I've been thinking about my statements on the core benefit of powerdvd 15, being bluray menus and BD-J. But is that all? I've come to think maybe not.

So traditionally open source software has gotten allot of attention from HTPC enthusiasts as the best way to get the best image quality possible from reduced bitrate and reduced resolution video content. Typically this has involved a combination of LAV Filters, MPC-HC and MadVR. I am critical of this strategy for various reasons.

The first one, obviously, is if you are a HTPC enthusiast then surely quality matters. That means using bluray disc, not netflix or transcoded films. Open source bluray disc playback, with menus, BD-J and the like, is well, awful at best.

My key reason though is that with modern video codes such as HEVC and high resolution footage such as 4K UHD, it is necessary for even the most powerful CPU to leverage GPU acceleration to render smooth, no frame drop video. To do this with LAV filters, users as of release 66 can choose either DVXA native or DXVA copyback engines. They can even accelerate high gamut colour HEVC 10 bit encoded footage if they have an Nvidia GTX 960 that supports it. Importantly however, they cant choose the madVR renderer. Only the native or copyback DVXA engines fully support modern codecs in high resolution accelerated via the GPU. So now, madVR is out for these use cases.

When your forced into using DVXA, out goes all the post processing via the GPU. You could try and run some filters via the CPU but thats going to be problematic for high bitrate complex codecs in high resolutions.This is where I think powerdvd 15 has unrecognised advantage.

With powerdvd you can both leverage the GPU for accelerated decoding of complex 8 bit HEVC high res material, but also enable smart theatre enhancements for post processing. Its kind of a madVR and DXVA native/copyback performance level all in one.

Right now I've got some blocker bugs in the current build of Powerdvd15, but on the assumption this is shortly resolved I am beginning to see how this platform has unique advantages beyond the BD menu support. Provided the bugs are fixed.