Windows 7 Decoders

[LehighBri]

I recently installed the new Windows 7 Release Candidate and love it so far. A big benefit over the beta released earlier this year is that Windows Media Player can natively play .ts H.264 recordings! Note though that when I play the same .ts H.264 file in SageTV, I get a playback exception. I'm guessing this is because it doesn't know which H.264 decoder to use.

I then used Graphedit to graph both a .MPG HDTV file and a .TS H.264 file. Graphedit is unable to render the .TS H.264 despite it playing fine in Windows Media Player. But .MPG files rendered fine and produced the graph below.

Sage / Opus4 - any chance you can add the Windows 7 MPG decoder to the next/future version of Sage (in a similar way you have the Vista MPG decoder appear)? The list that appears in the Sage UI does not recognize any of the Windows 7 decoders.

The exact name of the Windows 7 MPG Decoder: Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

Sage / Opus4 - any chance you can add the Windows 7 MPG decoder to the next/future version of Sage (in a similar way you have the Vista MPG decoder appear)? The list that appears in the Sage UI does not recognize any of the Windows 7 decoders.

Is this only for MPG or for h.264 too? The only one I'm handling in the STV at the moment is h.264 decoders; anything else should be submitted to SageTV.

- Andy

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Is this only for MPG or for h.264 too? The only one I'm handling in the STV at the moment is h.264 decoders; anything else should be submitted to SageTV.

- Andy

Unfortunately only for MPG. I just sent a note to Sage support about this. I'm trying to figure out some way to get H.264 decoding working in Sage, in Windows 7, without installing PowerDVD which seems to be eliminating support these days instead of working for the customer.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Is this only for MPG or for h.264 too? The only one I'm handling in the STV at the moment is h.264 decoders; anything else should be submitted to SageTV.

- Andy

both

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

Unfortunately only for MPG. I just sent a note to Sage support about this. I'm trying to figure out some way to get H.264 decoding working in Sage, in Windows 7, without installing PowerDVD which seems to be eliminating support these days instead of working for the customer.

you need a ps/ts splitter that presents the correct media types.

with haali in place you should be able to play mkv and m2ts w/ h264.

for tv (ts) files it looks like the sage demuxer doesn't present the correct subtypes; the ms decoder accepts avc1 ({31435641-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}) & h264 (MEDIASUBTYPE_H264 -> {34363248-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}) media subtypes where the default subtype presented by the demuxer is the one expected by TMT's decoder.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

The exact name of the Windows 7 MPG Decoder: Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder

Originally Posted by Opus4

Is this only for MPG or for h.264 too?

Originally Posted by babgvant

both

Just to make absolutely sure before I add this, since I can't try it: "Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder" works as a decoder setting in SageTV to play h.264 files?

(Oh, and if there is an issue for SageTV to handle based on the post right above this one, please submit it to SageTV.)

- Andy

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Just to make absolutely sure before I add this, since I can't try it: "Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder" works as a decoder setting in SageTV to play h.264 files?

the ms decoder will decode h264 for files split with haali (or any demuxer that presents the correct media subtypes); I don't think the sage demuxer used for ts files does that (the post above).

Originally Posted by Opus4

(Oh, and if there is an issue for SageTV to handle based on the post right above this one, please submit it to SageTV.)

ok

[LehighBri]

Babgvant - you lost me in the technical details.

Guys - ultimately the goal here is to have Sage working in Windows 7 in a similar fashion that it does with Vista (e.g. recognize/use the built in Win7 MPG decoder), but on top of that, use the built in H.264 decoder in Win7. Key point here is to provide support OOTB in Sage that recognizes and/or provides an option to use the built in Win7 decoders for MPG and H.264.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

Babgvant - you lost me in the technical details.

That was more for the Sage devs, so they'd have a good starting point

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by babgvant

That was more for the Sage devs, so they'd have a good starting point

Understood I just wanted to make sure you and I are on the same page in terms of what we'd like to have happen in Windows 7. But yes please do continue to send more technical details to Sage to help them... you definitely know a lot about this

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

Guys - ultimately the goal here is to have Sage working in Windows 7 in a similar fashion that it does with Vista (e.g. recognize/use the built in Win7 MPG decoder), but on top of that, use the built in H.264 decoder in Win7. Key point here is to provide support OOTB in Sage that recognizes and/or provides an option to use the built in Win7 decoders for MPG and H.264.

I think that was the whole purpose of this conversation & my other topic requesting names of h.264 decoders.

- Andy

[LehighBri]

Babgvant - per my first post I found the name of the MPG decoder, but Graphedit failed when I tried to render a H.264 file. Do you have a way to find the name of the H.264 decoder in Windows 7?

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by LehighBri

Babgvant - per my first post I found the name of the MPG decoder, but Graphedit failed when I tried to render a H.264 file. Do you have a way to find the name of the H.264 decoder in Windows 7?

it's the same filter, but MS doesn't provide a directshow splitter (except for the wtv source) that uses it so you need to install one.

what's your source? I was able to get it working with mkv and m2ts with haali.

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by babgvant

it's the same filter, but MS doesn't provide a directshow splitter (except for the wtv source) that uses it so you need to install one.

what's your source? I was able to get it working with mkv and m2ts with haali.

My source is a .ts file I recorded in SageTV using my HD-PVR.

Opus4 - sounds like the MPG and H.264 use the same name mentioned in the first post here. I'm happy to test out an interim build if you want to use me as a guinea pig here.

[ediruzza]

I'm trying to follow this thread a bit because I have been working with Win 7 Build 7100 for over three weeks and have found that...

1. OOTB...win 7 plays the .TS recorded files recorded from the HD-PVR perfectly from my server.

2. Resource use on the client hovers around 25-30%...really nice! Because of the low resource usage...everything is snappier.

3. Playing the same file through Sage Client, resources hovers around 75-80%.

I'm using the MSI 5.1 Live 7411 Board with ATI 3200 chipset with on-board amplifier.

Is there any way to not have to install the ARCSOFT drivers on the Client and use the codecs that come in WIN 7 to watch TV and Play recorded files?

[Djc208]

Originally Posted by ediruzza

Is there any way to not have to install the ARCSOFT drivers on the Client and use the codecs that come in WIN 7 to watch TV and Play recorded files?

That's what the inital poster was requesting. What I've gathered is that Sage does not properly present the .ts files to the Win 7 decoder so that it can play them back, hence the error.

I'm sure the brains above will figure it out

Hopefully (for us and them) it's an easy fix.

[jm9843]

Any word on if the next beta will support the h264 decoder built into Windows 7? That would be something to look forward to.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by jm9843

Any word on if the next beta will support the h264 decoder built into Windows 7? That would be something to look forward to.

I sent it to Jeff, he said they'd look into it...

[LehighBri]

Originally Posted by babgvant

I sent it to Jeff, he said they'd look into it...

Thought I'd bump this. Do any folks have an update on this, especially given Windows 7 is getting close to RTM (targeted for July)?

[ytulpan]

Shouldn't this work with always_use_dshow_player=true ?