, there are fewer choices of free drivers for amd64. Free XvMC support is offered by Intel onboard graphics (which would require moving to a superior core2-based system), ... Why is a Core 2 system superior? Just a few highlights, please. (Not trying to start a war, I've just never found a good succinct summary, and I'm very happy with this AMG64.) Thanks! Chris -- Tux rox! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Mon, 2007-08-20 at 06:59 -0400, Chris Ahlstrom wrote: * Jo Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-20 08:48:57 +0100]: On Sun, 2007-08-19 at 22:10 -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: I'm asking on this list since my box is an Athlon64 running amd64 and I don't know if, for example, there are fewer choices of free drivers for amd64. Free XvMC support is offered by Intel onboard graphics (which would require moving to a superior core2-based system), ... Why is a Core 2 system superior? Just a few highlights, please. (Not trying to start a war, I've just never found a good succinct summary, and I'm very happy with this AMG64.) In short? AMD64 gives you 2GFLOPS per core per GHz. Core2 gives double that. It's a significantly faster floating point chip, albeit with significantly worse memory bandwidth. -- __ / Jo Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] \ | Systems Manager, | \ Oxford Supercomputing Centre / --- \ ,__, \ (oo)___ (__))\ ||--|| * -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
* Jo Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-20 12:06:05 +0100]: In short? AMD64 gives you 2GFLOPS per core per GHz. Core2 gives double that. It's a significantly faster floating point chip, albeit with significantly worse memory bandwidth. Thanks! Do you know of a URL that lays out all the plusses/minuses in a convenient form. __ / \ | Mooo! | \ / --- \ ,__, \ (oo)___ (__))\ ||--|| * -- Tux rox! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Mon, 2007-08-20 at 08:03 -0400, Chris Ahlstrom wrote: * Jo Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-20 12:06:05 +0100]: In short? AMD64 gives you 2GFLOPS per core per GHz. Core2 gives double that. It's a significantly faster floating point chip, albeit with significantly worse memory bandwidth. Thanks! Do you know of a URL that lays out all the plusses/minuses in a convenient form. Here's one: http://lists.debian.org/debian-amd64/2007/08/msg00071.html -- __ / Jo Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] \ | Systems Manager, | \ Oxford Supercomputing Centre / --- \ ,__, \ (oo)___ (__))\ ||--|| * -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Sun, Aug 19, 2007 at 10:10:34PM -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: I have an nVidia EN7300GT based card. I'm quite happy with it when I use the nVidia driver to watch DVDs. With the nv driver the fine image detail is less clear. I'm assuming that this is because the nv driver isn't accessing the hardware decoding engine. Which player program, which X resolution, which refresh rate, etc. Are there any good video cards that do hardware decoding/accelleration that use a free driver? Well personally I just use mythtv or mplayer or xine or whichever I feel like to play DVDs, and I use the nvidia non-free drivers on a 6600gt, which has plenty of accaleration so my 700mhz athlon can keep up just fine. I'm asking on this list since my box is an Athlon64 running amd64 and I don't know if, for example, there are fewer choices of free drivers for amd64. Well the hauppauge PVR350 has hardware mpeg2 encoder and decoder, but I guess it isn't really a video card unless you count using your TV as your display as being a video card (you can run fb console and X on it after all). I somewhat doubt that a hardware decoder would make the quality any different. Having a driver to accalerate the decoding should just reduce cpu load, not affect the quality. Various filters and such in the application doing the playback on the other hand could affect it. -- Len Sorensen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Mon, Aug 20, 2007 at 06:59:19AM -0400, Chris Ahlstrom wrote: Why is a Core 2 system superior? Just a few highlights, please. The Core 2 can execute more instructions per clock cycle than the Athlon 64. Especially the FPU is much faster on the Core 2. Athlon 64 still wins on raw memory bandwidth, and has a nicer multi CPU interconnect system (so for 4+ CPU systems the Opteron still beats the intel nicely). (Not trying to start a war, I've just never found a good succinct summary, and I'm very happy with this AMG64.) Well many people are hoping the new AMDs coming out in the next 6 to 12 month will be able to give intel a run for its money. The PC world always works better when intel isn't in the lead, but instead is trying to catch up. -- Len Sorensen -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
* Jo Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-20 13:12:17 +0100]: On Mon, 2007-08-20 at 08:03 -0400, Chris Ahlstrom wrote: * Jo Shields [EMAIL PROTECTED] [2007-08-20 12:06:05 +0100]: In short? AMD64 gives you 2GFLOPS per core per GHz. Core2 gives double that. It's a significantly faster floating point chip, albeit with significantly worse memory bandwidth. Thanks! Do you know of a URL that lays out all the plusses/minuses in a convenient form. Here's one: http://lists.debian.org/debian-amd64/2007/08/msg00071.html Let me ask a followup: http://lists.debian.org/debian-amd64/2007/08/msg00072.html -- Recursion rules! -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: video card with hardware mpeg decoding with free driver?
On Mon, Aug 20, 2007 at 09:20:00AM -0400, Lennart Sorensen wrote: On Sun, Aug 19, 2007 at 10:10:34PM -0400, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: I have an nVidia EN7300GT based card. I'm quite happy with it when I use the nVidia driver to watch DVDs. With the nv driver the fine image detail is less clear. I'm assuming that this is because the nv driver isn't accessing the hardware decoding engine. Which player program, which X resolution, which refresh rate, etc. Are there any good video cards that do hardware decoding/accelleration that use a free driver? Well personally I just use mythtv or mplayer or xine or whichever I feel like to play DVDs, and I use the nvidia non-free drivers on a 6600gt, which has plenty of accaleration so my 700mhz athlon can keep up just fine. Well the hauppauge PVR350 has hardware mpeg2 encoder and decoder, but I guess it isn't really a video card unless you count using your TV as your display as being a video card (you can run fb console and X on it after all). My only TV is a 17 30 year old with poor vertical hold. I somewhat doubt that a hardware decoder would make the quality any different. Having a driver to accalerate the decoding should just reduce cpu load, not affect the quality. Various filters and such in the application doing the playback on the other hand could affect it. Hi Lennart, I did a direct comparision of the nv driver with the debian-packaged nvidia non-free driver. The difference I noticed was with playing back a DVD. Card: Asus EN7300GT silent (nVidia EN7300GT), 256 MB. MB/CPU: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe, Athlon64 3800+, 1x 1GB ram stick. Display: Intergraph 21 CRT at 1600 x 1200 x 32-bit, 85 Hz. Test movie: 40th anniversary edition DVD of __The_Sound_of_Music__. Ideal test scene, near the beginning where the Nuns are in the chapple, shot on location, good contrast, facial details, candle flames, etc. VLC setup: full-screen (so the picture gets enlarged from the default DVD), de-interlace blending. Nvidia driver: CPU 98% idle, little memory used. fine detail clear, lines in old nun's face, great dynamic range (subtle shading light to dark), clear definition around candle flame on dark background, motion smooth. nv driver: CPU 94% idle, little memory used. blurred fine detail, old nun has a younger (smoother) face, less dynamic range (some dark details lost), candle flame blurred, motion slightly rough. Another good test scene: Maria in the Mother Superior's office, the Nvidia driver lets the viewer see the MS's facial expression change as Maria talks, with the nv driver you miss this subtle facial acting. I too was surprised that having the hardware decoding made a qualatative difference rather than just using more system resources. Thanks, Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of unsubscribe. Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
