madvr

[cylon 15]

So I decided to try out madVR, after doing some reading on here about settings, as well as a couple other forums, I'm finding that I don't notice very much change at all, regardless of the media I'm watching. The only thing I noticed that was any different, is by changing the chroma settings, that the video would get darker, but I wouldn't say it was any clearer or better looking by any means...

 

Can anyone suggest some settings I could try to get some benefits from madVR? I uninstalled it this morning, because I felt it wasn't really doing anything. But I want to give it the benefit of the doubt, and try it again. Since so many other users seem to love it, I'm assuming I just wasn't using it right.

 

-MBT on an i5-2400 3.10GHz, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6670, Win 7 64-bit

-Panasonic 65GT30

 

Thanks,

 

Patrick

The first thing I would be checking is what your upstream systems are doing to the video stream. Is your TV/amp changing the refresh rate? Does it have a smooth motion setting? Does it have an overscan setting? If any of these are enabled turn them off. Have you disabled the high contrast video setting for your video card driver? What other setting is your video card driver overriding?

 

Basically what I am getting at is allow madVR to do everything for you. Nothing can compete with madVR running on a well specked machine, back in the day you would have to pay 10s of thousands of dollars for a scaler that still would't come close to it. Current high end amps and TVs have excellent scalers in them but they still don't compare to madVR.

 

The only thing I have turned on is auto-iris (high mode) on my projector which dramatically increases the contrast ratio. The video card is set to 0-255 output so the blacks don't get crushed and it is running at 59.94 fps with madVR smooth motion frame rate changer (SMFRC) enabled for all content.

[Mfusick 38]

How many dropped frames do you guys usually get on a BR rip ?

[Swynol 375]

if i use madvr with default settings i get alot of dropped frames 5 or so every 30 seconds. if i set in madvr 1080p23 then i get 0 frames dropped or delayed but i do get refresh issues, even though my avr and tv both support 24p (23p) 

 

if i dont use madvr then i get tearing issues often. so at the moment i use the madvr default settings, not ideal. 

 

i have however found that i get perfect picture in MPC-HC running at 23.9fps 

[MSL_DK 35]

This is ridiculously good, take a look at the new madVR version. Many thanks to madshi for this release! I'm now able to play 1080i without dropped frames thanks to the new profile group feature. This is just amazing! And for those who struggling with madVR, look here Now we just have to wait until mbt supports all madVR features.

Edited January 27, 2014 by JLPFLD

[nickbuol 30]

This is ridiculously good, take a look at the new madVR version. Many thanks to madshi for this release! I'm now able to play 1080i without dropped frames thanks to the new profile group feature. This is just amazing! And for those who struggling with madVR, look here Now we just have to wait until mbt supports all madVR features.

 

Of course for those of us still struggling to understand what we are even trying to do with MadVR, the profile groups are just another level of complexity.

 

I have been getting (no matter what I do) no better than 1 dropped and repeated frame every 6.5ish seconds.  You notice it at that frequency.    My hardware should support it and I am just stumped.  Maybe I will install the latest madVR, but since I am convinced that my setting still aren't optimized, I don't expect much difference.

 

Maybe I will have to go through the "guide" at JRiver and see if there is anything there.  I'm also not convinced that I shouldn't be doing something different for video driver.  I am using the Asus driver and its inflated application for my 7790 card.

 

Signed - Frustrated in Iowa (and not just because of the weather)

[MSL_DK 35]

Try to post your non default settings, all of them. 

Edited January 27, 2014 by JLPFLD

[nickbuol 30]

Try to post your non default settings, all of them. 

HTPC is gigabit connected to the server and has the following hardware:

Intel i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad Core

ASRock Z87M Extreme4 mobo

8GB DDR3-2400 (running at NON-overclocked 1600)

Asus Radeon HD 7790 1GB GPU

Windows 7 Professional

 

Should be able to run madVR pretty darn well.

 

 

Here are the madVR settings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2014 by nickbuol

[pagali 62]

@@nickbuol : I'm no MadVR expert, but my first impression is that you've got too much going on at once there. Even with a powerful htpc like yours, from what I've read you want to have EITHER smooth motion enabled, OR automatic frame rate switching enabled, but not both.

 

And are you using the LAV video decoder? If so, you don't want MadVR to also be trying to decode. Try disabling everything under Processing and let LAV take care of decoding and deinterlacing.

 

In the MadVR Program Files folder, there's a batch file to reset MadVR to defaults. Sometimes it's best to just go back to basics and rebuild from there. My system isn't quite as powerful as yours, so my scaling algorithms are more moderate... but everything plays beautifully with just auto frame rate switching and exclusive fullscreen mode. (Except in MBT of course, cause it doesn't play well with MadVR as yet.)

[MSL_DK 35]

Don't use automatic frame rate switching, set yours refresh rate to 1080p60 (or higher) and use smooth motion (always) Lower gpu queue size to 6, raise frames presented in advance to 8, but first of all install the new version and be aware about that mbt doesn't support fullscreen exclusive mode. Don't use mbt to test with, use mpc-hc + lav, when you have done that, power up an movie that demand a lot and post an screenshot of the osd (ctrl+j) after some minutes

[nickbuol 30]

Ok.  You two have given me some things to work on tonight.  I was trying to make heads/tails of all of the settings and I had seen some "guides" out there, but they seemed to be more of a "these are my settings" kind of thing and with all of the other variables out there nothing is apples to apples.

 

I will work on this some tonight and report back.  Thanks.

[nickbuol 30]

Don't use automatic frame rate switching, set yours refresh rate to 1080p60 (or higher) and use smooth motion (always) Lower gpu queue size to 6, raise frames presented in advance to 8, but first of all install the new version and be aware about that mbt doesn't support fullscreen exclusive mode. Don't use mbt to test with, use mpc-hc + lav, when you have done that, power up an movie that demand a lot and post an screenshot of the osd (ctrl+j) after some minutes

 

OK.  I opted to reset all of the settings and start from scratch and use MPC-HC for setup and testing. 

 

I left the auto-switching setting completely empty... 

 

I set things to Jinc 3 tap plus anti-ringing for chroma up-scaling and image up-scaling, and Catmull-Rom with anti-ringing for image down-scaling.

 

No listed refresh rates at all under my projectors "Display mode" settings and things looked good.  I then added smooth motion made things look like crap.. Sort of like REALLY bad motion ghosting.  So then I went back and set it so that the only option under "display mode" was 1080p60 and turned smooth motion on always, and it looks about the same as with no 1080p60 setting and no smooth motion, so who knows.  I will need to look into those settings more to see how to tell what the difference is so that I can pick what I think looks best since both yield the same output "stats" for dropped frames, etc.

 

I set the GPU queue to 6, frames presented in advance to 8 as well.  That is about it.  Oh, I already installed the latest madVR after I made my posts last night.

 

Anyway, now I get a chunk of dropped frames (33) right at the start of the playback, but none after that and no delayed frames or anything. 

 

So in MPC-HC things seem pretty much set.

 

Now to try it with MBT....

 

EDIT:  Oh, that was with a local copy of Fast and Furious 6 that I copied to my HTPC's SSD.  Next up is the same file across the network with MPC-HC, and THEN the same movie (using a copy of the same file) from inside MBT.

 

EDIT #2: Ok, the same movie across the network from my media server played through MPC-HC plays great.  No dropped frames after the initial chunk (23). 

Now for MBT. 

 

EDIT #3:  MBT?  Not so good.          At 2:15 into the movie, I am already at 141 dropped frames, and 28 delayed frames where before I had just 33 and 23 dropped frames right at the beginning.  So I would say at least 110 more drops AFTER the initial "chunk".  Grrr...

 

EDIT #4: OK.  So 1080p60 does NOT fill my screen.  I will either need to change my Windows' settings, or change it back to no smooth motion and not force 1080p60.  For now, changing those in madVR is easier and more consistent with my testing earlier.  Not sure if it was always displaying like that or if it is a MBT thing.  OK and interesting note, the dropped frames and repeated frames are better, but still not perfect.  At the same 2:15 mark as above I get (in MBT) 8 dropped frames and 5 repeated frames (after an initial 23 dropped and 5 repeated at the start).  Again, a LOT better than the 110ish before, but not as good as in MPC-HC.

 

EDIT #5:  In MBT I went into the player settings (where you check the box for madVR to be used) and I noticed that the new option for hardware acceleration was set to "auto".  I disabled it.  Played the movie.  Only had 5 dropped frames at the start and 0 repeated frames (1 delayed frame)...  At 2:15 that went to 11 (6 more) dropped, 6 repeated (from 0) and stayed at 1 delayed frame.  So a touch better.  Setting it to DXVA2CopyBack didn't improve anything.

 

*** NOTE:  In between each round of settings changes, I rebooted the HTPC for good measure.

 

So I am out of ideas at this point. Works perfectly outside of MBT, but once in MBT, I get dropped frames and repeated frames... 

 

FYI, here is a screenshot (it dropped out of full screen mode when I grabbed it) at about 2 minutes 20 seconds (just past where I was checking before.  Only 1 additional repeated frame since the initial chunk.  Otherwise 0 dropped.

 

Edited January 28, 2014 by nickbuol

[pagali 62]

Don't use automatic frame rate switching, set yours refresh rate to 1080p60 (or higher) and use smooth motion (always) Lower gpu queue size to 6, raise frames presented in advance to 8, but first of all install the new version and be aware about that mbt doesn't support fullscreen exclusive mode. Don't use mbt to test with, use mpc-hc + lav, when you have done that, power up an movie that demand a lot and post an screenshot of the osd (ctrl+j) after some minutes

 

One thing I love about MadVR is that there's always more to learn. I just tried your settings (hadn't had good luck with smooth motion before) and it's even better! Zero dropped frames now!

[MSL_DK 35]

Yep... and it's getting better and better... the downside... it takes an huge amount of time to find the best setting. A hint, keep an good eye on queue, it tells a lot. 

[pagali 62]

Yep... and it's getting better and better... the downside... it takes an huge amount of time to find the best setting. A hint, keep an good eye on queue, it tells a lot. 

 

It tells a lot if you know the language, true.

 

Unfortunately, I've just stumbled along, using the recommendations of others. But I do read a lot and do remember some of what I've read.

[MSL_DK 35]

I don't want to focus on playback through mbt. What setting produced playback without frame drops? The prerequisite for using smooth motion is an high refresh rate... Forgot that you can't make a screenshot when using fullscreen exclusive mode. But what you'll want to look after is that the queue never gets emty. I would head over to the madVR forum and read, read and read, if i was you, there is so much good reading over there.

 

In the context.

 

I'm able to use, 3DLUT, Jinc, smooth motion, debanding, without DXVA  with a system slower than your's. An realy old HD 4850 with only 512mb, but it also working realy, REALY hard 

[nickbuol 30]

Yeah, there are currently 22,135 posts in the madVR thread at Doom9.  That will take a while.  Maybe more agressive searching...  I'd make a post, but you have to be registered for 5 days before you can post (I am on day 3 right now).

 

Maybe in the meantime I will focus outside of madVR.  I'll dig deeper into my LAV settings and my video card driver.  Maybe find a driver for the 7790 that isn't "Asus specific" and without all of the control software so that I can let LAV and madVR manage its settings instead of having things checked in the video card software as well.

[steelman1991 19]

Nick - I'm not sure its anything more than MBT still being in pre-Alpha stage. Luke has mentioned this in various threads of late. Your just one of the unlucky ones that it doesn't work for.

[Mfusick 38]

Nick - I'm not sure its anything more than MBT still being in pre-Alpha stage. Luke has mentioned this in various threads of late. Your just one of the unlucky ones that it doesn't work for.

 

A good point.  But Nick is doing the right thing by bringing this up so it can be fixed and not only can he get the best possible result but that MBT is developed to be as good as it can.   

[MSL_DK 35]

I am reading, learning, experimenting, testing, posting results, etc... 

 

I'm only saying that your problem in mbt is caused by the lack of Exclusive Mode... That's my guess.

[steelman1991 19]

 

Yes we have a developer over on doom9 working on it. You can follow the thread there but please allow him to remain uninterrupted. If you have another developer who can possibly join us then that would certainly be fantastic.

 

 

Taken from the thread here http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/2142-media-browser-theater-public-alpha/page-19 post 372 forward.

 

Of course he is, but Luke and the other devs will develop it to be as good as it can be.

[nickbuol 30]

I'm only saying that your problem in mbt is caused by the lack of Exclusive Mode... That's my guess.

 

We will track that moving forward and if it is, I'll buy you a drink or something...  (It might be a virtual drink though.  )

[nickbuol 30]

Oh no, another Mfusick started thread... 

 

(Just teasing Mfusick!)

 

Thanks for the reminder about that thread JLPFLD!

[nickbuol 30]

Nick - I'm not sure its anything more than MBT still being in pre-Alpha stage. Luke has mentioned this in various threads of late. Your just one of the unlucky ones that it doesn't work for.

Possibly/probably....

 

I just know that there are so many variables between the video card drivers/settings, to LAV settings, to madVR settings, to MBT settings (not that there are a lot), to display options, etc.  I think that I just about have madVR set to the ideal spot.  Now I just need to look at the other components and see if there is something there to tweak and tune.  If people with "lesser" hardware can do it in MBT, then I should be able to as well.  I am documenting it here mainly because of the fact that it works great with MPC-HC and if I can get something tweaked/tuned to make it work in MBT not only will I be super happy, but then others that need it to work in MBT will have some additional possible steps to follow.

[nickbuol 30]

 

 

 

 

Taken from the thread here http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/2142-media-browser-theater-public-alpha/page-19 post 372 forward.

 

Of course he is, but Luke and the other devs will develop it to be as good as it can be.

 

 

That is more about madVR Exclusive Mode only, vs general madVR support, although I would only assume that one would impact the other.

 

And just for the record for anyone reading this.  Sure I am frustrated by this not working in MBT, but I am frustrated mainly because I really like MBT so much and I want it to be the best that it can be with all of the components offered.  I am by no means slamming or bashing MBT, and in fact am looking at other components to work on adjusting before doing something different like, dare I say it, going back to Media Browser 3 Classic (where it seems to work fine)...  Gasp!

[MSL_DK 35]

Oh no, another Mfusick started thread... 

 

(Just teasing Mfusick!)

 

 but a good one