Sage6 Media playback multi audio/subs? No Dshow?

[justme]

I already read one post in the beta release thread where that poster seems to be having a similiar(in the sense it realtes to Sage's internal player and Dshow) issue with Sage's playback of files with Sages player, so I thought I'd post a thread an ask for some help/clarification on my problem with this.

OK, I've been away for a while in the enemies(M$) camp. Still in V5.0.4 I could use my Dshow filters to play back my media libraries content. This allowed me to use CCCP(basically Haali's splitter and a h264/xvid/divx capable build of FFDShow) to play back my OGMs/MKVs with the preferred audio/subtitle. In other words if the file had a Jap audio track that was first followed by an Eng audio track, Haali would know I want Eng(from haalis setting) as the audio even if it is the second/nondefault track. The same thing went for subtitles, if their were their, in the format I setup as prefered, they were played. This meant I also got Eng DVD subs for most of my files(mostly ripped anime).

In the Ver 6 beta it appears that Sage is using it's own internal player for OGM/MKVs that are imported. I say this since I don't see any of the filter tray icons that get loaded when the same file is played using a "normal" Dshow app. This wouldn't be that big of a deal as Sage seems to get the media format right, but it's player doesn't seem to notice multiple audio/sub streams and hence just plays the first stream. If Sage would notice these streams and allow their selection on playback this would be great, as then Sage would be able to do all I was doing before in it's own player. Alternatively can I force Sage to use my systems Dshow filter setup for imported media playback? Is this a bug that it doesn't detect multiple streams and offer a choice(or use a preference yopu've setup) for playback? Or did I miss something on my quick scan of the manual?

Oh also what about AC3filter, in reqards to just imported media? Before it was autoincert to my filter chain. Right now this is a Machine setup just to play with Sage 6, so I don't have it hhoked up to my TV and AV system. Still I know I used AC3filter before to get around some issue on playback to my amp.

Just to be clear my sub streams are never played by Sage 6, even if there is only 1 sub stream in the file.

I hope I explained that well. Any help would be appreciated.

[Narflex]

Nice to see you again. Give this property a try:

mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=false

That might fix your problem. If not, let me know.

[StephaneM]

I also think that switching to MPlayer for all video / audio playback except for MPEG2 will be a source of troubles .

I reviewed the MPlayer documentation and it seems very difficult for SageTV to let user choose DirectShow filters (and it's only for audio and video codec : forget about a complex DirectShow graph tweaking).

I'm not sure what to think about this... (But for sure I couldn't use anymore Cyberlink Audio Decoder to have Dolby Pro Logic IIx on DiVx / Xvid video files )

Regards,
Stéphane.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by Narflex

Give this property a try:
mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=false

For me, it allows DivX / Xvid to be played back with DirectShow filters.

So one question : can we know how SageTV will decide to use it's own DirectShow player or MPlayer?

Regards,
Stéphane.

[justme]

Originally Posted by Narflex

Nice to see you again.

Thanks, I'm hoping that Ver6 will make me stay away from the evil empire's software. And yes I've already bought an upgrade key no matter what happens with Ver6. I thought of it as a late payment for support/upgrades over the last few years.

Originally Posted by Narflex

Give this property a try:
mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=false
That might fix your problem. If not, let me know.

First the good news...
OK, that setting made a difference. Sage went ahead and loaded up my Dshow filters and used my prefered settings. ie Proper audio and proper subs.
Now the bad...
However on checking a few other files I found they were being loaded by sage just like before. ie no Dshow tray icons and no subs or wrong audio(just played the first stream listed in the file).

I've done some real quick checking, as i'm short on time right now. And so far testing 4 different series points out at least 2 difference in the 2 files formats. The one that properly loaded up Dshow in Sage(with setting to false) was a MKV file with a FOURC of DX50. The two that acted the same(undesired/not loading Dshow filters) were OGMs with FOURCs of XVID.

Rather it's the contianer that's making the difference or the FOURCC I don't know. I'll try and find some OGMs with a Fourc of DX50, as well as some MKVs with a FOURC of XVID. I'll report the results asap. I know I got to have all the permutations on my network, it's just checking the files info for the desired combo and then testing in Sage. Unfortunately with several hundred anime it may take a while to find the right ones so I can do the tests to narrow it down.

PS:The tests were done with the renderer set to overlay and the audio and video decoders to default, to minimize variables. Once I find out which of the 2 variables above(if either) makes a difference, I'll retest with different settings for renderer and decoders to verify the behavior is the same.

Hope this was usefull, and thanks for the fast response.

/justme

EDITTED to add results of a table showing a few tests I was able to do tonight. I've grouped them by contianer type and then subgrouped by alphabetical order. All files(I tested first ep of each series, so that's where title come from) are dual audio and have sub files unless otherwise noted(in parathesis under Dsho in Sage). The FOURC is what FFDshow says the files is when played back using WMP(since it always builds a dshow). I also include the library FFDshow was using in parathesis beside the FOURC, redundant for most but maybe usefull for the few I need more data on. Also all tests were done with Sage set to overlay with audio and video deocoders set to default. I obviously need some more data for some of the groups but hopefully this info will show some type of a pattern.

Title		FOURC(lib used)	Container	DShow in Sage

AeonFlux(show)	XVID(mpeg4)	MKV		yes
Dead Leaves	XVID(mpeg4)	MKV		yes
Eiken		DX50(mpeg4)	MKV		yes
DearS		AVC1(h264)	MKV		no

Banner ot Stars	XVID(mpeg4)	OGM		no
Cosmo		DX50(mpeg4)	OGM		no
El Hazard	XVID(mpeg4)	OGM		no

AeonFlux(short)	MP4V(mpeg4)	MP4		no(only 1 A+V stream, no subs)

Angel Links	DX50(mpeg4)	AVI		yes(only 1 A+V stream, external subs in a srt file)

[justme]

This is a retest of the same files using Beta V6.0.12. I'm using Java 1.4.2_12 and DX9.0c just as I did for the first tests with beta 11. I did however have Sage using VMR9, this time instead of overlay. But I still left the audo and video deocders setting of Sage set to choose default(ie use my systems graph preferences).

I've also set
mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=false (as in beta 11 tests)
always_use_dshow_player=true (added in beta 12)


In short, it seems to be better. I get audio Dshow filters and I love the marking of last playback position in imported videos feature. However there seems to be an issue with Sage building the Video portion of the graph using Dshow. I suspect this has something to do with the way Sage 6beta is handling the media splitter(Haali), as it's tray icon is missing whenever this is a failure(full or partial) of building the Dshow graph. This all worked fine in 5.0.4.

Title		FOURC(lib used)	Container	DShow in Sage V6.0.12beta

AeonFlux(show)	XVID(mpeg4)	MKV		YES
Dead Leaves	XVID(mpeg4)	MKV		YES
Eiken		DX50(mpeg4)	MKV		YES
DearS		AVC1(h264)	MKV		YES		

Banner ot Stars	XVID(mpeg4)	OGM		NO* 
Cosmo		DX50(mpeg4)	OGM		NO*
El Hazard	XVID(mpeg4)	OGM		YES

AeonFlux(short)	MP4V(mpeg4)	MP4		YES**(only 1 A+V stream, no subs streams present in file)

Angel Links	DX50(mpeg4)	AVI		YES(only 1 A+V stream, external subs in a srt file)


* (Beta 12 does try to use Dshow to render the audio filters(shown in tray) but no Dshow for Video and no 
Haali icon indicating it used Haai's splitter. Also no audio can be heard and the screen is black. The timebar
 does advance and sage remembers the last position it was in when the file was last played)

** It uses Dshow to render and I get video and audio. Only thing missing is the Haali splitter icon is not in
 my tray. Haali is there when using WMP or Zoomplayer to play this file. It is also my default filter for 
MKV,OGM,MP4 files. This may not be a big deal with this show since it only has one audio stream and no sub
 streams, but another mp4 would not use my defaults(set in Haali) for selecting the correct audio and subtitle selection.

I've attached my log file from the session where I ran these tests.