How enable GPU decoding?

[Ludrax]

from source I guess that menu should be populated with something called hwAccelModule

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Tools menu -> Preferences item -> Input / Codecs panel -> Hardware-accelerated decoding drop-down list -> ...

[Ludrax]

yes, that list is empty.

1 OK build: vlc-2.1.0-git-20130409-1441-win64

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Just means your build has no hardware decoder plugin in it.

[Aeneas]

Just means your build has no hardware decoder plugin in it.

While it seems the developers are interested in fixing bugs,
I do want to reiterate a bug report I reported here about a year ago
[ viewtopic.php?f=14&t=100414&p=338423&hi ... ar#p338423 ]
which is that earlier VLC versions (previous to around a year ago) would keep
track of the increasing size of the file which is being played back and would reflect this
in the progress bar.
VLC is often used to play the contents of files which are still in the process of being recorded.
This allows Tivo-like operations to occur by manipulation of the progress bar, backwards to the
moment of interest, then forward to the extreme representing live current time.
That became more difficult with a VLC release around a year ago in which the progress bar
remains static despite the increasing size of the file being played back.
In addition, now sometimes the VLC instance will terminate when the end of the static time range
is reached.
This is an important functionality to be reinstated.

[Ludrax]

Just means your build has no hardware decoder plugin in it.

I hope that future nightlies will have that plugin again

[BloodZeed]

is this working well ati 7970 here i have this ticked but when i check gpu activity its at 0 percent and goes to 2 percent max

[Aeneas]

VLC 2.0.8 is another release which Fails to fix any Bugs.
What is the point of these useless releases ?
//Q6600/Windows 7 64//Nvidia 670//12 GByte Sdram//

==========================================================
##Crash Bugs continue in VLC 2.0.8 when GPU Enabled##
==============================================================
==============================================================
Unhandled exception at 0x00401e74 in vlc.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation
reading location 0x00000005.
===============================================================
EAX = 0000000B EBX = 02C7F0D4 ECX = 00000001 EDX = 02C7DFDC ESI = 77342980
EDI = 773C4938 EIP = 00401E74 ESP = 02C7E088 EBP = 02C7F3E8 EFL = 00010216
00000005 = ????????
===============================================================
00401E50 mov ecx,40C698h
00401E55 sub esp,0Ch
00401E58 mov dword ptr [esp+8],esi
00401E5C mov esi,dword ptr [esp+38h]
00401E60 mov dword ptr [esp+4],ecx
00401E64 mov dword ptr [esp+0Ch],ebx
00401E68 mov dword ptr [esp],esi
00401E6B call 00401590
00401E70 mov ecx,dword ptr [esp+34h]
==>> 00401E74 mov esi,dword ptr [ecx+4]
00401E77 test esi,esi
00401E79 jne 00401CE0
00401E7F mov esi,dword ptr [esp+38h]
00401E83 call dword ptr ds:[40E25Ch]
00401E89 xor ebp,ebp
00401E8B mov dword ptr [esp+4],ebp
00401E8F mov dword ptr [esp],410h
00401E96 mov dword ptr [esp+8],eax
00401E9A call dword ptr ds:[40E2A8h]
00401EA0 sub esp,0Ch
=======================================================================================
> vlc.exe!00401e74()
[Frames below may be incorrect and/or missing, no symbols loaded for vlc.exe]
nvd3dum.dll!600a61bb()
nvd3dum.dll!600a5ad5()
nvd3dum.dll!5fdb6ade()
nvd3dum.dll!5fda7341()
nvd3dum.dll!5fdb6c4c()
nvd3dum.dll!5fdb0fc8()
nvd3dum.dll!5fda73e3()
nvd3dum.dll!5fdb28ef()
nvd3dum.dll!5fdb71f3()
nvd3dum.dll!5fdafac2()
nvd3dum.dll!5ffb01cf()
libvlccore.dll!5711a580()
libvlccore.dll!5711a580()
libvlccore.dll!5711a5e3()
libvlccore.dll!5711a580()
libvlccore.dll!5711a580()
libvlccore.dll!5711a580()
libvlccore.dll!5711a5e3()
libvlccore.dll!5711a580()
libvlccore.dll!5711a580()
libvlccore.dll!5711a5e3()
libvlccore.dll!5711a580()
libvlccore.dll!5711a5e3()
ntdll.dll!7793ec62()
ntdll.dll!7793e971()
ntdll.dll!7793e023()
ntdll.dll!7792f9f2()
kernel32.dll!773c21a2()
kernel32.dll!773c2131()
gdi32.dll!76e8ee52()
vlc.exe!0040196f()
vlc.exe!00401fde()
kernel32.dll!7740002d()
kernel32.dll!7740003f()
msvcrt.dll!772aa53a()
ntdll.dll!779874ff()
ntdll.dll!779873dc()
ntdll.dll!77987281()
ntdll.dll!7796b499()
ntdll.dll!7796b46b()
ntdll.dll!7796b40e()
ntdll.dll!77920133()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!06dce721()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!06fdb463()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!06fdb761()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!06dce60e()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!06e86750()
nvd3dum.dll!5ffb5120()
ntdll.dll!7793015d()
msvcrt.dll!772b1328()
kernel32.dll!773c33aa()
ntdll.dll!77949f72()
ntdll.dll!77949f45()
=============================================================================================

Unflagged 17788 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792000d Normal
Unflagged 10956 0 Main Thread Main Thread 7793015d Normal
Unflagged 13820 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7793015d Normal
Unflagged 16444 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 76d178d7 Normal
Unflagged 16244 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 76d20735 Normal
Unflagged 5780 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7793015d Normal
Unflagged 14128 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f905 Above Normal
Unflagged > 9840 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 00401e74 Normal
Unflagged 16860 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7793015d Highest
Unflagged 12500 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7793015d Time Critical
Unflagged 17380 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7793015d Normal
Unflagged 17392 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7793015d Time Critical
Unflagged 3376 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792fd91 Time Critical
Unflagged 14580 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 6be78d1c -3
Unflagged 8324 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 12220 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 10708 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 9936 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 17092 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7793015d Above Normal
Unflagged 17056 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 76d178d7 Normal
Unflagged 17164 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 17000 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 2740 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 16212 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7792f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 15672 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7793015d Time Critical
Unflagged 16176 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 77931f46 Normal
==================================================================================================

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

We're waiting for your code.

[Aeneas]

We're waiting for your code.

Almost funny.
I am yet to see a step by step with keyboard text log scenario for building this code on Windows 7 64,
despite requesting it some months back.
Build instructions I found on this site were vague.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Build on Linux.

[Aeneas]

Build on Linux.

The crashes are occurring on Windows 7 64.
The debugging needs to be performed on Windows 7 64.
Are the same crashes occurring on Linux ?

[LordSnuff]

gtx580 here on windows7 pro x64. seems to work ok!

[Aeneas]

gtx580 here on windows7 pro x64. seems to work ok!

Crashes occur mostly on ATSC file content playback.
Hangs/freezes during which the progress bar changes color for sometimes several minutes
happens on all media file playback.

[isamu]

Hmmm, so gpu decoding is still broken then? If so I'll leave it off for now. I am running win7 64bit with an nvidia GTX 680.

[Aeneas]

Hmmm, so gpu decoding is still broken then? If so I'll leave it off for now. I am running win7 64bit with an nvidia GTX 680.

Further updates to VLC should be suspended until an update appears which fixes the GPU Crash bug and the general playback Hang with discolored progress bar bug. These updates are worthless until basic HD playback is fixed.
VLC using 40% of CPU consumption under Q6600 (instead of 9% with GPU On) is excessive and prevents other programs or other instances of VLC from running concurrently.
These problems are more acute and frequent when HD (e.g. 1920x1080@12Mbits/sec) is played.

[phrost]

What's the point of GPU decoding?

[Aeneas]

What's the point of GPU decoding?

The GPU in the PC/laptop video card/chip can offload much of
the tedious work of video decode and display, from the PC CPU, allowing
the PC to perform other unrelated operations much faster,
during VLC video playback.

//Q6600//12 GByte Sdram//MSI Nvidia 670//Windows 7 64// ,
Windows Task Manager results of VLC file playback:

With VLC GPU setting turned Off,
ATSC/ClearQAM 20%
HD PVR 40%

With VLC GPU setting turned On,
ATSC/ClearQAM 10%
HD PVR 9%

It just so happens that the workhorse for most HD recording on the PC is the HD PVR,
since most channels for which the cable customer pays cash money, are encrypted and
thus are invisible to ATSC/QAM products.

It is quite common for the user to play back video for several broadcasts
simultaneously. e.g. 3 x 30 minute news broadcasts,
and enable audio for the one which appears interesting at a particular moment.
Even 40% cpu consumption from a single VLC file playback makes the PC less agile and
can periodically slow the video playback display.

Unfortunately there are serious Crash Bugs in VLC when the GPU is turned On.
These Crash Bugs in the VLC GPU On functionality must be fixed immediately.
-----------------------------------
There is also a separate Bug primarily encountered in VLC ATSC/QAM playback,
with GPU On or Off, in which random access within a file mouse clicking the progress bar
results in stalls in playback that can last 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
This VLC Bug must also be fixed.

[phrost]

Ok thanks!

[MIDO2392013]

GPU ON VS GPU OFF
video is farly better without gpu acceleration
(i have done error on video making, the first part is gpu on not off )
http://youtu.be/h7WZqSwlIEI

This is false.
On a //Q6600//12 GByte Sdram//MSI Nvidia 670//Windows 7 64// ,
Windows Task Manager results of VLC file playback:

With VLC GPU setting turned Off,
ATSC/ClearQAM 20%
HD PVR 40%

With VLC GPU setting turned On,
ATSC/ClearQAM 10%
HD PVR 9%

It just so happens that the workhorse for most HD recording on the PC is the HD PVR,
since most channels for which the cable customer pays cash money, are encrypted and
thus are invisible to ATSC/QAM products.

Unfortunately there are serious Crash Bugs in VLC when the GPU is turned On.
These Crash Bugs in the VLC GPU On functionality must be fixed immediately.
-----------------------------------
There is also a separate Bug primarily encountered in VLC ATSC/QAM playback,
with GPU On or Off, in which random access within a file mouse clicking the progress bar
results in stalls in playback that can last 30 seconds to 5 minutes.
This VLC Bug must also be fixed.

How do I choose different hardware in hardware decoding when I have two? DXVA in Intel's iGPU and DXVA in nVidia card?

[Aeneas]

How do I choose different hardware in hardware decoding when I have two? DXVA in Intel's iGPU and DXVA in nVidia card?

Experiment with both GPUs, using the Windows Task Manager readings,
then post the results with the CPU and memory size and OS.

[Antonio85]

Tools -> Preferences and Input & Codecs and tick Use GPU acceleration. Remember to press Save to save VLC settings and restart VLC after that to make sure changes are enabled.

Works fine, thx.

[Aeneas]

Finally, VLC version 2.1.1 seems to have fixed the playback stall-go-stall-go problem.
The GPU crashes seem to have stopped too.
Remaining issues are that:
1) for some reason, this 2.1.1 version tampered with the Closed Captions and there is a new Bug
in which Closed Captions display will stall when the user mouse-clicks the progress bar
to random access move through the file.
At the point of CC stall, manual disable and then re-enable of CC does seem to clear the CC stall.
2) while tampering with Closed Captions, the developer failed to address the two main Closed Captions problems:
a) it is difficult to manually enable or disable CC -- there should be a quick button on the
main panel to toggle CC. The selection of the CC1, CC2, CC3 or CC4 should be a separate control,
(while watching the video picture, sometimes the Closed Captions text obscures something on the screen
like a caption appearing briefly to state the name of the person speaking. It is important to be able
to turn off and then on again the Closed Captions), and
b) user should be able to select that Closed Captions be displayed in a separate scrolling box
outside of the video picture window. (since CC External Window was implemented by ATI All In Wonder,
the incompetent companies which remain in the PC TV business have failed to re-implement this key feature).
c) the Closed Captions text within this External Window must be Copy/Paste-able.
d) user should be able to select that Closed Captions be also written to 2 files,
one with and the other without interspersed timing information
(milliseconds since 1-1-1970 absolute time would be most useful, using file Date Created as t=0 during playback).
3) Why was Audio Boost reduced from 2.0 to 1.25 ?
2.0 Audio Boost must be re-implemented.
4) VLC should be able to find the Closed Captions streams in Windows Media Center (WMC)
unencrypted .WTV files and display them.

Once these features are completed, VLC will once again be a key plus in the PC TV idiom.

[lobster]

Finally, VLC version 2.1.1 seems to have fixed the playback stall-go-stall-go problem.
The GPU crashes seem to have stopped too.

Well, I still get random crashes, but it is able to play avi files now. I have some mp4/264 files that it messes up, though. So I will just continue to have it disabled

[Aeneas]

Yes, I did see a crash 2 days ago.
But with GPU set in Auto mode, the crashes have not been occurring anywhere near as often.
Crashes now seem to occur at startup only, not during prolonged GPU-accelerated playback.

//Q6600//Windows 7 64//12 GByte Sdram//Nvidia 670//HD file playback//

===============================================================================================
Unhandled exception at 0x00401923 in vlc.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x00000004.
===============================================================================================
EAX = 0000000B EBX = 76ED2980 ECX = 0000000B EDX = 00000000 ESI = 04FDF1D4 EDI = 766848F0 EIP = 00401923 ESP = 04FDE188 EBP = 03DB01A8 EFL = 00010216
00000004 = ????????
=================================================================
> vlc.exe!00401923()
[Frames below may be incorrect and/or missing, no symbols loaded for vlc.exe]
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
ntdll.dll!7732f9d9()
KernelBase.dll!75ae0dd4()
libvlccore.dll!65fda329()
libvlccore.dll!65fda78a()
libvlccore.dll!65fcdbd1()
nvd3dum.dll!621ca4bb()
nvd3dum.dll!621c9e3d()
ntdll.dll!7733ec62()
ntdll.dll!773513cd()
ntdll.dll!7733ed75()
nvd3dum.dll!621ca4bb()
vlc.exe!004016bf()
vlc.exe!00401bae()
kernel32.dll!766bffe9()
kernel32.dll!766bfffb()
msvcrt.dll!76e3a53a()
ntdll.dll!773874ff()
ntdll.dll!773873dc()
ntdll.dll!77387281()
ntdll.dll!7736b499()
ntdll.dll!7736b46b()
ntdll.dll!7736b40e()
ntdll.dll!77320133()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!5578fec4()
msvcrt.dll!76e398cd()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!5579b18b()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!55105fd7()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!5579b18b()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!5518a49e()
libavcodec_plugin.dll!55106667()
libvlccore.dll!65fda460()
libvlccore.dll!65f9782b()
libvlccore.dll!65f86bad()
libvlccore.dll!65f879b8()
libvlccore.dll!65f8e173()
libvlccore.dll!65fda9f7()
msvcrt.dll!76e3a53a()
msvcrt.dll!76e41287()
msvcrt.dll!76e41328()
kernel32.dll!7668336a()
ntdll.dll!77349f72()
ntdll.dll!77349f45()
================================================================

==========================================================================
Unflagged 84612 0 Main Thread Main Thread 7733015d Normal
Unflagged 91284 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Normal
Unflagged 92612 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 768d78d7 Normal
Unflagged 92652 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Normal
Unflagged 86292 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Normal
Unflagged 91376 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 77331f46 Normal
Unflagged 92656 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 77331f46 Normal
Unflagged 92664 0 RPC Thread RPC Callback Thread 7732fd91 Normal
Unflagged > 92128 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 00401923 Above Normal
Unflagged 92648 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Time Critical
Unflagged 92792 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Highest
Unflagged 91244 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Time Critical
Unflagged 87120 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Normal
Unflagged 88660 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Time Critical
Unflagged 91864 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 77331e1e Normal
Unflagged 91580 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d -3
Unflagged 92844 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 77331f46 Normal
Unflagged 84276 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7733015d Above Normal
Unflagged 92260 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 768d78d7 Normal
Unflagged 92264 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7732f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 92284 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7732f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 92312 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7732f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 92276 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7732f8d1 Normal
Unflagged 91352 0 Worker Thread Win32 Thread 7732000d Normal
==========================================================================