MadVR is a high-standard video renderer with support for GPUs, providing a high-level increase in color and scaling: bicubic, Mitchell, lanzosho, spline. MadVR setup functions are capable of performing YCbCr -> RGB conversion, gamma correction of display calibration, bypassing damage algorithms for a video card. All work is done using GPU shaders, without shortcuts, the highest quality standard takes precedence over everything else. There is a 32-bit, and 64-bit version of the program.
High quality video renderer
This is software that processes a video file and sends it sequentially to a display, controller board for display on a computer screen. Setting madVR allows you to achieve the best quality playback.
Features of the video renderer:
- High bit processing.
- High quality algorithms for scaling, sharpening, layering, smoothing.
- Smooth reproduction of movement without jitter 3: 2 even when setting madVR 60 Hz.
- Playback frames in 3D via HDMI 1.4+ (Windows 8.1 or later).
- Forced mode Converts 60i format to perfect 24p.
- Reliable playback using an automatic full-screen exclusive standard.
Device Requirements - GPUs with full hardware support for D3D9 / PS3. Necessary equipment:
- The mpc x86 installer is considered one of the best direct show players for Windows.
- MadVR.zip - considered the best video renderer with most quality improvements.
Installation for video decoding
Before starting the MPC x86 installer, pay attention that it makes it possible to reset madVR settings, if actions with other manuals or codec packages are mixed up, you can start the process again.
Action algorithm:
- Unzip the zip file and run install.bat for it.
- To specify mpc, open it, press “o” to select parameters, go to the exit and select the 4k madVR “Direct video” setting in the section.
- To access the decoding parameters, open mpc, click for parameters, go to the internal filters and click at the bottom of the Video Decoder.
- Note hardware acceleration options in the upper right. In general, dxva copyback is used for decoding through the GPU.
- Use the "none" mpc hc option if you want to turn on the PC.
Hardware acceleration reduces processor utilization in supported formats such as 8-bit HEVC, 8-bit H264, VC-1 and mpeg, depending on the graphics card and what is noted in the decoder settings.
The keyboard shortcut madVR
MadVR Debug OSD (Statistics) is especially useful in diagnosing video display issues. To do this, enable the display of OSD debug statistics.
Sequencing:
- Disable the option "Remote, keyboard, gamepad or other HID";
- Restart the MC, and press Ctrl + J for the madVR settings for the projector to work correctly.
- Use Ctrl + J with an open settings dialog.
- They gain access to the configuration, start playback by right-clicking anywhere on the screen and going to DirectShow Filters> madVR.
- Uncheck the box "Use only if the media player has keyboard focus" in the "madVR User Interface" dialog box.
- Highlight any menu title on the left side of the settings.
- Press Ctrl + J. The MadVR Debug screen statistics are displayed. The combination Ctrl + R will also work to reset statistics while the settings dialog is open.
Multi window mode
To understand what kind of program madVR is and how it works, use the "Window Settings" tab in Windows or when the full-screen exclusive option is disabled. Increasing the number of buffers can potentially lead to smooth playback due to an increase in memory. It is recommended that you leave them at default. When using Smooth Motion, it is recommended that they be set to a maximum of 8.
Connection of exclusive parameters:
- Open the tab "Exclusive Mode Settings".
- Before setting up madVR they use Media Center - it draws a search bar that can be used in the FSE variant without returning the user back.
- Set the delay for switching to exclusive mode for 3 seconds. If the media player switches to full screen viewing and the FSE is turned on, it will always switch instantly. This parameter is intended for cases when something, such as the Media Center mouse-controlled interface, interrupts FSE and puts it into windowed mode. If the option is enabled, it will wait 3 seconds, returning to FSE, and not switching instantly. This can be useful if the user is going to make a couple of changes to settings such as switching the subtitle track and adjusting the size and position, without having to enter / exit FSE every time the menu is called up.
- The presence of multiple frames should be included. Disabling this option puts madVR in legacy mode, which is currently not supported.
- Install a video renderer with a preview of 4 frames by default.
- Increase the amount of CPU / GPU respectively to fill the buffer.
Scaling algorithms
In order to correctly edit the madVR parameters, they first play any video in the mpV hc madVR settings. Then, right-click on the file, go to the filters and click on madVR, choosing the "Change Settings" section. Make sure that all the filters you need are correctly displayed in the filter list.
Catmull rom is recommended for zooming out. For color and scaling, they choose Jinc with a distortion protection filter, it is considered the best in quality, but it requires a fast graphics processor.
If the computer is weak, they recommend the Lanczos 3 algorithm, which is also of a high standard and does not require a powerful video card. In particular, for modern Intel dxva scaling options provide good viewing options with very little performance degradation.
Scaling is one of the main reasons for using madVR, which offers very high scaling options. Most of the video is stored using a 4: 2: 0 color sample, as a black and white “detailed” image (brightness) with a lower-resolution “color” (color) layered on top. This technological design helps mask low resolution color images.
Reduction, applies only if it is displayed with a lower resolution than the original - for example, the contents of 1080p on a display with 720p. Color scaling is performed for all videos - it takes a color image with a quarter of the resolution and scales it to the original brightness of the video. If you need to scale further, whether it is zooming in or out, then the algorithm is applied to both color and brightness.
In order for madVR to automatically switch to the correct update frequency, go to the device section in the settings and select the display with viewing, and then display modes. Set the checkbox to go to the appropriate parameters, and then list the update frequencies that the device supports: 23.976, 24, 50, 59.94, 60 or their multiples. The names of non-integer refresh rates are shortened, so 23.976 = 23.
Pre-make sure that they are entered for the native resolution of the display, for example, do not enter 720p values for the 1080p display. You can see their data during viewing by pressing "CTRL + J".
Calibration in Settings
MadVR has several advanced calibration options, the process is quite complicated - a whole manual can be written for calibration. If the user does not want to use the more advanced madVR calibration functions, it is usually better to leave the default settings. With HD content, these settings mean that the color should look the same as with other renderers, but with SD video, it allows you to perform color space conversions necessary for SMPTE-C and EBU / PAL content.
These color space conversions require a small amount of GPU energy, so if your computer is weak, you have to disable it to play the file in madVR without any problems. The y CMS and 3DLUT options are much more difficult to use, as they are more demanding on the GPU.
MadVR includes a display mode switch for automatically resolving and changing the refresh rate. Most users use it to process video scaling and change the refresh rate, and enter them separated by commas. Preliminary make sure that the display really supports the selected resolution. It is recommended that you first switch to them through the control panel of the video card.
25p mode for movies like 24p (requires Reclock) is useful for those who use content based on PAL movies (usually DVD) as it allows either ReClock or VideoClock JRiver to play back PAL content with the original 24p format. All that this option does is switch to the best display mode for 24p, which depends on the player. Better if using ReClock or VideoClock.
The madVR display switch is now a little more advanced than in Media Center. With IVTC content, it switches the display to 24p, while the JRiver switch doesn't.
Doubling Chroma or Luma Resolution
It is performed using NNEDI3. Before proceeding with the settings, you must first consider the following factors:
- 720p consumes significantly more resources than 1080p if resolution doubling is enabled.
- In most cases, 1080p does not double, so performance degradation does not occur.
- The lower the resolution, the more processing should be done while setting up madVR for better image quality.
- Press CTRL + J to view statistics during video playback, if it is noticed that the skipped frames are required to reduce the number of NNEDI3 neurons to 32 or 64 to double. After 64 neurons, a significant jump in performance is observed, so if there is no GTX 970 or higher, most likely you will have to stay in mode with 64 neurons.
- Do not use NNEDI3 to double the resolution of Chroma if the PC does not have a sufficiently powerful graphics processor.
- Use NNEDI3 to double the Luma parameters and measure how the computer processes the files if the rendering time is less than 30 ms. NNEDI3 can be used for quadruple resolution at lower levels of neurons, such as 32 or 64.
Image Enhancement
Depending on the video card, the DXVA2 option can be either high-performance or medium. There is also a dialer protection filter and a linear lighting option that increase GPU requirements when they are turned on. Initially, the goal should be smooth playback, and not the best image quality, so we recommend that you install and configure madVR for 4k to perform all the scaling algorithms on Bilinear.
DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) is a Microsoft API specification for Windows platforms that accelerates video decoding. The system allows certain CPU - intensive. For example, IDCT, stabilization of movement and deinterlacing, which should be uploaded to the GPU. DXVA 2.0 helps hardware accelerate movie capture and processing operations. DXVA functions in conjunction with the rendering model used by the graphics card. Version 1.0 exists as a standardized API for Win 2000.
Currently available in Win 98 or later and can use either overlay mode or VMR 7/9. Version 2.0 is only applicable to Vista, Windows 7/8 and later, integrating with Media Foundation (MF) and using the Enhanced Video Renderer (EVR) present in MF.
Frame mixing system
Smooth Motion - the recently introduced frame-mixing system for madVR - is a frame interpolation system, it will not introduce the "jitter effect", as is observed on TVs with a frequency of 120 Hz.
Smooth Motion is used to display content in which the frame rate of the source does not correspond to any of the supported displays. For example, it will be content 25/50 frames / second on the display only 60 Hz, or 24p content on the display only 60 Hz. It does not replace ReClock or VideoClock, and if the display supports 1080p24, 1080p50 and 1080p60 - in these cases you do not need to use Smooth Motion at all.
Since the algorithm works using frame mixing, you can see small side images at the edge of moving objects, but this is rare and depends on the display used, and is definitely preferable to normal jitter due to a mismatch in the refresh frame rate.
There are some cases where the display does support 1080p24 / 50/60 and you want to use smooth movement. If the plasma displays 24p at 48 Hz and you need to display it at 60 Hz, using Smooth Motion instead, to reduce flicker, then leave the mode on.
Starting with madVR 0.86.3 when displaying video at a speed of 23/24/25 frames / second and a frequency of 24 Hz, Smooth Motion will not activate, but only 23/24/25 frames / second at 60 Hz. Therefore, videos displayed in full screen mode do not use Smooth Motion, but when a movie is played in a window on the desktop at a frequency of 60 Hz, Smooth Motion is activated.
Performance Options
These options exist to reduce image quality and improve performance. Many of these parameters will have very little effect on machine performance. As a rule, if there are performance problems, it is best to go to the list, including them one at a time, until playback becomes smooth.
Image doubling and NNEDI3 are very powerful improvements to the overall video settings, however, they cause the average computer to warm up if the user tries to check the settings.
The idea is to experiment with various parameters until a rendering time of less than 40 ms is reached, and preferably 30 ms for most types of video with a resolution of 720p and 1080p. Using various parameters of Chroma Upscaling, try to understand which parameters are best suited.
Rendering for High Performance Processors
If the user has a high-performance graphics processor of the GTX 700 series or higher, these settings should give about 12 ms of rendering time per frame for 720p, thanks to CUDA. Time for 1080p, as a rule, will be better than 720p, since there is less scaling or doubling of the video if it looks in 1080p and 720p. These settings should work for both formats. In 1080p mode, 128 neurons can be used to increase color and double parameters.
Edit the settings by right-clicking on the madvr icon during video playback using mpc hc or PotPlayer. If there is no detailed list, you need to right-click on the Windows taskbar> Properties, and then configure the notification area and click "always show all icons and notifications." This should work for Windows 7 and Windows 8. If you are using an Nvidia GPU, make sure that noise reduction and edge enhancement are enabled on the Nvidia control panel.
Nvidia GTX 770 SLI Configuration
Luma resolution can be doubled using NNEDI3 and 32 neurons. To configure the GTX 970, DXVA2 is used to scale the image, because with any other madVR settings, the rendering time is 50 ms + with MPC-HC, which leads to a lot of skipped video frames. These settings also work well for movies with 720p and below. It can be argued that using NNEDI3 for Chroma Upscaling is not worth the additional cost of the GPU, and that Bicubic or Lanczos are the best mode options.
Using the madvr renderer with the lav cuvid decoder allows it to access the NVIDIA CUDA API for video processing, which has not been achieved before. It uses the same technology that was available only for games. No one was able to create software that would do this with ATI cards, since it goes far beyond the capabilities of dxva. This is the best image quality you can achieve with a PC. It is also necessary to use a video card with a large number of stream processors. Thus, you need at least gts 450, preferably GTX 460.