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: madVR
In the preceding section, we looked at EVR and EVR-CP. Videophiles often prefer madVR as their renderer because of the choice of scaling algorithms available as well as myriad other features. In our original Ivy Bridge HTPC review, I had been very satisfied with HD 4000 and madVR except for a few corner cases involving high frame rate material which also required both luma and chroma scaling (such as 720p60 material). One of the issues in our initial testbed was that we were using DDR3-1333 DRAM. Our current system under consideration uses DDR3-1600. This is more than enough to get madVR working with default scaling algorithm settings for all video material 1080p60 or lesser. Readers interested in seeing madVR in action on the HD 4000 should definitely check out Andrew's excellent piece in Missing Remote comparing HD 2500 and HD 4000 for madVR.
It is not possible to use native DXVA2 decoding with madVR because the decoded frames are not made available to an external renderer directly. To work around this issue, LAV Video Decoder offers three options. The first option involves using software decoding.
| LAV Video Decoder (Software Fallback) + madVR | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 70.84 | 48.19 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 72.8 | 50.41 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 75.88 | 58.23 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 61.51 | 59.05 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 61.22 | 55.09 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 62.22 | 59.85 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 73.65 | 60.91 |
The second option is to use either QuickSync or DXVA2 Copy-Back. In either case, the decoded frames are brought back to the system memory for madVR to take over. The power consumption profile improves quite a bit, particularly for the 720p60 and 1080p60 streams.
| LAV Video Decoder (QuickSync) + madVR | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 71.37 | 47.72 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 71.28 | 49.83 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 75.76 | 54.92 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 62.5 | 56.15 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 62.02 | 55.81 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 61.86 | 55.94 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 66.31 | 56.58 |
One of the interesting features to be integrated into the recent madVR releases is the option to perform DXVA scaling. This is particularly interesting for HTPCs running Intel GPUs because the Intel HD Graphics engine uses dedicated hardware to implement support for the DXVA scaling API calls. AMD and NVIDIA apparently implement those calls using pixel shaders. In order to obtain a frame of reference, we repeated our benchmark process using DXVA2 scaling for both luma and chroma instead of the default settings.
| LAV Video Decoder (QuickSync) + madVR (DXVA Scaling) | ||
| Stream | GPU Usage % | Power Consumption |
| 480i60 MPEG-2 | 50.33 | 43.54 |
| 576i50 H.264 | 52.39 | 44.33 |
| 720p60 H.264 | 57.34 | 48.82 |
| 1080i60 H.264 | 62.63 | 55.52 |
| 1080i60 MPEG-2 | 62.34 | 55.21 |
| 1080i60 VC-1 | 62.06 | 55.51 |
| 1080p60 H.264 | 65.56 | 55.33 |
DXVA scaling results in much lower GPU usage for SD material in particular with a corresponding decrease in average power consumption too. Users with Intel GPUs can continue to enjoy other madVR features while giving up on the choice of a wide variety of scaling algorithms.
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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