Got a good GPU in your HTPC? Think 1080p upscaling to 4K is a gimmick? MPC-HC+madVR will change your life!

[Linusinium]

I've been using VLC for a long time, last year I moved my PC into the living room and went with a 65" 4K TV.
I didn't know that a media player utilized GPU to enhance video playback existed and when I first heard about it,I dismissed the benefits as placebo effect and gimmicks but installed it to try it out anyway. Didn't do a direct comparison between different media players, just setup basic upscaling settings and didn't do any further testing. Fast forward to last week, I didn't know how good I had it until I decided to do a fresh OS install and tried media playback before reinstalling MPC&madvr combo.

This time around I played with the settings even more. I pushed the IQ settings a lot higher, to the point where the GPU couldn't handle it and playback was stuttering (no SLI support sadly) and then backed off a little til playback was smooth again.

To compare it, this must be what before and after cataract surgery feels like.

Few caveats: Playback disc/file has to be decent, not uncompressed BR but not terrible either. 720p doesn't work quite as well as 1080p upscaling. RGB range needs to be set to full and to get the most out of it display should be calibrated through http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

A setup guide can be found here: http://www.avsforum.com/forum/26-home-theater-computers/1357375-advanced-mpc-hc-setup-guide.html

Keep in mind this setup guide was done with older GPU's in mind. The better the GPU, the better image quality you can push. My 980TI is nowhere near able to max out the settings but the image quality keeps improving though the GPU can't keep up for a smooth playback so I have to take it down a notch. For reference this is a screenshot of the settings I'm using, you'll have to experiment with other settings to get the most out of it: 



If you watch the Game of Thrones season 6 finale through this setup, in the opening scenes, Tommen is getting dressed, you can see dust specs floating around. Grab any content you have seen before with non GPU utilizing player and you will instantly notice the difference in image quality. A lot more detail and sharper image.

 

My HTPC and TV: I7-4790K@4.4GHz-H100i-MSI Z97 G5-Ripjaws X 16GB DDR3 1866-MSI 6G 980TI SLI- Corsair AX760 PSU-Samsung 840 EVO 250GB-1TB Mushkin Reactor-Corsair Lapdog+K70 Red & Logitech G700-Corsair 760T-WIN10-65" Samsung KS8000

[FeralWombat]

Not having gone through the entire tutorial, but looks interesting; it is however worth keeping in mind that MPC project is dead:\https://mpc-hc.org/2017/07/16/1.7.13-released-and-farewell/

[Mira Yurizaki]

On 7/17/2017 at 5:25 AM, FeralWombat said:

Not having gone through the entire tutorial, but looks interesting; it is however worth keeping in mind that MPC project is dead:\https://mpc-hc.org/2017/07/16/1.7.13-released-and-farewell/

I'm sure it'll pick up again when we have yet another codec to worry about. And even then, it may have enough hooks to not worry about that.

 

I mean, I still use Winamp as my MP3 player because it just works, even though that's been dead for several years.

 

EDIT: Also madVR + MPC-HC adds HDR support. Or at least it does something to make it viewable. Had the pleasure of seeing what HDR looks like on an SDR display without it looking washed out or too blah:

 

https://linustechtips.com/main/profile/359972-myurizaki/?status=172263&type=status

 

[System Error Message]

mpc isnt dead, i consider it to be the media player with the largest file type support and minimal hardware requirements (less than vlc).

[hahavaffan]

I was a hardcore MPC-user until a couple of years ago when I switched to XBMC (=Kodi today). Has anybody compared Kodi to VLC and MPC in regards to video quality? 

The main reason why I switched to Kodi was the support for viewing rar archive, but if the video quality differs a lot I wouldn't mind using another player when I'm watching a movie that's worth the better quality. 

[Linusinium]

58 minutes ago, hahavaffan said:

I was a hardcore MPC-user until a couple of years ago when I switched to XBMC (=Kodi today). Has anybody compared Kodi to VLC and MPC in regards to video quality? 

The main reason why I switched to Kodi was the support for viewing rar archive, but if the video quality differs a lot I wouldn't mind using another player when I'm watching a movie that's worth the better quality. 

When I first moved the PC into the living room, I used Kodi. While the lapdog is functional, I used Kodi because it let me navigate using a gamepad while leaned back in the couch rather than leaning forward to use the lapdog on the table or being held captive by it when I place it in my lap. I now use gopher though it's not perfect for 4k, it's easy to miss placing the cursor in the desired spot, it can take a few tries.

 

No other player I tried came close to MPC's improvement in image quality. I realize I may be an outlier here, it may not have the same impact for everyone but it blows my mind every time. I can only describe it as sorcery, I still can't believe  that a GPU can make such a difference. It takes all 1080p I content I throw at it and spits it back out as if it's native 4K.

 

If you have better hardware combo than mine, you can also utilize the SVP filter. My PC can't, the framerate conversion takes too much toll but the 60fps conversion also has a wow effect. Another wrinkle is that it requires ffdshow to be installed, that filter introduces major dithering for me.

 

 

[bobhays]

On 7/20/2017 at 6:58 AM, Linusinium said:

When I first moved the PC into the living room, I used Kodi. While the lapdog is functional, I used Kodi because it let me navigate using a gamepad while leaned back in the couch rather than leaning forward to use the lapdog on the table or being held captive by it when I place it in my lap. I now use gopher though it's not perfect for 4k, it's easy to miss placing the cursor in the desired spot, it can take a few tries.

 

No other player I tried came close to MPC's improvement in image quality. I realize I may be an outlier here, it may not have the same impact for everyone but it blows my mind every time. I can only describe it as sorcery, I still can't believe  that a GPU can make such a difference. It takes all 1080p I content I throw at it and spits it back out as if it's native 4K.

 

If you have better hardware combo than mine, you can also utilize the SVP filter. My PC can't, the framerate conversion takes too much toll but the 60fps conversion also has a wow effect. Another wrinkle is that it requires ffdshow to be installed, that filter introduces major dithering for me.

 

 

Do you have a 4k display? I have MadVR set up with MPC right now but I don't really notice a big difference. The colors are slightly better but I can only tell when i switch between the two versions.

The 4k upscaling might make a bigger difference than the colors but I can't really tell on a 1080p screen (maybe I should test it with a 720p or 480p file).

[fwolff]

Old thread, but..

 

i could be wrong, but your settings look like you are just over-sharpening your video. It may look better to you, but its not objetively better. Its post-processing