New Client Setup

[Steve52]

Since I could not get an Hd Extender (out of stock until who knows when), I have just completed a new client build. It is an Intel G45 IGP based system. I have everything setup and sage loaded. I also loaded the arcsoft software (not drivers)that came with my HD PVR (the HD PVR will be connected to my server later). I need some help! The only video decoder filter(other than the sage included one) is the arcsoft one. I am just trying to get mpeg working ok for now, not h.264. My playback is not as good now as it was before with the nVidia IGP and purevideo. What video decoder filter do you think I should be using now for mpeg HD and SD? I still had the old purevideo bronze OEM version .185, and I have loaded it on the PC. Sage however gives a video renderer error when I try to use it. Ideas?

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by Steve52

My playback is not as good now as it was before with the nVidia IGP and purevideo.

Not as good playback? - tearing, choppy? Are you using VMR9/Overlay... what are your other settings (mpeg4,audio etc)? Some additional info might help shed some light on the problem.

As a side note... i'm interested in what components you've chosen. I've been looking at a G45 client myself.

[Steve52]

Originally Posted by wado1971

Not as good playback? - tearing, choppy? Are you using VMR9/Overlay... what are your other settings (mpeg4,audio etc)? Some additional info might help shed some light on the problem.

As a side note... i'm interested in what components you've chosen. I've been looking at a G45 client myself.

I'll answer your second question first. I wanted to be able to play the HD PVR files and I could not do so on my old client in my living room. I looked for a new motherboard solution with an IGP. I have been using an nVidia IGP motherboard for years in that PC and I like that option. Silent less heat etc. I researched new motherboards and decided to go with the Intel DG45ID which is a micro ATX with the new G45 intergrated graphichs chip. I setup the new HTPC with win xp pro and loaded sage. The operating system install went well. I had a flawless install which is somewhat unusual, but I am not able to get back to where I was with sage.

Sage problems: I first installed the Arcsoft software (I had already purchased the HD PVR although I have not installed it on my server yet) thinking I could use it for both the Video and Audio decoding and be ready for the HD PVR files when I get the hardware installed. I have always run overlay and that is how I setup sage with arcsoft. The picture was not smooth. It was not exactly jerking but not as smooth as it should be. I had an old version of nVidia purevideo and I have heard that purevideo will run on the G45 chipset. Well sage didn't seem to want to run purevideo at first and crashed the pc but after a reboot it worked a little. The picture seemed better, but sage crashes after a few minutes of play. Also hitting the stop key on the remote will crash sage. I change from overlay to VRM9 but the picture is worse and still crashes. I thought maybe I needed a new decorder for the mpeg stuff, and arcsoft for the h.264. Not exactly shure how all that works however. If arscoft should work for both mpg and h.264 then maybe I have just not hit on the right combination of settings to work properly. The G45 chip has hardware acceleration and maybe that is causing some of the problems.

[Steve52]

I have unistalled all audio and video decoders and reinstalled ArcSoft TME. I don't think sage is using the Arcsoft video decoder even thougt I have selected it in setup. When I run Graph edit and drag a video file into it, it says it is using "SageTv MPEG video Decoder". I added the line videoframe/mpeg2-video_video_decoder_filter=ArcSoft Video Decoder, but this had no improvement in picture and graphedit still shows the Sage video decoder. How do I make it change to the ArcSoft decoder?

[wado1971]

New build with arcsoft decoders on a brand new IG chipset!??! Lots to go wrong. I like the MB choice - looking at it myself so I'm very interested in your progress.

FWIW: I would suggest to de-scope your problem a bit. I think SD video mpg playback should work with sagetv without a hitch (and without anything from arcsoft installed). If a clean install with only sagetv gives you problems I'd then try playing the same video in VLC & WMP. This may not have anything to do with Sagetv - are your IG drivers updated - any known issues? I'd wait till I'm past this point until I start introducing arcsoft, etc.

[Steve52]

Originally Posted by wado1971

New build with arcsoft decoders on a brand new IG chipset!??! Lots to go wrong. I like the MB choice - looking at it myself so I'm very interested in your progress.

FWIW: I would suggest to de-scope your problem a bit. I think SD video mpg playback should work with sagetv without a hitch (and without anything from arcsoft installed). If a clean install with only sagetv gives you problems I'd then try playing the same video in VLC & WMP. This may not have anything to do with Sagetv - are your IG drivers updated - any known issues? I'd wait till I'm past this point until I start introducing arcsoft, etc.

Lots to go wrong is right! I don't fully understand the audio and video decoder stuff, but I think that for some reason sage and WMP are using the "Sagetv MPEG Video Decoder" and not any of the ones I have installed. WMP will tell you which one it is using, but I see no way to change it to another. Right now I only have the decoders that come with sage and ArsSoft installed on this pc. WPM says it is using the Sage decoder, and I believe Sage is also, but I guess the only way to know for sure with sage is to turn on the trouble shooting log. It looks like to me there should be some easy way to tell a video player to use a certain decoder and it work, but I don't know how to do it. I suspect that if I could get sage to really use the ArcSoft video decoder things would improve.

Edit:
Forgot to say that yes I am on the latest BIOS and drivers for the DG45ID motherboard.