Trying to get HEVC playback smooth

[tenzen 1]

Hey everybody,   I've downloaded the latest Emby Theatre and trying to get HEVC playback to be smooth on my little Intel Core2 Duo T6600 @ 2.2ghz and Intel integrated graphics

 

I know the system is capable of HEVC playback because the default MPC-HC /w LAV plays back the same HEVC files perfectly.

 

MPC-HC/LAV plays back perfectly.

 

LAV is set with "Hardware Decoder to use" as Disabled and uses "Active Decoder: avcodec"

 -- CPU sits at abut 20% utilization and GPU sits at about 70% utilization with a GPU core clock of 640 MHZ

 

When I use Emby Theatre with all default settings (I understand it also uses LAV), it plays find for about 5 seconds then becomes jerky..

-- CPU sits at about 95% utilization and GPU sits at about 40% utilization with a GPU core clock of 640Mhz

 

To me it is clear that Emby is using different LAV settings, but I am unsure how to tweak.. any suggestions?

 

I've looked in %appdata%\emby-theatre\config\directshowplayer.xml and didnt see any LAV type settings.

 

I've even tried adding    <string>HEVC</string> to the   <HwaEnabledCodecs> and playback is different but still jerky.

 -- CPU sits typically at about %60-70 and cpu at 4% until that busy scene and then it jumps to 95%

 

thoughts?

 

 

Thanks

Lance

[RanmaCanada 360]

First off, you are using an external codec, and your hardware is SERIOUSLY crap.  HEVC needs serious hardware to play back properly without hacks.  

 

Upgrade your hardware.  You can't expect a 7 year old system to play HEVC properly without the hacks that you are using, which Emby does not use.  You can always try using the external player option, but like I said, your hardware is crap.  UPGRADE.

[tenzen 1]

First off, you are using an external codec, and your hardware is SERIOUSLY crap.  HEVC needs serious hardware to play back properly without hacks.  

 

Upgrade your hardware.  You can't expect a 7 year old system to play HEVC properly without the hacks that you are using, which Emby does not use.  You can always try using the external player option, but like I said, your hardware is crap.  UPGRADE.

 

Hi, what do you mean "external codec?"   I am trying to use the default install of emby theatre and was not aware that there is a method to use an external codec -- It is  my understanding that Emby theatre comes with bundled (and hidden) versions of LAV that it uses for the internal player.    Personally, much prefer the concept of the internal player -- it is a simpler, more immersive experience and really look forward to helping where I can to bring the player forward.   Reading the forums, I see comments of them looking to lighten the load for smaller systems like the one I mention.

 

As to the 7 yr old hardware, I dont think it is unreasonable to expect Emby theatre to perform as well as other players -- although it might takes some development to get there.  

 

I also dont understand your "hack comment"   -- can you please qualify it so I can try and fix thing on my end.    I have repeated the test with VLC and Plex Media Player (The plex pass version) and both have similar results to MPC-HT.... so, i dont understand what it is you think i've hacked.  

 

If you are doing pure CPU decoding, I agree that HEVC needs a lot of power; however, the one thing in common with the working players, they are using hardware acceleration that is provided in the GPU by Intel and this is more and more requied as we get to HTPC, android players, mobile players, smart TV players, etc.   

 

Lack of CPU power is the main reason why I am going with HEVC and not webm/vp9/ogg where we would have HTML5 and Browser support with popular browsers like firefox and chrome -- I dont have devices that have hardware acceleration, and many of them are old enough to not handle it all in CPU.  

 

Any other ideas?

[tenzen 1]

Just on a whim, I also just installed stock Kodi 16 and found similar playback experience to Emby Theatre -- very high CPU, low usage on GPU and jerky playback.

[Lawrage 13]

In Emby Theatre settings are you using MadVR or EVR? I assume you have tried both.

 

I have a little i3 Nuc and took a while to get my HEVC anime shows to play properly. Not at home at the moment but one of those worked fine and the other was very jerky with this type of content - due to the teeny tiny cpu in the NUC.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Lawrage

[SikSlayer 198]

As to the 7 yr old hardware, I dont think it is unreasonable to expect Emby theatre to perform as well as other players -- although it might takes some development to get there. 

 

Just on a whim, I also just installed stock Kodi 16 and found similar playback experience to Emby Theatre -- very high CPU, low usage on GPU and jerky playback.

 

See? The answer is NO, just no. Your hardware just can't handle it as is. It won't ever. You can't even add an external GPU, based on what I assume that machine is, because of your CPU (it's a laptop isn't it?). So that means its dead end. The only answer is to get a newer machine.

 

I'm not trying to be mean or rude, but I am being purposefully kurt, and that's because I want you to understand and accept the unavoidable fact. That machine will NEVER give you smooth HEVC playback.

[RanmaCanada 360]

Hi, what do you mean "external codec?"   I am trying to use the default install of emby theatre and was not aware that there is a method to use an external codec -- It is  my understanding that Emby theatre comes with bundled (and hidden) versions of LAV that it uses for the internal player.    Personally, much prefer the concept of the internal player -- it is a simpler, more immersive experience and really look forward to helping where I can to bring the player forward.   Reading the forums, I see comments of them looking to lighten the load for smaller systems like the one I mention.

 

As to the 7 yr old hardware, I dont think it is unreasonable to expect Emby theatre to perform as well as other players -- although it might takes some development to get there.  

 

I also dont understand your "hack comment"   -- can you please qualify it so I can try and fix thing on my end.    I have repeated the test with VLC and Plex Media Player (The plex pass version) and both have similar results to MPC-HT.... so, i dont understand what it is you think i've hacked.  

 

If you are doing pure CPU decoding, I agree that HEVC needs a lot of power; however, the one thing in common with the working players, they are using hardware acceleration that is provided in the GPU by Intel and this is more and more requied as we get to HTPC, android players, mobile players, smart TV players, etc.   

 

Lack of CPU power is the main reason why I am going with HEVC and not webm/vp9/ogg where we would have HTML5 and Browser support with popular browsers like firefox and chrome -- I dont have devices that have hardware acceleration, and many of them are old enough to not handle it all in CPU.  

 

Any other ideas?

The codec you are using, throws away information to make the playback smooth.  Your hardware does not support HEVC decoding, and thus using the codec pack you are "cheating" to get playback to work.  All the newer Intel hardware has hardware decoding support for HEVC, so does Nvidia and ATI.  Your 7 year old T6600 does not have hardware support for HEVC.  Expecting it to play fine is like expecting a C64 to play Crisis.

 

The fact that you don't even understand that you are using an external codec when you are playing through MPC sadly shows you don't even understand the concept of what is going on.  Active Decoder: avcodec <-- means you are using a codec to "assist" in your playback.  Do you know how codec playback works?  Probably not, else we would not be having this conversation.  Sorry if I sound terse, but you kids really need to learn more about what's going on with codecs and playback and stuff instead of just expecting stuff to magically work.

 

Upgrade your hardware, PERIOD.

[Deathsquirrel 741]

Upgrade your hardware, PERIOD.

 

Or just use h264 or similar encoding methods for files you can actually use on your existing hardware.

[aspdend 174]

To be fair, my htpc is a cobbled together machine that has served me well for some time. The CPU is a dual core AMD Athlon II 255 which is a good 6 years old and not exactly a beast of a chip. Using Emby Theatre 2.0 hevc playback is very smooth on the limited HEVC content I have. Playback stutters if I play the file outside of EMby Theatre using either VLC or MPC-HC...I use the Emby Theatre default settings and the standard LAV installation through Emby Theatre, no other codec packs installed.

[RanmaCanada 360]

To be fair, my htpc is a cobbled together machine that has served me well for some time. The CPU is a dual core AMD Athlon II 255 which is a good 6 years old and not exactly a beast of a chip. Using Emby Theatre 2.0 hevc playback is very smooth on the limited HEVC content I have. Playback stutters if I play the file outside of EMby Theatre using either VLC or MPC-HC...I use the Emby Theatre default settings and the standard LAV installation through Emby Theatre, no other codec packs installed.

You failed to mention what video card you have, as that will make a huge difference.  The embeded graphics on a T6600, if it is a GMA 4500HD, can do hardware assisted x264 playback.  If it is NOT an HD, then it can't even do assisted bluray playback properly. (well at the time it was released)  Your cpu is also 10-30% faster than his T6600 depending on the benchmark.

[aspdend 174]

You failed to mention what video card you have, as that will make a huge difference.  The embeded graphics on a T6600, if it is a GMA 4500HD, can do hardware assisted x264 playback.  If it is NOT an HD, then it can't even do assisted bluray playback properly. (well at the time it was released)  Your cpu is also 10-30% faster than his T6600 depending on the benchmark.

Sorry, been busy of late and forgot to respond...

 

I'm using a Radeon 6870 in my htpc