Using directshow filters for AVC playback in SageTV 6

[corykim]

I am using SageTV Media Center 6.0.13, and am having trouble playing back AVC/AAC the way I want.

In particular, I am playing back the Chronicles of Narnia trailer, which is h.264 1080p and 5.1 channel audio. Using Windows Media Player, it plays fine. Using GraphEdit, it shows that I am using the CoreAVC Video Decoder, which is what I want. It is also using the ffdshow Audio Decoder, which is set to output directly to DirectSound. My audio renderer is an ADI1988B (SoundMax DTS), which then uses DTS Interactive to output 5.1 channel DTS. Perfect, right?

Using SageTV, I am clearly using a different video decoder, because the HD image is rendering poorly, and obviously not taking advantage of the PureVideo acceleration of HD in my nVidia 7600GT (w beta driver 92.91). Further, although the audio is going through DTS Interactive, the signal only contains two channels.

I have tried setting always_use_dshow_player=true, and things get much, much worse. The audio becomes a terrible screech, and the video is blank.

Any ideas?

[blade]

Originally Posted by corykim

Using SageTV, I am clearly using a different video decoder, because the HD image is rendering poorly, and obviously not taking advantage of the PureVideo acceleration of HD in my nVidia 7600GT (w beta driver 92.91).

Has CoreAVC released a decoder with hardware acceleration? The last time I checked it was still entirely software and used no hardware acceleration at all.

[corykim]

Originally Posted by blade

Has CoreAVC released a decoder with hardware acceleration? The last time I checked it was still entirely software and used no hardware acceleration at all.

Hmm, I guess it's possible that it's not hw-accelerated, but the pro version definitely runs more smoothly than the non-pro version, regardless of the reason. The easiest way to see the difference is the final few seconds of the Chronicles of Narnia trailer, where Aslan jumps through the screen, then the snow and letters are floating all over the screen. With 1.1 Pro, on my CPU (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz), this is all silky smooth.

http://coreavc.corecodec.org/download.html

[darc87]

Originally Posted by corykim

Hmm, I guess it's possible that it's not hw-accelerated, but the pro version definitely runs more smoothly than the non-pro version, regardless of the reason. The easiest way to see the difference is the final few seconds of the Chronicles of Narnia trailer, where Aslan jumps through the screen, then the snow and letters are floating all over the screen. With 1.1 Pro, on my CPU (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz), this is all silky smooth.

http://coreavc.corecodec.org/download.html

Is it possible to select the CoreAVC Pro as a decoder in Sage? I am able to select it in graphedit but it does not show up in SageTV.

[corykim]

Originally Posted by darc87

Is it possible to select the CoreAVC Pro as a decoder in Sage? I am able to select it in graphedit but it does not show up in SageTV.

So far, it seems impossible.

[Ryokurin]

Dont take it as fact but I thought that 6 uses mplayer by default unless you have gone in the options and turned it off. check there.

[Mark SS]

I've never managed to get playback to work in WMP, upgraded to 11 and still nothing. Any hints as to where i'm going wrong?

Originally Posted by blade

Has CoreAVC released a decoder with hardware acceleration? The last time I checked it was still entirely software and used no hardware acceleration at all.

Its always been able to make use of DirectX de-interlacing in hardware which helps a little. No other acceleration added to this release and no indication when it will be added. Couple that with the complete disaster of their new website, portal and activation scheme and I'm tempted to try Cyberlink instead.