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Author Topic: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ  (Read 2822 times)

wer

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Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« on: October 21, 2011, 12:37:51 am »

I recently had to switch to RO HQ from RO Std to get away from from serious framerate problems with Std (thanks to Matt for this suggestion).

But I've been noticing a problem with RO HQ that I don't have when playing the same mpg/vob with VLC or WMP12.

There will be occasional "tearing" of the video frame... like a flicker, or a wide black scan line that will flash through the frame.

Enabling/disabling Videoclock does not have any effect, nor does enabling/disabling hardware video decoding acceleration, nor does changing the FPS tag.

The effect does not occur at regular intervals or with all material.  It seems to mostly occur in scenes with rapid changes in contrast.  For example, it occurs a lot in "Aliens" in the scene at 2h16m when Ripley is shooting up the egg chamber. 

I get tearing in this scene with RO HQ, and when using Windows Merit Based, but in VLC and WMP12 the video is perfect.

Any ideas from the video wizards? :)
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jmone

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2011, 01:23:35 am »

Try checking the "Exclusive Mode" option in madVR (right click when playing a video --> Direct Show Filters --> madVR --> rendering --> general settings --> enable automatic fullscreen exclusive mode).

RO HQ has quality benefits over Std but can really stress weaker systems (and tearing can be one of them).  You don't say what CPU/GPU you have or if the Aliens example is from a DVD (hence interlaced) or Blu ray (hence progressive).  You may also have some luck by checking the HW Accell box in MC under Tools --> Options --> Video --> General Video Settings
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wer

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2011, 12:14:14 pm »

Thanks for pointing this out.  Unfortunately exclusive mode does not fix the problem.  I also tried various other madVR settings in there but none of them fixed it.

As I said, I'd already tried the HW accell box.

The content is a DVD ripped to a single VOB/MPG using DVD Decrypter in stream mode.  The file is then processed (if necessary) with MPEG Streamclip to remove any timecode breaks (Since MC barfs on MPG/VOB files with timecode breaks.)  All my DVDs are processed in this way.  All play perfectly in VLC or WMP.  Only MadVR has this issue.  I should also reiterate: I don't really see a partial double image or disconnected image as in classic "tearing."  What I see is a break or flicker in the video, often characterized by a black line, that makes it look like a video-tape scan glitch.

It's not a speed problem.  The machine is very fast for a HTPC:
JRmark: 1988math,3531image,3114 overall.  GPU-Z says gpu load is never above 25% during MadVR rendering.   MadVR stats indicates no dropped frames or glitches once playback starts.

The problem seems to be specific to MadVR but obviously I can't pin down what it is.


Is there any way to disable that warning in the top left corner ("windowed" or "exclusive") that MadVR displays every time it switches modes? (other than disabling exclusive mode entirely obviously) That's annoying.
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jmone

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2011, 02:52:34 pm »

You may have to post over at madshi's madVR thread at Doom9 with a sample (or PM him here to this thread) as I am out of ideas.  There is a new version of madVR out that I hope fixes some of my issues (the next V17 will have it).  FYI - One of my old workflows was to use DVD Decrypter to bread up music vids into individual VOB for each song (which I would then just rename as MPG without any other processing), and they all play perfectly.
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wer

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #4 on: October 22, 2011, 03:46:16 pm »

Thanks, I'll see if I can get madshi's advice.

As for the DVDs, you're right of course that many will play fine in MC without any processing; this is because they don't have timebreaks.  But if the stream has timebreaks, MC will not list the duration of the video correctly, and although it will play, FF/REW will malfunction.  Fixing the timebreaks (in videos that actually have timebreaks) prevents MC from having a problem with the file.  About 60% of my DVDs have timebreaks, 40% are fine.  Your mileage my vary.  :)
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madshi

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2011, 07:50:20 pm »

Is that "black line" vertical or horizontal? "Tearing" means that one part of the video image is from a different frame (one frame further/behind) than the other part. Is that what you're seeing? This should not happen in exclusive mode. I'm wondering whether the problem is not tearing, but something else. DVDs are usually interlaced. How are you deinterlacing? madVR cannot deinterlace at this point in time. Could it be a deinterlacing issue? Do you really get a black line in the middle of the video frame sometimes? That would sound more like a hardware or driver issue than a madVR issue to me. I'm not receiving similar bug reports from the other madVR users.
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wer

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2011, 08:24:12 pm »

The black line is horizontal.  The issue most resembles a scanning problem on a videotape; a flash/flicker/jump in the video usually accompanied by a wide horizontal black line.

I don't know how the deinterlacing is being done; Red October magic.  I ripped the DVD, and play it with RO HQ.

As far as the driver, I suppose that is possible, but keep it mind the problem does not occur when playing with Windows Media Player or VLC.  Both those programs are playing back using the same driver, but not using Red October or MadVR.

As far as I know, it could totally be something else in Red October causing the issue before it gets to MadVR; I'm certainly no expert.
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madshi

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2011, 03:51:03 am »

What other renderers show or don't show doesn't say much because they're working differently. madVR uses pixel shaders to do all its work, most other renderers don't use any pixel shaders at all, or just for a subset of functionality.

I guess you can't capture the problem in a screenshot? Or can you?
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wer

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2011, 11:43:06 am »

No, I'm afraid not.  :(

The card is a Radeon 5570, driver version 8.812.0.0

Are there known issues with MadVR and that driver that would cause something like this?
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wer

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2011, 10:40:57 pm »

By the way, madshi, is ther any way to prevent the display of "windowed" and "exclusive" in the top left corner when MadVR changes modes?   Thanks!
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agw

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Re: Video tearing artifacts with Red October HQ
« Reply #10 on: October 24, 2011, 05:08:51 pm »

Wer
I had a similar "tearing" issue that showed up in JR - horizontal scan line that was more prevalent in fast action scenes.   Under Tools - Options - General - Video Card, the entry for Hardware Accelerated Graphics: I changed this to "Highest Quality" and it now seems to work fine.  Using an ATI 4670.

Good luck.
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