MPC-HC x64 vs x86 and EVR vs madVR

Good morning !

I am using k-lite codec pack (full so far) for years now. And it never let me down. Right now I am curious on HOW TO use if in near future. I have two Setups:

HTPC (AMD Radeon HD6670 passive cooled, AMD Athlon II X2 260 3,20Ghz, 4GB RAM - Win 7 x64 prof)
Laptop (Dell XPS 15 9530 - NVIDIA GT 750M + Intel HD 4600, i7-4702HQ 2.2-3.2Ghz, 16GB RAM - Win 8.1 x64)

I usually only watch high Quality files (1080p with high bit rate) on my Laptop or on my HTPC via TV (50").

What I am looking for: Best Quality without burning my system or making the fan go crazy.

So -> MPC-HC x64 with EVR vs MPC-HC x86 with madVR or EVR?

Which Setup and which Setting would you recommend, and also why?

I read that madVR seems to offer better Quality but only works with x86 (any downside to x64) ? But then I am also wondering which Settings to use. Or is x64 with EVR just perfectly fine? Well it won't Play all files on my Laptop for some reason but I guess that is just a bug.

Thanks and sorry for typos (mobile :/)

If you mostly watch 1080p files on a TV that is also 1080p, then the video doesn't have to be scaled, which means there is little benefit in using madVR with its advanced scaling options . The quality difference of madVR versus other renderers is also very subjective. Some people can clearly see it, some don't notice any difference.

So I would suggest using MPC-HC x64 with EVR-CP and use DXVA2 (native) hardware acceleration. In case of the laptop, let it use the Intel GPU (which should already be the default).

The pack allows you to install both versions of MPC-HC, so you can just try playing the same video with both players and try different settings to see what you prefer.

Admin wrote:If you mostly watch 1080p files on a TV that is also 1080p, then the video doesn't have to be scaled, which means there is little benefit in using madVR with its advanced scaling options . The quality difference of madVR versus other renderers is also very subjective. Some people can clearly see it, some don't notice any difference.

So I would suggest using MPC-HC x64 with EVR-CP and use DXVA2 (native) hardware acceleration. In case of the laptop, let it use the Intel GPU (which should already be the default).

The pack allows you to install both versions of MPC-HC, so you can just try playing the same video with both players and try different settings to see what you prefer.

For laptop: Why Intel GPU instead of nvidia gpu ? Same quality but less power consumption ?

Well for some reason x64 MPC won't play all files for me.. so I am curious if x64 MPC vs x86 MPC makes any difference at all ?

Hmm I thought I could "improve image quality" by letting the GPU do more work in general, but I guess the difference is not noticable then (except when you over do it which is not what I want).

Yes, same quality, less power consumption.

Can you give some details about the files that fail to play with x64 MPC? For example MediaInfo logs. It should be able to play pretty much everything without issues. Your problem should be solvable.

Admin wrote:Yes, same quality, less power consumption.

Can you give some details about the files that fail to play with x64 MPC? For example MediaInfo logs. It should be able to play pretty much everything without issues. Your problem should be solvable.

I will try around with the files and try to provide info. Another question:

I usually install the "Full" package but on Windows 8.1 the only Advantage compared to "Standard" would be the Installation of ffdshow. Is that even needed at all?

Also if I use EVR then I can uncheck "haali Video render" during the Installation ?

Thanks

@edit: Why are x86 codecs being installed when I select x64 MPC only ? E.g. I have ffdshow x64 and x86 installed.

ffdshow is not really needed, it provides some extra post-processing functionality that most people do not use. The standard pack is enough to play everything.

Admin wrote:ffdshow is not really needed, it provides some extra post-processing functionality that most people do not use. The standard pack is enough to play everything.

Thanks and what about haali Video render? Is it needed if I use EVR-CP? Any Chance to NOT install the x86 files when x64 is already getting installed ?

No, you don't need Haali renderer.

It will install both x64 and x86 codecs. You can't change that, nor should you really want to.

Admin wrote:No, you don't need Haali renderer.

It will install both x64 and x86 codecs. You can't change that, nor should you really want to.

Hmm alright, so far everything plays well again One more question:

Will an update (so when I download a new version) install all the stuff again and I have to go through all the install-details to get my "custom" backage? It would be helpful with the installer detects my "custom installation" and offers me to only update what I have installed?

May I ask why it will install the x86 codecs when I only need x64 and why I shouldn't care about it ?

Sorry for going too much into the details

The installer remembers your settings.

Many applications require x86 codecs. People often wrongly think they don't need them. An excellent example is Windows Media Player. All x64 versions of Windows still use the x86 version of WMP by default. So giving users an option would allow them to shoot themselves in the foot. It would result in many people getting problems because they didn't install the codecs they need.