Latest-ish MPC-HC ported for XP

[we3fan]

@mina7601   It's no problem, no harm done.

@j7n   Thanks again for the sxs.dll hint, much appreciated.
You use XP SP3 now?

@UCyborg   Thanks very much.

By "line break between XML head and the rest of content" you mean the part in the original file Manifest where there is a space (press Enter causes
it) between  standalone="yes"?>  and  <assembly xmlns=  correct?

"presence of the rest (OS GUIDs) changes compatibility context to the newest indicated OS, turns off some legacy behavior."
In the original file Manifest the OS GUIDs start from lowest supported OS and go to highest supported OS, and they are ordered like this:
Vista
Win 7
Win 8
Win 8.1
Win 10 .
In your file Manifest the OS GUIDs start from highest supported OS and go to lowest supported OS, and they are ordered like this:
Win 10
Win 8.1
Win 8
Win 7 .
Does it matter in what order OS GUIDs are in the Manifest, in terms of better compatibility for Win XP and keeping legacy behavior?

After you are done editing the Manifest text with RH, you need to press 'Compile Script' first and then Save, yes?

And yes, I agree, fixing sxs.dll is good for making the OS more immune to this.

[mina7601]

13 minutes ago, we3fan said:

After you are done editing the Manifest text with RH, you need to press 'Compile Script' first and then Save, yes?

Yes, that's the correct order.

[dmiranda]

3 hours ago, Dixel said:

Of course it's "less resources" for you simply because Windows XP doesn't support DirectX11, it never did, run DxDiag to see, hence less depth and the weird brightness, there's simply no acceleration when you choose DX11 on XP.

Maybe so. I was just running some fast tests same video, same settings except the video renderer choice of cuvid vs dxva vs etc. In the attachments the basis scenarios tested on a large 1080 movie.mp4. Simply replace the contents of mpc-hc ini with the one in the files provided.

[Settings].7z

Edited January 20 by dmiranda

[mina7601]

1 hour ago, we3fan said:

@mina7601   It's no problem, no harm done.

Good to know that, thanks very much.

1 hour ago, we3fan said:

@j7n   Thanks again for the sxs.dll hint, much appreciated.
You use XP SP3 now?

He uses Windows Server 2003 as his main OS. (proof)

Edited January 20 by mina7601

[D.Draker]

11 hours ago, dmiranda said:

 I was just running some fast tests same video

 

 

You couldn't run anything with DirectX 11 on XP.

"Minimum supported client Windows 8 [desktop apps | UWP apps]"

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/d3d11/ns-d3d11-d3d11_video_decoder_config

Links for you to study.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/display/d3d11-video-playback-improvements

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/wmformat/enabling-directx-video-acceleration

[D.Draker]

11 hours ago, dmiranda said:

Maybe so.

What do you mean by "maybe"? There can't be a "maybe". You need to listen to knowledgeable people trying to help you.

Explaining again, with links.

DirectX 9 ver.4.09.00.0904 is the last *OFFICIAL* and *SUPPORTED* version for Windows XP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX

DirectX 11

"Microsoft unveiled DirectX 11 at the Gamefest 08 event in Seattle ... launched for Windows Vista (not XP!) on October 27, 2009"

But, a big but, DirectX 11 was used only for gaming! DirectX 11 video acceleration is only available since Windows 8!

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/d3d11/ns-d3d11-d3d11_video_decoder_config

[UCyborg]

10 hours ago, we3fan said:

By "line break between XML head and the rest of content" you mean the part in the original file Manifest where there is a space (press Enter causes
it) between  standalone="yes"?>  and  <assembly xmlns=  correct?

Yes, might have confused space with line break due to how Resource Hacker displays it...

10 hours ago, we3fan said:

Does it matter in what order OS GUIDs are in the Manifest, in terms of better compatibility for Win XP and keeping legacy behavior?

No.

It shouldn't matter for newer systems either, it's just a convention since newer systems will pick the highest available entry, so you can order it that way to visually indicate what entry has higher priority.

On 1/17/2024 at 10:25 PM, UCyborg said:

Not sure if there's a full list of behaviors anywhere, but I broke a level editor of an old game once when I marked it as compatible with everything Win7+

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/application-executable-manifest

I haven't found the documentation whether 8.1 and 10 entries change anything in practice

Edited January 20 by UCyborg

[dmiranda]

11 hours ago, D.Draker said:

What do you mean by "maybe"? There can't be a "maybe". You need to listen to knowledgeable people trying to help you.

I mean, we are talking about a build that shouldn't be running in XP in the first place, using codecs that shouldn't be running either (not just directx11). So that's it, for maybe.

In any case, I tested all options available, and reported. Feel free to taste, test and demonstrate otherwise.

By the way, I was comparing my "eye" results between DirectX11in this build, and cuvid in in this build, both superior to jetaudio and dxva, and on pair with dxva back copy, in my opinion.

 

[Dixel]

15 hours ago, dmiranda said:

I mean, we are talking about a build that shouldn't be running in XP in the first place, using codecs that shouldn't be running either (not just directx11). So that's it, for maybe.

If someone ever successfully ported DirectX 11 to XP, it'd be the local news number no. 1, To this date, it didn't happen. So no "maybe". If you still insist, give some links.

[Dixel]

Besides, you need a DX11 Feauture_LEVEL_11_0 (as the minimum) video card for the player to work, and, of course, somewhat recent drivers, that are obviously out of the question for XP.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, Dixel said:

If someone ever successfully ported DirectX 11 to XP, it'd be the local news number no. 1, To this date, it didn't happen. So no "maybe". If you still insist, give some links.

Yes, I remember all those bla-bla-bla talks for twenty years, promises to port DirectX 10 to XP. it never happened, of course,and Direct X11 is simply much harder.

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, Dixel said:

Besides, you need a DX11 Feauture_LEVEL_11_0 (as the minimum) video card for the player to work, and, of course, somewhat recent drivers, that are obviously out of the question for XP.

Dixel, don't waste your time, the member doesn't appreciate our help, despite we explained everything in details, it seems to me he's not being serious, and having fun.

I've examined the player package, no ported DX11 there, of course.

[UCyborg]

On 1/18/2024 at 10:07 PM, UCyborg said:

I tried it on my usual XP x64 install anyway, but it doesn't appear to be usable here.

OK, madVR doesn't work, but Enhanced Video Renderer (both variants) does. Can't use DXVA through either old XP compatible LAV Filters or new ones, PotPlayer can with its auto-selected Video Renderer, but it's very a bit primitive, put player on another screen and no picture. Nothing wrong with the player, just the platform limitation.

CUVID works through through either LAV Filters (the only option with MPC-HC) or PotPlayer's built-in decoder.

Whatever new codecs are supported with new LAV Filters, they obviously can't be HW decoded on XP era hardware/graphics drivers. My GPU is before the time they came with VP9 decoding, but I wondered if that is supported on XP with slightly newer GPU in any shape or form.

Edited January 21 by UCyborg

[D.Draker]

3 hours ago, UCyborg said:

Whatever new codecs are supported with new LAV Filters, they obviously can't be HW decoded on XP era hardware/graphics drivers. My GPU is before the time they came with VP9 decoding, but I wondered if that is supported on XP with slightly newer GPU in any shape or form.

Absolutely right! To be frank, it's a very poor port (in my opinion). To answer your question about VP9, it was there in 359.xx drivers already, but limited to the lowest bit depth (8 bit). They called it "partial". The newer videos from youtube (2017-2018 and up) can't be hardware decoded on XP. Your card also has the limited (partial) VP9 hardware feature. The first card that has 10-bit (full) unlocked VP9 is GTX1060 (released in 2016) with the first driver 368.39 (that works only on Vista, obviously).

I hoped I explained all in details.

[j7n]

They added VP9 in Pascal, which doesn't function on XP because there are no drivers. But luckily nobody releases films in VP9 format. On the web, there usually is an alternative normal h.264 video, or the bitrate is so low that the video can be played on the CPU. H.265 exists on the film "market," and is supported in second generation Maxwell.

If your goal is only to transport the video stream to the GPU, something like CUVID/NVDEC is more straightforward. But that needs a working display driver. The "X" in DirectX stands for a complete package of stuff that games need.