Am I being too optimistic with this h/w?

[GreatMilenko]

I'm running on a 1.8 ghz cpu but always using hardware decoding for full HD content, that along with overlay mode in windows xp works perfectly on all video formats and DVB-C 720p content.
But you need a codec that will support your graphics card, and currently i would recommend ffdshow tryouts latest beta, that is capable of decoding everything i throw at it.

[jcjefferies]

I have just dug out my old 2GHZ p4 NextPVR computer with FX5600 video card and under XP it runs at around 15% processor playing MPEG2 SD video when I select Overlay and the Cyberlink SP decoder with DXVA enabled. By comparison if I use the normal EVR and the ffdshow video filter it runs at around 30%. The LAV video decoder uses a bit more processor power but I have not not managed to get any reduction in processor usage when Hardware Acceleration was enabled.

If you have a blank screen then it is usually a decoder problem. Do the logs give any clue to a problem. You mentioned using the ffdshow decoders but have you checked that MPEG2 is enabled because it is often disabled by default.

[Nistrod]

If you look at the DSF/MFT view tab of DXVA Checker and see if any decoders enable the “GPU Acceleration” tab when selected.

OK, this produced a result. I had no idea what I was doing, but eventually found the GPU Acceleration tab. Running through the list of decoders - the Microsoft one enabled the tab, allowing me to Enable DXVA1 and DXVA2.
Using the Overlay renderer produces an acceptable (not great, but OK) result. Not jerky, and CPU is way down.

You mentioned using the ffdshow decoders but have you checked that MPEG2 is enabled because it is often disabled by default.

How would I do this?

I will play more, but it does look like this is a marginal, but possible, spec for an HTPC system.
Thanks to all.

[stustunz]

also make sure you pc is set to high performance( under power management)

[jcjefferies]

Depending on where you got your ffdshow decoder from MPEG2 is often disabled. Open the ffdshow video decoder config page either in NPVR or under Programs and under Codecs make sure MPEG2 (+MPEG1 ?) is enabled. Its also a good idea to Disable H264/AVC which will enable the ffdshow DXVA decoder to do the job instead.

DXVA Checker marks some decoders in Red but I have not found any documentation on this. However it does seem that these decoders are the ones which activate the GPU tab. Now you have it working you should be able to try other combinations of Decoders and Renderers.

I only record SD material and my 3GHZ P4 Vista client runs at around 10% playing recordings so have never used video acceleration. However I have just checked the LAV decoder which does MPEG2 acceleration and using my Geforce 210 card the CUVID mode actually used more processor but the native DXVA mode reduced processor use to around 4%. Going back to my old client with the FX5600 video card the LAV decoder gave no noticable reduction in processor use in either of the DXVA modes available.