DXVA

Q:	What is DXVA?
A:	DXVA is an abbreviation for DirectX Video Acceleration. It is a DirectX API for using a graphics card to assist with the decoding of video.

Which players are capable of using DXVA?

It depends on the video decoder if it is capable of using DXVA. At this moment only few of such decoders exist.

Media Player Classic Home Cinema contains internal DXVA decoders for H.264 and VC-1 video.

There are certain rules that need to be following in order to make DXVA work. You can find a list of rules below.

What are the requirements to make DXVA work?

DXVA will only work if you follow these rules:

You must have a compatible graphics card.
On Windows XP you must use one of the following video renderers: Overlay Mixer, VMR-7 or VMR-9. It is recommended to use VMR-9 (renderless), since that is compatible with the internal subtitle filter of MPC.
On Windows Vista you must use one of the following video renderers: EVR or EVR Custom Presenter. It is recommended to use EVR Custom Presenter, since that is compatible with the internal subtitle filter of MPC.
There may be no intermediate filters between the video decoder and the video renderer!
No intermediate filters means that you can't use ffdshow for processing raw video. This is already disabled by default.
No intermediate filters means that DirectVobSub should not be used for displaying subtitles. You should enable the internal subtitle filter of MPC (Options -> Playback -> enable "Autoload subtitles") if you want to be able to view subtitles. Don't forget to select a video renderer that is compatible with the internal subtitle filter, for example VMR-9 (renderless) or EVR Custom Presenter.
DirectVobSub will automatically get blocked by MPC when the internal subtitle filter becomes active. If you haven't enabled the internal subtitle filter, or if you use a video renderer that is incompatible with the internal subtitle filter, then it is recommended to manually block DirectVobSub. You can do that in the "External Filters" section of MPC options. This filter that you need to block is "DirectVobSub (auto-loading version)".
The video stream itself must be DXVA compliant. For example, H.264 video with more than 11 reference frames are not DXVA compatible.

Which graphics cards are compatible with the internal DXVA decoders of MPC-HC?

Below you can find a list of brands and model types of graphics cards that should be compatible with MPC-HC. This list is likely to be incomplete.

ATi Radeon HD 2xxx series
ATi Radeon HD 3xxx series
ATi Radeon HD 4xxx series
ATi Radeon HD 5xxx series

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 2xx series
NVIDIA GeForce 9xxx series
NVIDIA GeForce 8xxx series
NVIDIA GeForce 7xxx series

Intel G45
Intel GMA500

S3 Chrome

Details on which NVIDIA cards support H.264 and/or VC-1 bitstream decoding can be found HERE.

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