[mythtv-users] Experience with Haswell VAAPI playback

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 11:33 PM, Martin Moores <moores.martin at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am planning a backend upgrade, but am struggling with choices of hardware.
> I think I have narrowed things down to two options:
>
> Intel i3 with GT640 dedicated graphics and using VDPAU

GT630 (rev 2, not rev 1) has been claimed to be "good enough"
based on recent benchmarks.  There was a fanless, low profile
GT630 (rev 2) referenced on list a month or so ago (from ASUS,
as I recall).

> Intel i5, providing decent Intel HD 4600 graphics and using VAAPI
....
> I have been reading around a lot, some people saying VAAPI is working great,
> others saying that a dedicated nVidia card is the way to go. Would be quite
> nice to save having another card in the case, extra fan and noise etc.
>
> Any thoughts on my proposed options would great, would really appreciate a
> few opinions before parting with my cash.

The weakness in the Intel HD (and VAAPI) is in the de-interlacing
support(*).  If your content is interlaced, and you need your graphics
card to do the de-interlacing, only the nVidia solutions have the
capability to do so with "Advanced 2X (temporal/spatial)".  Some
people do not see artifacts with lesser (1X/bob/weave) options.
Some cannot *not* see the artifacts (and it drives them crazy).  And
some push all such off to the TV itself (which, for at least the better
TVs, have good de-interlacers).

There is also the position that having more CPU gives you the
option for software decoding of content in the case of content
that is otherwise not hardware assisted for decode (or that the
hardware does a really bad job). That, too, is a valid POV.
Depending on the specific I5, I would expect that many could
do all decoding (and de-interlacing) in software, making the
GPU choice irrelevant.

Those (very personal) requirements and expectations are why
one can see different conclusions even with almost the same
hardware.  Choices, choices.  There is no clear winner in
isolation.

Gary

(*) Both the Intel and the nVidia solutions have dedicated hardware
to decode MPEG-2/H.264, so that part is a "given".