What decoders to install for SageTV Client on Windows 7?

[mayamaniac]

On a fresh clean installation of Windows 7 and with the latest drivers from Nvidia/ATI, what are the installation steps for codecs/decoders and settings to get the SageTV Client to smoothly playback everything (all the video/audio file types) similar to the HD300? Please share your thoughts.

I've been using extenders ever since they were released and haven't had to really deal with SageTV Client, so I never bothered to install all the codecs/decoders for it. I mainly use VLC, but I wonder if it's possible to get SageTV Client to work like the HD300. Assuming the CPU and video card are beefy enough, what would install step by step?

[panteragstk]

Having just done a complete reinstall of my client I can tell you first hand that it can be very simple.

I play all kinds of videos and don't have any issues. For mpeg2 HD I use the AVIVO decoder from AMD (which is just a rebadged cyberlink decoder from what I've heard IIRC). For AVC/h.264 I use ffdshow. I use ffdshow for vc-1 as well. I also change the enablestreamdemux (?) to 0 to disable the sage splitter for .mov, .mkv because sage just doesn't get along with those formats (mainly .mov).

For dvd I use cyberlink pdvd 8 and evr so I can navigate menus.

FFdshow handles all audio as I use analog out. I'm going to try using HDMI bitstreaming in the future, but haven't gotten a compatible receiver yet.

EDIT: I would also like to add that people should shy away from codec packs as they can cause massive issues. Some out there will disagree, but there is no sense installing a codec you don't need. Install them separately so you don't run into issues. SageTV is really good at exposing system instability in dshow.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I play all kinds of videos and don't have any issues. For mpeg2 HD I use the AVIVO decoder from AMD (which is just a rebadged cyberlink decoder from what I've heard IIRC).

So why not just use the cyberlink pdvd 8 for MPEG2 instead since you already using it for DVDs?

For AVC/h.264 I use ffdshow. I use ffdshow for vc-1 as well. I also change the enablestreamdemux (?) to 0 to disable the sage splitter for .mov, .mkv because sage just doesn't get along with those formats (mainly .mov).

Is that a ffdshow setting or sage.properties? Where is it?

EDIT: I would also like to add that people should shy away from codec packs as they can cause massive issues. Some out there will disagree, but there is no sense installing a codec you don't need. Install them separately so you don't run into issues. SageTV is really good at exposing system instability in dshow.

Yeah, I think codec packs can be troublesome.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

So why not just use the cyberlink pdvd 8 for MPEG2 instead since you already using it for DVDs?

You could, but in the past I've had better luck using the avivo decoder. The cyberlink works fine.

Is that a ffdshow setting or sage.properties? Where is it?

It is actually a sagetv registry setting. It disables the sage splitter for those file types that can be troublesome (.mov for me). Then I install the MPC-HC splitters and everything plays without any issues.