Upgrade HTPC

[Atomic41]

Hi !

Here my current HTPC rig :

Intel Core 2 Quad 9400
Asus P5B Deluxe
8GB de DDR2
Creative X-FI XtremMusic SoundCard
Gigabytes RX460 2GB
Logitech Z623 2.1 THX
Panasonic 42 inch G25 plasma TV


I use MPC-HC or PotPlayer to listen to my x265 1080p movie I got no problem at all ... the CPU almost sleep but when I try a x265 4K my CPU top the 100% even with my RX460 ... there is a way to use in a better way my RX460 to help my less powerful CPU to read 4K video file ??? or really my Q9400 is my bottleneck and I can?t think there is a way to read 4K x265 file on it ... if it?s the case do you have a suggestion for me about a good CPU + MOBO to update my HTPC.

My gaming rig has a i7 3770K with a ASUS Sabertooth Z77 mobo .... must I just swap these in my HTPC and upgrade my gaming rig with a new mobo + CPU + Ram ???

[StyM]

would suggest 4770, if you can find a cheap one.

[Atomic41]

Everything I find for a 3770K, 4770K, 4790k or even a 2700K is barely cheaper than a new 7700K and even the MOBO aren't cheaper

[BenchZowner]

What is your actual goal ?

You have a 1080p TV.
You are trying to playback a 4k file to it ?

Are you restricted to h.265 video files ? ( limited storage ? capped internet ? )

Are you looking for the max image quality or you are fine with normal fine quality ? ( with CPU decoding and software based chroma subsampling you can get better image quality than with GPU accelerated decoding )

[Atomic41]

What is your actual goal ? to play x265 4K movie on my near future 4K LG B6P

You have a 1080p TV.
You are trying to playback a 4k file to it ? yes right now I play these 4K movie on my 1080P TV

Are you restricted to h.265 video files ? ( limited storage ? capped internet ? ) because right they do the job ... faster to download (torrent) but if you have better movie file for quality I'm here to learn ... so teach me please

Are you looking for the max image quality or you are fine with normal fine quality ? ( with CPU decoding and software based chroma subsampling you can get better image quality than with GPU accelerated decoding )

if it's possible for me a really like the max image quality possible ... if you can recommend me a CPU and a software to do all of it it will be nice

Waiting news from you
THanks sir

[Atomic41]

Another point ... on my HTPC with the movie and TV app on WIndows 10 I can play x265 4K movie without any lag or even 100% CPU usage !?!?!? my GPU is around 10 to 30 % and my CPU is around 30 to 60 %

on my Gaming Rig ... i'm not able to play any x265 movie MKV file I got a error message 0xc00d5212 ... any idea ???

[BenchZowner]

The Q9400 should handle it fine when you purchase a 4k TV.
Right now you are pushing it harder because it plays back the 4k file and also downscales it to 1080p.

More detailed reply later on when I get back home from work

[Atomic41]

Why it's not my RX460 taking all that stress to downscale and avoid the lag created by the 100% usage of the CPU ... there is a way to push all that stress on my modern video card that I buy just for that

[bluestang]

Have you looked into getting a Nvidia Shield TV instead of doing an upgrade? Just a thought.

[BenchZowner]

Why it's not my RX460 taking all that stress to downscale and avoid the lag created by the 100% usage of the CPU ... there is a way to push all that stress on my modern video card that I buy just for that

That can't be done.
There's no way to have the GPU do the downscaling while the CPU or any other hardware part do the decoding, deblocking, etc.

Sorry for the short comments, my time is very limited here.
Will try to give you a detailed post and suggestions tomorrow hopefully

[Atomic41]

That can't be done.
There's no way to have the GPU do the downscaling while the CPU or any other hardware part do the decoding, deblocking, etc.

Sorry for the short comments, my time is very limited here.
Will try to give you a detailed post and suggestions tomorrow hopefully

Ok I'm waiting this detailed post !!! Thanks

[BenchZowner]

A relatively quick yet detailed somehow post

What I'd do:

Pick up a Core i5 CPU, any generation, be it a 2500K, a 3570K, 4670K, 6600K, 7600K.
8GB ( 2*4GB ) of DDR3-1600 or DDR4-2400 RAM depending on the CPU + mobo you purchase
a nice micro-ATX or ATX motherboard to go with the CPU you pick ( fantastic value choices and great performance/reliability goes to ASRock IMHO )
a GTX 1060
a semi-decent SSD ( something like a 850 Pro by Samsung ) for the OS + apps
your storage solution

playback via MPC-HC

decent configuration guide ( http://www.avsforum.com/forum/26-hom...tup-guide.html )

this will allow you to get the most out of your 4k TV.
4k material will playback smoothly and with nice motion ( MadVR helps with that and so does the GTX 1060 with its "cleaner" refresh rate )
non-4k material will be upscaled better ( better image quality and smoother motion )

Since you are going for the best image quality, you should also invest in a TV calibration by a professional ( $150-200 per input ).
Or if you are tech savvy and can figure out things with some practice, you can get a pretty accurate calibration hardware set and do the calibration yourself ( ColorMunki Display colorimeter for the IRE0 to IRE30 measurements and the i1pro for the IRE40-100 and color mesurements ).
Calibration will give you a much better and true playback ( accurate colors and luminosity like the filmographer wanted and "developed" it ) and on the side, you'll also get lower power consumption on your TV/projector.

[Atomic41]

I work a lot this morning to configure my PotPlayer + MadVR. I able now to listen my x265 4K video on my HTPC without any lag with the image. My CPU drop to around 40% on use ... but now my RX460 is almost anytime 100% ... but right now ... my audio isn't synchro with the image ... it's like if my audio has a lag

do you have any idea why ... I select my Creative SB X-FI / Virtual Dolby Decoder / 24 bits / 96000hz / High Quality in the audio setting of PotPlayer and in the configuration of integreted audio decoder ... I choose FFmpeg64.dll

[Atomic41]

@BenchZowner;

So I read a lot again ... and I'm not able right now with MPC-HC 1.7.10 x64 to choose madVR in the output section in MPC-HC. I have madvr **unavailable**

I have MadVR v0.91.5 ...

Thanks for your help

[Atomic41]

A relatively quick yet detailed somehow post

What I'd do:

Pick up a Core i5 CPU, any generation, be it a 2500K, a 3570K, 4670K, 6600K, 7600K.
8GB ( 2*4GB ) of DDR3-1600 or DDR4-2400 RAM depending on the CPU + mobo you purchase
a nice micro-ATX or ATX motherboard to go with the CPU you pick ( fantastic value choices and great performance/reliability goes to ASRock IMHO )
a GTX 1060
a semi-decent SSD ( something like a 850 Pro by Samsung ) for the OS + apps
your storage solution

playback via MPC-HC

decent configuration guide ( http://www.avsforum.com/forum/26-hom...tup-guide.html )

this will allow you to get the most out of your 4k TV.
4k material will playback smoothly and with nice motion ( MadVR helps with that and so does the GTX 1060 with its "cleaner" refresh rate )
non-4k material will be upscaled better ( better image quality and smoother motion )

Since you are going for the best image quality, you should also invest in a TV calibration by a professional ( $150-200 per input ).
Or if you are tech savvy and can figure out things with some practice, you can get a pretty accurate calibration hardware set and do the calibration yourself ( ColorMunki Display colorimeter for the IRE0 to IRE30 measurements and the i1pro for the IRE40-100 and color mesurements ).
Calibration will give you a much better and true playback ( accurate colors and luminosity like the filmographer wanted and "developed" it ) and on the side, you'll also get lower power consumption on your TV/projector.

your inbox is FULL

[BenchZowner]

You need to install MadVR.
I assume that you've downloaded the latest version and extracted it somewhere ( in Program Files or Program Files (x86) ideally ), but you haven't run the install.bat ( batch file ) that is in that directory along with the rest of the MadVR files.

Run the batch file and in the next launch of MPC-HC it will show up

[Atomic41]

You need to install MadVR.
I assume that you've downloaded the latest version and extracted it somewhere ( in Program Files or Program Files (x86) ideally ), but you haven't run the install.bat ( batch file ) that is in that directory along with the rest of the MadVR files.

Run the batch file and in the next launch of MPC-HC it will show up

Yes sir I got it ... but on my HTPC with my RX460 when I run my x265 4K mkv movie files ... now my GPU top at 100% ... so I have lag in the video and the sound and picture aren't synchro ... do you have any idea why ???

[BenchZowner]

Depends on the settings you are using.
The higher the settings ( you can't tell by order, you need to know which ones are the most demanding ) the more demanding it gets on your hardware.

Post your MadVR settings screenshots and I'll have a look

[Atomic41]

Depends on the settings you are using.
The higher the settings ( you can't tell by order, you need to know which ones are the most demanding ) the more demanding it gets on your hardware.

Post your MadVR settings screenshots and I'll have a look

Is it normal I don't have this section in my MadVR config => Image Doubling

[Atomic41]

Depends on the settings you are using.
The higher the settings ( you can't tell by order, you need to know which ones are the most demanding ) the more demanding it gets on your hardware.

Post your MadVR settings screenshots and I'll have a look

chroma upscaling NNEDI3 128 Neurons
Image Doubling Always use NNEDI3 to Double Luma and Chroma Resolution using 128 neurons
Image Upscaling DXVA2
Image Downscaling DXVA2
smooth motion Enable Smooth Motion only if judder without
dithering Error Diffusion Option 1
Video Codec DXVA2 with hardware deinterlacing

[Atomic41]

Depends on the settings you are using.
The higher the settings ( you can't tell by order, you need to know which ones are the most demanding ) the more demanding it gets on your hardware.

Post your MadVR settings screenshots and I'll have a look

Hi !

No news from you after my answer ...

[Hell Hound]

Hi !

No news from you after my answer ...

Go 64 neurons on both settings