There are a few known issues with Microsoft Flight Simulator and the newer NV driver releases. Is there some reason I need to have the newer versions if I have no interest in using NVEnc for output? The program just blocks me on any preview action.
Also, on a different topic, plenty of programs support NVEnc without requiring a 520.xx driver (such as Handbrake). Why does Video AI require it?
If you are not encoding to H.264 or 5 in TVAI, you should not need the latest drivers.
The preview window is very dependent on the source video and also the output. Some combinations like PNG source to PNG out have no issues at all—though you do have to let the processing work for awhile before you can view the progress. Also, viewing while processing tends to slow the processing down.
Pretty much anything with a frame rate of 29.976 will get out of sync really fast in the preview window. Probably because of all the duplicate frames.
When I first downloaded 3.0.4, I had an ‘older’ driver (5.12 series). It made no difference whatsoever, and only later read I had actually needed at least 5.22 drivers. And NVENC support isn’t exactly new.
It is, of course, both good policy of a company to require you use the latest drivers, and good practise on the user end to update those regularly.
When I first downloaded 3.0.4, I had an ‘older’ driver (5.12 series). It made no difference whatsoever, and only later read I had actually needed at least 5.22 drivers. And NVENC support isn’t exactly new.
It is, of course, both good policy of a company to require you use the latest drivers, and good practise on the user end to update those regularly.
But if you have an older driver, it will refuse to use NVEnc hardware encoders while other software does not have this restriction on driver versions. My question is why does it restrict this, and is that an artificial restriction that can be removed? Handbrake will happily use NVenc with older drivers and it works just fine, but VAI pops up a version warning and just stops.
If you are not encoding to H.264 or 5 in TVAI, you should not need the latest drivers.
The preview window is very dependent on the source video and also the output. Some combinations like PNG source to PNG out have no issues at all—though you do have to let the processing work for awhile before you can view the progress. Also, viewing while processing tends to slow the processing down.
For a lot of my more casual outputs, I do want to output to H.264/265 formats. My concern is that there is no non-NVenc way to do it that I see in the options, and the NVenc support requires 520.xx or newer drivers. I’m hoping to hear an answer as to why they need such a new driver when other NVenc solutions do not.
I heard the reason why in one of the release threads. I think 3.0.2. Something about Nvidia launching the RTX 4090 and it having a newer version of the NVENC hardware. Topaz is probably using something that’s only available in the newer drivers for that.
Well, last time I called something crap, got into a bit of hot spot. 
So, let me just say I am not a fan of HVENC (for quality output), and just rely on ProRes 422 HQ, with a trusted x265 command-line second pass. As to why you need 5.22+ for that, I dunno. I believe HVENC was supported in drivers way earlier than my old one.
The reason and solution posted here.
Edit: Solution is probably too strong of word. Maybe work-around.
The reason and solution posted here.
Edit: Solution is probably too strong of word. Maybe work-around.
That’s weird since they say you need a newer card, but I am running a 3090, which absolutely, positively has NVENC hardware support via those newer APIs. Sigh.
On a related note, I am adding those command-line options to the encoders.json, but noticed that there are some non-NVENC h.264 profiles in there that do not show up in my options in the program. Is there a setting to force some profiles to populate?
That would be useful, but I have no idea. I tried running the software version of H.265, but the Topaz version of ffmpeg is not compiled with it. I imagine that’s the same with H.264.
That would be useful, but I have no idea. I tried running the software version of H.265, but the Topaz version of ffmpeg is not compiled with it. I imagine that’s the same with H.264.
That gives me an idea. It should be possible to simply replace their FFMPEG.EXE with another one with any modules I want compiled in, right? As long as it respects the options they are passing, it should be OK, I think. I’m going to try that tomorrow.
I thought their version of ffmpeg had special, extra options? Good idea, though. 
They offer everything you need to compile it with their added filters. Usually there are links in the first post of the version thread. That’s something that I want to have, but don’t want to take the time to learn how to do just yet.
