Newbie with playback problems

[major4579]

I've installed SageTv but I cannot figure out how to get it to playback recorded HD TV. The playback starts and then stalls after a few seconds. The timer continues to run at the bottom of the screen. Also no audio. Then if I don't do anything - it may start playing again with audio after a few minutes and then stop again.

The recorded TV shows (mpg files) play back fine in my VLC player. Also, downloaded vidcasts play fine in SageTv as well as my audio files.

My setup:

Windows XP - SP3
Pentium M 3.0 GHz
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon Express 200 w/256MB RAM
SATA WD Hard drive with the storage partition formated with 64K clusters
Silicon Dust HDHomeRun Network HD Tuner - OTA HD
1080i LCD TV with DVI to HDMI connection.


I've installed the nVidia PureVideo decoder.

I also have tried BeyondTV and that works fine. And, I've made sure that all of BeyondTV's services and programs are stopped before trying SageTV.

I much prefer the flexibilty of Sage - but not if I cannot watch TV.

I'm sure it's something dumb but I just feel like I'm not seeing it.

-John

[alfi33]

Have you tried the SageTV video decoder?

[major4579]

Yes, that's what I tried originally. I installed the nVidia decoder in hopes it would fix the problem - it didn't.

[real_per]

What's your settings under detailed setup-> Video / Audio ?

[major4579]

Other available options are shown in ()

Video Renderer: DEFAULT (Video Overlay, DirectX9 VMR9)
MPEG2 Video Decoder Filter: SAGETV (Default, Nvidia Decoder, NVidia Post Processor)
Uses DXVA: NO
MPG4 Playback: DIRECTSHOW (SageTv)
DScaler Filter: DISABLED in Submenu
Audio Renderer: DEFAULT (Realtek AC97, DirectSouns, WaveOut, DirectSound: Realtek AC97)
MPEG2 Audio Decoder: DEFAULT (AC3Filter, MPEG, Nvidia, SageTV)
Audio Playback Delay: -10

I've installed the Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility and it shows a list of MPEG-2 decoders. I tried setting some of the following as "Preferred" without any affect on viewing. Currently the setting is 'Restore Defaults'.

NVIDIA Video Decoder - nviddec.ax - ver 4020.223.0.0
Ligos MPEG Vndec Decoder - Mpeg2Decoder.ax - ver 1.2.0.79
Nero DVD Decoder - NeVideo.ax - ver 3.21.117.4
Nero Video Decoder - NeVideo.ax - ver 3.21.117.4
SageTV MPEG Video Decoder - stvmcdsmpeg.ax - ver 1.0.0.65
SnapStream Video/SP Decoder - SnapStreamVSD.ax - ver 6.0.0.2919
SageTV MPEG-2 Video Decoder - stvm2vd.ax - ver 7.5.0.27713
Nero Video Decoder HD - NeVideoHD.ax - ver 2.37.32.4

Any other info that would help?

Thanks,
John

[alfi33]

You might try switching from Overlay to VMR9, or vice versa.

You might also look at trying different video drivers. I originally had some issues like the ones you described that ended up being fixed by using an older version of the ATI drivers.

[real_per]

I'd try to set Purevideo as default using the XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility , reboot, then try to play an mpg file in Windows media player.

You should get a picture, and an nvidia icon in the tray.

Then set SageTV to use:

Video Renderer "overlay"
MPEG2 video decoder ""default"
Audio Renderer "Realtek AC97"
MPEG2 audio "Nvidia"
Audio Playback Delay: 0

Under "Advanced" disable 3D Acceleration

[major4579]

Alfi33,

I've tried Overlay & VMR9 - no luck. Since the ATI is on my Asus mobo I've tried the following:

The original drivers from Asus for the ATI and the latest drivers from Asus - neither make any difference in my playback problem.

I also installed the latest ATI drivers from ATI but I could no longer output to DVI, only VGA. So I uninstalled them and am currently running the latest Asus/ATI drivers.


Real_Per,

I'll try that next - but I do have to do a little real work now. I'll get back to you with the results later today.

Thanks for all the suggestions- John

[major4579]

Real_Per,

Ok I couldn't wait - I did what you said and it worked - sort of. I now get video playback and it looks v. good.

But I only get the background music audio to playback - no voices. I tried all the settings under MPEG2 Audio - no luck.

I went into my Control Panel Realtek Audio settings and was able to confirm 5.1 audio playback (I'm using the S/PDif Optical output).

Now here's the interesting part: I've recorded this OTA HD TV Show. When playing normally, it fills the 16:9 screen; BUT when the TV Station wants to scroll it's call letters or whatever across the bottom of the screen, the picture is reduced to 4:3 with black borders on all 4 sides (i.e., SD Digital, not HD). At this point the audio voices come through fine - when the scrolling stops and the transmission reverts to HD, the voices go away.

For those of you not familiar with OTA HD, this is how the broadcast station has set it up - the same thing happens when I'm watching straight OTA HD TV (No SageTV or computer involved). But, of course, I could always hear the voice track.

Any thoughts on the sound problem...

I really do have to go to work.
-John

P.S. I'm running the trial version of nVidia - it's suppose to support:
"The trial version will work for 30 days and give you complete access to all audio and video features, including Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Headphone, and DTS decoding. After the 30 day trial period, the NVIDIA PureVideo Decoder will stop working with all applications."

[alfi33]

Originally Posted by major4579

I'm using the S/PDif Optical output.

Are you trying to pass the audio to a receiver to decode the sound? I think your problem is that not all the audio is getting passed to your receiver. I'm not too familiar with PureVideo but I think you still have to use AC3filter to pass the audio to a receiver with the S/PDif Optical output.

[SWKerr]

I had that problem with my HDHR. I was able to get it working using the Cyberlink Audio Decoder, AC3Filter and ArcSoft Audio Decoder HD. The nVidia and Sage decoders do not appear to work on some audio generated by the HDHR.

[planetc]

Purevideo has an option to do spdif out, but I always found it a pain to access this. You could switch audio to ac3filter and set that to do it (which is more flexible imo). I use this combo of Purevideo for video and ac3 for sound and it works very well. Using PowerDVD is also an option, as are various others. Try them out and buy the one you like best that works for you.

[major4579]

Ok,

I installed the free AC3Filter program, changed the MPEG2 Audio to AC3Filter, changed some settings in the AC3Filter Config to use SPDIF and it's working great. Both Audio and Video look very good (from a brief watch). I'll test it more tonite but I'm very happy to see it working.

Thanks for all the help - it's greatly appreciated.

Next step is to enable closed captioning - but that may require a new thread.

Thanks again - John

[major4579]

The saga continues....

With the following settings:

Video Renderer "overlay"
MPEG2 video decoder ""default"
Audio Renderer "Realtek AC97"
MPEG2 audio "AC3Filter"
Audio Playback Delay: 0

and the nVidia PureVideo set as Windows default

HD OTA TV recordings played great sound and video quality were, to my eyes, excellant.

But I download a lot of vidcasts from the internet and the Media Center/Video player will no longer play them - I get audio but only a black screen. These Videos are in the following formats: mp4, m4v and mov.
Videos in AVI format play fine.

Before I setup the nVidia, all these videos played fine.

I noticed the following settings in the SageClient.properties file (but was unable to find any documentation - if it exists where is it?):
media_player_plugin_class=
media_player_plugin_class/avi=
media_player_plugin_class/m4v=
media_player_plugin_class/mov=

Could these be used to fix my problem?

Thanks, John

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by major4579

The saga continues....

With the following settings:

Video Renderer "overlay"
MPEG2 video decoder ""default"
Audio Renderer "Realtek AC97"
MPEG2 audio "AC3Filter"
Audio Playback Delay: 0

and the nVidia PureVideo set as Windows default

HD OTA TV recordings played great sound and video quality were, to my eyes, excellant.

But I download a lot of vidcasts from the internet and the Media Center/Video player will no longer play them - I get audio but only a black screen. These Videos are in the following formats: mp4, m4v and mov.
Videos in AVI format play fine.

Before I setup the nVidia, all these videos played fine.

I noticed the following settings in the SageClient.properties file (but was unable to find any documentation - if it exists where is it?):
media_player_plugin_class=
media_player_plugin_class/avi=
media_player_plugin_class/m4v=
media_player_plugin_class/mov=

Could these be used to fix my problem?

Thanks, John

nVidia decoder is NOT going to play mp4, m4v and mov. You either need to choose the SagePlayer to play your mp4 or install a decoder (like PowerDVD8 or another) that supports playing those formats. Those are some of the settings that will help you. In Detailed Setup after installing a decoder that supports those formats you can set tit to use DirectShow to play mp4 files. Also consult the SageTV manual that is installed with the product.

Gerry

[major4579]

OK, I un-installed nVidia and installed PowerDVD8. I selected PDVD8 as default in WinXP Decoder Checker. Rebooted system.

The only change is I now get CC on some recorded TV.

I still cannot play mp4, m4v or mov files - only avi.

In Detailed Settings, the MPEG4 playback is set to Directsound.

Of course I had deleted my last OTA HD recording last night - I've selected the next HD broadcst to record for testing purposes (golf, of all things - no offense to those who enjoy watching paint dry, I mean watching golf).

To be recap:

Using the default SageTV setup:
I could watch everything BUT OTA HD & SD TV recordings

Using nVidia, Nero
I can watch OTA HD & SD recordings and AVI videos, but nothing else.

Using PowerDVD8
I can watch OTA SD recordings and AVI videos but nothing else. (I have not tested OTA HD TV yet).

As for Closed Caption - I didn't track as closely but I can say this:
PowerDVD8 - SD TV CC works fine on at least some programs
Nero - shows gibberish on HD TV
nVidia - shows nothing on HD TV

I need to start a spreadsheet.

-John

[planetc]

I installed ffdshow which cleared up any issues I had with files that wouldn't play. I still use purevideo for TV and DVD with Xvid decoders for other videos across the network but my main TV uses ffdshow for the latter which appears to cover the requirements for just about everything I have come across to date.