Unable to play Matroska files

[waltraud]

Hi,

I spend most of the day trying to get Sage to play mkv files using a dshow filter (PowerDVD8) and just can't get it to work.

I always get

Sun 3/1 0:02:19.907 DShowPlayer createGraph0 called
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.908 DShowPlayer setVideoRendererFilter0({51B4ABF3-748F-4E3B-A276-C828330E926A}) called
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.945 Loading new font to cache font=MetaFont[Arial, size=38, style=1, height=43.69629, ascent=35.021973, descent=7.4311523, leading=1.2431641]
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.953 Using VMR9 for video rendering
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.962 Setting up VMR9 deinterlacing
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.963 Curr Mix Prefs=0x1015
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.963 Set to 0x2015, hr=0x0, New Mix Prefs=0x2015
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.963 DShowPlayer setAudioRendererFilter0(DirectSound: Realtek AC97 Audio) called
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.966 DShowPlayer setVideoDecoderFilter0(CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD8)) called
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.994 DShowPlayer setTimeshift=0 buffer=0
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.996 Using the default source filter
Sun 3/1 0:02:19.996 NATIVE Loading the source file
Sun 3/1 0:02:20.000 NATIVE RenderSource called
Sun 3/1 0:02:20.000 WIN32 FAILURE HR=0x80040218 FILE=.\CPlayerData.cpp LINE=1534
Sun 3/1 0:02:20.000 WIN32 FAILURE HR=0x80040218 FILE=.\CPlayerData.cpp LINE=1563
Sun 3/1 0:02:20.000 Exception from line: 763
Sun 3/1 0:02:20.001 Built:sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x80040218): There was a problem rendering the video portion of the content for playback.
Sun 3/1 0:02:20.001 sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x80040218): There was a problem rendering the video portion of the content for playback.

This is what I added to sageclient.properties

videoframe/aac_audio_decoder_filter=AC3Filter
videoframe/ac3_audio_decoder_filter=AC3Filter
videoframe/h264_video_decoder_filter=CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD8)
always_use_dshow_player=true

File specs are:
format=MATROSKA 1:29:20 0 kbps [#0 Video[H.264 23.976044 fps 1920x1080 progressive]#1 Audio[DCA 48000 Hz 6 channels

SageTV is running on WinXP SP3. Playback works ok in graphstudio and WMP. I am using SageTV 6.5.11

Does anybody know what I am doing wrong?

[bhyman1]

I had to upgrade my nVidia video card driver to the latest to get them to play back.

But even now it's a little glitchy.

Havent had time to troubleshoot yet though.

[waltraud]

I just updates to the latest nvidia driver. Still the same problem. I also tried Divx7 didnt help either.

BTW .mp4 files play fine.

[setherd]

always_use_dshow_player=true

do you have that in your properties file?

[waltraud]

yep. When I set it to false all mkvs play fine but the playback is totally jerky and unbearable

[HawgGuy]

Will it render & play with GraphEdit?

[waltraud]

I used graphstudio which if I understand it correctly does pretty much the same and it renders ok.

PS: I couldnt find a link to graphedit and didnt want to download the whole SDK

[Taddeusz]

Do you have the latest Haali Media Splitter installed?

[waltraud]

Sorry forgot to mention that I installed haali.

I used this version here http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/
I also tried the previous version but no change. Matroska files wont play. Still the same error.

I also deleted the sageclient.properties and sageclient.properties.autobackup files just to make sure that I start with clean config files but still no change.

Well actually there is one change...

I still used 6.5.9 when I first began testing. After updating to 6.5.11 the mkvs wont even play with the Sage default player. Sound but black screen or video hangs after the first couple of frames

[Taddeusz]

Do you have SageTV set to use DirectShow for MPEG4 playback?

[waltraud]

I set in in the GUI and also set

always_use_dshow_player=true
mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=false
mplayer/use_for_mkv_playback=false

in sageclient.properties.

[phelme]

Are you having problems with MP4 files as well? I've noticed on clients that I've upgraded to 6.5.11, MP4's & MKV's sometimes just stop playing on their own. Sage behaves like it's the end of the recording and asks if you want to delete it. You can cancel out of this and play them again and they'll pick up from where they left off. It's weird. I think I'm using SageTVPlayer in all instances where this happens.

[waltraud]

MP4 files eem to be fine. Although the ones I tried hang for 1 or to 2 seconds before they actually start playing. MKV plays dont play at all anymore not even with the sageplayer. I think I will file a bug report.

[nyplayer]

I was able to get mkv working by installing the CCCP codec pack.

[gtdave]

Please use RadLight Filter Manager to create a text file with all the DirectShow filters you have installed on the system, then can cut-and-paste what you've got here. I found that I had to get rid of some filters (unregister, not just reduce the merit) to get MKVs playing properly.

Also, try using overlay instead of VMR9 for the rendering and see if it improves.

Dave

[waltraud]

I installed the CCCP Pack 1 or 2 years ago and it broke my setup so I didnt try it (yet).

gtdave I attached the log. It's a bit long for posting it here. I hope you can find something

I think I tried overlay with the sagetvplayer before but I am not sure. I will try it again. I tried overlay with always_use_dsplayer=true and it didn't make a difference.

thx for the help!

[gtdave]

Sorry for my delayed reply!

I don't see anything in there that could be conflicting. I'm using CoreAVC for my h.264 decoder--I think you can download a free trial. Can you give that a try?

Also, try unregistering the CyberLink decoder and using the Divx h.264 decoder instead. When you unregister, make sure you note the filename and path so you can re-register easily if you need it back (voice of experience talking).

Dave

[waltraud]

No worries. I really appreciate the help.

So I removed the Cyberlink stuff and manually deregistered all the left overs. Just to be on the safe side I also removed the DIVX HD codec and Haali and then installed CoreAVC and edited sagetvclient.properties to tell it to use the new codec.

No change. "There was a problem rendering the video ...."

The more I troubleshoot this the more I come to the conclusion that this not not a problem with the codecs but rather with the splitter.

When I load an mkv in Sage you briefly see the CoreAVC icon pop up next to the clock (taskbar) directly followed by the playback error.

[phelme]

I have the opposite problem, I have no issue playing Matroksa files with DirectShow (by using ArcSoft decoders set for both audio & video in the client properties), but I can't play MP4 containers. I'm guessing that the ArcSoft install doesn't support MP4's. So I have to settle with using SageTVPlayer for both MKV & MP4. I *can* play .MP4's in graphedit using the CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder and the ArcSoft AAC Decoder just fine, so I think you're right, it's the Sage splitter/demux that's the problem. Under Sage it tries to play the MP4 for a couple seconds then playback just stops.

And no messing about with the mplayer and videoframe properties allows me to play Matroska's with DirectShow and MP4's with the SageTVPlayer. I'd be happy with that.

Does anyone know if the commercial version of TotalMedia Extreme can play MP4 containers? Or does CybeLink 9 have a splitter for Matroska's?

I'm tempted to start playing with the Haali splitter/CyberLink route and getting rid of ArcSoft but I'm afraid of screwing everything up. Sage has made the mplayer more palatable, but a bit more audio & video quality would be nice by using DShow.

[phelme]

Originally Posted by waltraud

No worries. I really appreciate the help.

So I removed the Cyberlink stuff and manually deregistered all the left overs. Just to be on the safe side I also removed the DIVX HD codec and Haali and then installed CoreAVC and edited sagetvclient.properties to tell it to use the new codec.

No change. "There was a problem rendering the video ...."

The more I troubleshoot this the more I come to the conclusion that this not not a problem with the codecs but rather with the splitter.

When I load an mkv in Sage you briefly see the CoreAVC icon pop up next to the clock (taskbar) directly followed by the playback error.

So did you ever get this solved?

I just redid a Windows client box to get everything on DirectShow. It's running an ATI 1650XT card with Catalyst 8.x drivers. It was a pain .

In order to get everything to work: MPEG2, TS, MP4, MKV etc. I had to install the following: ArcSoft TME, CyberLink PDVD 8, Haali Splitter, Gabest Matroska Splitter and AC3Filter.

SageClient.properties has set:
aac: ArcSoft Audio Decoder
H.264: CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder (PDVD8)
MPEG2: CyberLink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD8)

I couldn't get CyberLink's audio decoder to work with MKV files and it wouldn't work with all TS files either. I think CyberLink can't decode HD-PVR aac's properly

Haali Media Splitter (AR) is used for .MP4 playback
Gabest Matroska Splitter is use for .MKV playback.
(I could not get the Haali Matroska Splitter to be happy with the CyberLink video decoder, so in went Gabest)

And on top of that, I'm forcing the use of ArcSoft's MPEG DeMux with the CustomDemuxGuid registry property. I tried to use CyberLink's to fix the audio issues but neither MKV or TS files would run.

I tried to use ArcSoft for all codecs, but the last update caused the client to quit way too often. Getting rid of its video codec seems to have solved that.

It shouldn't be this hard.