Newbie: Which Codec? Playback issues.

[tcsubwoofer]

I just got my HTPC up and runnin with 32 bit Vista and downloaded SageTV 6.3 last night. I'm running a Hauppagge HVR-1600 video recorder card. A few things:

1. I've had my Sage TV crash already while watching TV. Microsoft's WMP hasn't had the same problem;

2. I can't play DVD's in Sage TV, but I can in WMC. The sound stutters in SageTV and there is no picture, whereas it played flawlessly in Windows Media Center. I read that maybe I don't have the right codec? Isn't the fact that I have Windows Media Player enough?

I really want SageTV to work because I want to buy two extenders for other TV's in the house. Any ideas on what I should do? Reload software? New drivers? New codec? How do I choose a codec?

Thanks in advance.

[tcsubwoofer]

OK, I did some research on this site and discovered that strangely enough SageTV doesn't have CODEC to read copy protected DVDs. Nice to know! (was this obvious to everybody else?)

So I paid money to download the latest PowerDVD 7 which was recommended as one of three possible codecs on several threads and was proven to solve the problem on at least one thread.

I pick the Cyberlink Codec (PowerDVD codec) in the setup menues for video and audio in Sage TV 6.3 and movies now play. Hurrah! ..... well maybe. Now only about 2/3 of the picture is shown. It's as if the 16/9 picture is started too far to the right of the screen and about 1/3 is truncated of the right side. The picture will not go full screen, but sort of looks like a modified 4/3. Of course DVDs work perfectly fine in PowerDVD, WinTV, and Windows MC - but my ongoing problems with getting a simple DVD to play in Sage TV is frustrating!

I've heard so many good things about this software - why so hard to install for a true Media Center Software package?! Anyway, any recommendations on how to resolve this issue?

[Djc208]

If you run sage in a window does that fix the problem? If so then I'd look into the screen controls/zoom/aspect ratio settings in Sage.

You could also try setting the same codec for regular MPEG playback and see if Sage does the same thing with that video, which will help determine if it's the codec or Sage since I assume recorded video plays back correctly.

[tcsubwoofer]

I ran Sage TV in a window and the same problem occurs - video appears to be centered, only the right 1/3 of the picture is gone (simply cut off) and in full-screen mode it doesn't expand to full screen. Again, its centered, but missing picture.

For some reason I don't see to have the option to pick Cyberlink to play back recorded video. Maybe I'm not finding the right setting? Where do you suggest I change the setting?

[Djc208]

Originally Posted by tcsubwoofer

For some reason I don't see to have the option to pick Cyberlink to play back recorded video. Maybe I'm not finding the right setting? Where do you suggest I change the setting?

Not setting in front of the interface so I can't remember the exact location but under detailed settings there is an option for the DVD audio/video decoders and one right above it for the regular MPEG audio/video decoders.

There were also some issues with Sage overiding other decoder to use it's own but I don't think I've had an issue with that on my machine but you might want to look into some of the previous posts on using codecs. There is a way to verify the default codec in windows, if that's set to the cyberlink codec then all you should need to do is select default for both menu options.

Otherwise it could be a Vista thing, which I'm not running, so I can't help much there.

[tcsubwoofer]

When I changed my Video Renderer options to VMR9 and kept my Video Decoder options set to the Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD7) the picture started to play properly. Yippee!

Now a new problem - cant get AC3 to play through the optical cable. Again, plays fine through the optical cable on PowerDVD7 and Vista MC, but can't seem to lock in the right settings for Audio Render SEttings and Audio Decoder Settings to make this work. Andy suggestions?