FFDshow problem

[davejcb]

Hi folks,

Not sure if this is the correct section, please move appropriately if it is not. I'm using SageTV 2.2.8, latest NVidia MPEG2 decoders, as well as FFDshow, running on XP Pro, through a PVR-150 and Radeon 9500.

Everything works fine without FFDshow, but as soon as I turn it on, I lose the menus and anything that would come up "over" the TV image in SageTV, BUT, only on my TV (I have it outputted via S-Video to my TV).

Everything shows up fine on my monitor, FFDshow shows as running with OSD and tray icon, resizes and everything, but when I go to the TV the menus, guide, and anything save for the TV image itself will not display.

I'm thinking this is some sort of overlay problem? Any advice?

Thanks!

[stanger89]

Could you give some more details of your setup:

How are you "turning on" ffdshow? (ie how is it enabled in SageTV?)
How do you have your displays configured?
Do you have "Theater Mode" enable?

[davejcb]

I have both the rendering and decoder set to "default", and FFDshow's raw is set to "All Supported", so it launches automatically when decoding begins. The NVidia decoder is the default one on my system.

Monitor is set to 1024*768, with S-Video output to TV. I *believe* I have the 9500 set to Theatre Mode, I'll have to check, I'm not home right now.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by davejcb

I have both the rendering and decoder set to "default", and FFDshow's raw is set to "All Supported", so it launches automatically when decoding begins. The NVidia decoder is the default one on my system.

As for this, there's another, probably better way to do it, and that is to set ffdshow as a post processor in the properties file. You'll have to exit Sage and add "ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder" (I'm not sure if that's spelled right) to the postprocessor line(s) in your properties file.

Monitor is set to 1024*768, with S-Video output to TV. I *believe* I have the 9500 set to Theatre Mode, I'll have to check, I'm not home right now.

That's why you don't get the OSD, what Theater Mode does is take the overlay surface an mirror it on the secondary display. The OSD is drawn over the Overlay surface, not actually onto it.

[davejcb]

OK, so in the Overlay properties (ATI control panel), on Overlay Display Mode, I've got it set to Theatre Mode. If I set it to "Same on All", then the movies don't show up on my TV.

I went in the Displays section and switched the TV to primary display, and now I can see all the menus on the TV, still using FFDshow.

Any way around switching the disply everytime, or am I doing something wrong?

[davejcb]

I don't get it. If I set the Overlay to "Same on All", then neither of the movies show up, only destops.

If I set to theatre mode, I get normal on monitor, full screen on TV but no OSD (menus, etc).

I don't know what else to do?

[nielm]

Depending on your video card, and as you have already seen, overlay can only be used on the primary monitor (limitations of the video card)

Either set the TV as your primary monitor, or use the VMR9 renderer in Sage (which often also works better on the primary monitor anyway!)

[davejcb]

I can do that. What would using VRM9 change with my problem?

Thanks!

[stanger89]

Overlay uses dedicated hardware on your video card, and it generally only works on your primary monitor. Theater Mode is a special feature that duplicates the overlay surface fullscreen on the secondary display.

VMR9 works differently, and doesn't have the same limitations as Overlay, but it has different ones. It may work better for you. You also may want to try Default.

[davejcb]

I was using Default... Which one would it actually have used under WinXP?

[stanger89]

Try setting everything up the way it works w/o ffdshow, but specify ffdshow in the properties file.

[davejcb]

You da man stanger, case closed.

Added:

videoframe/video_postprocessing_filter=ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder

to both Sage and SageClient property files, FFDshow launches whilst using NVidia decoder, VMR9, and everything shows up properly on the TV.

Thanks a bunch!

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by davejcb

You da man stanger, case closed.

Added:

videoframe/video_postprocessing_filter=ffdshow MPEG-4 Video Decoder

Yeah, they kind of snuck that into 2.2 IIRC.

to both Sage and SageClient property files, FFDshow launches whilst using NVidia decoder, VMR9, and everything shows up properly on the TV.

FWIW, you only need it in the Sage.properties file if you're running SageTV and arent' running the service, in all other cases it's only needed in the sageclient.properties.

Thanks a bunch!