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More => Old Versions => Media Center 12 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: koivu_11 on January 21, 2008, 12:42:52 am

Title: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: koivu_11 on January 21, 2008, 12:42:52 am
Hi

I was recommended this software from fitbrit on redflagdeals to use as my new front end for my htpc.

I am trying out the trial version and the video quality while playing a xvid file was not great at all... so I went to the video settings and clicked "use windows media player engine for video playback when possible" and then all of the sudden the picture quality looks great again. Is that normal? Or are my jriver settings not set up correctly?

thanks.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: gappie on January 21, 2008, 04:41:53 am
one of the users here, glynor, wrote a nice guide about what filters to use. its here: http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/What_Video_Filters_Do_I_Need%3F

succes
gab
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: koivu_11 on January 21, 2008, 12:36:38 pm
alright well which filters do I use? it doesn't really say.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: koivu_11 on January 21, 2008, 01:32:14 pm
well I might have fixed this, here is what happened in case anyone is wondering...

I changed the other filters to ffdshow video decoder, I forget why I chose this one I think I saw it somewhere else.
then there was still no change in the video quality.

what fixed it was this: I changed the video renderer from 'Video Mixing Renderer 9' to 'Enhanced Video Renderer' and now the video quality looks a lot better, a lot smoother (before everything had jagged edges).

so if anyone else has problem try that.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: Alex B on January 21, 2008, 01:36:59 pm
alright well which filters do I use? it doesn't really say.

Koivu -- this word means "birch" in the Finnish language and it is a common family name too. Are you perhaps from Finland? (I am.) Welcome to the forum anyway,

For Xvid playback I would recommend the most common solution amongst MC users:
Uninstall all old installed DirectShow filters and start with installing the CCCP codec and filter pack. (The link gappie provided redirects to this page: http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/DirectShow_Playback_Guide. It has a chapter about CCCP.)

CCCP consists mainly of a "known to be stable" version of the FFDShow filter pack, some additional filters and well tested default filter settings. Some other compression formats may benefit of additional filters, but for Xvid CCCP should be fine.

EDIT

I was typing this answer when you posted your last reply. I didn't change it because it may be useful for others.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: koivu_11 on January 21, 2008, 01:55:32 pm
Koivu -- this word means "birch" in the Finnish language and it is a common family name too. Are you perhaps from Finland? (I am.) Welcome to the forum anyway,

For Xvid playback I would recommend the most common solution amongst MC users:
Uninstall all old installed DirectShow filters and start with installing the CCCP codec and filter pack. (The link gappie provided redirects to this page: http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/DirectShow_Playback_Guide. It has a chapter about CCCP.)

CCCP consists mainly of a "known to be stable" version of the FFDShow filter pack, some additional filters and well tested default filter settings. Some other compression formats may benefit of additional filters, but for Xvid CCCP should be fine.

EDIT

I was typing this answer when you posted your last reply. I didn't change it because it may be useful for others.

thanks for the help.
I'm not finnish, I'm canadian. but one of my favorite hockey players, Saku koivu, is from finland.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: koivu_11 on January 21, 2008, 02:02:42 pm
I'm curious what filters do most people use though? for source filters and other filters? I didn't choose a source filter is that ok? and my only other filter is ffdshow video decoder. what does everyone else use. also my video renderer is enhanced video renderer like I mentioned above.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: Alex B on January 21, 2008, 02:35:02 pm
I avoid selecting any filters unless absolutely necessary. I try to maintain a filter combination that works with all DirectShow programs without any program specific tweaking.

EDIT

In addition, I have never even tried to change the video renderer. As you said, the default seems to be "Video Mixing Renderer 9" and it has worked for me. (So far I have stayed with XP. I don't know if Vista works differently.)
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: koivu_11 on January 21, 2008, 03:21:24 pm
I avoid selecting any filters unless absolutely necessary. I try to maintain a filter combination that works with all DirectShow programs without any program specific tweaking.

EDIT

In addition, I have never even tried to change the video renderer. As you said, the default seems to be "Video Mixing Renderer 9" and it has worked for me. (So far I have stayed with XP. I don't know if Vista works differently.)

alright I will not use any filters then and try that.

The video mixing renderer 9 works for me but the quality is slightly worse than the enhanced version, a lot more jagged, I definitely notice a difference.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: Alex B on January 21, 2008, 04:13:28 pm
If this wasn't obvious, naturally you can use the filter and renderer selections that work for you and result the best quality. I have not noticed any quality problems with the "number 9", but that may be depended on the used display device & driver.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: raym on January 21, 2008, 05:34:09 pm
what fixed it was this: I changed the video renderer from 'Video Mixing Renderer 9' to 'Enhanced Video Renderer' and now the video quality looks a lot better, a lot smoother (before everything had jagged edges).

If you're using Vista then yes, EVR is the renderer you should go for. On my system(s), this renderer produces the best video quality with all the codecs I have at my disposal. As Alex said though, this will probably also depend on your display type and drivers etc. In addition to this, due to the mess that is "Aero", you might want to consider leaving this enabled as this has a significant impact on overall video quality also. Don't ask me why though.
Title: Re: New User, Video Quality Question.
Post by: glynor on January 21, 2008, 09:16:30 pm
EVR is Vista Only.

EVR is the "new" VMR9, as it is.  Part of the Windows Graphics Foundation or whatever they're calling DirectX these days.  It's VMR10 for all intents and purposes.