VC-1 on SandyBridge iGPU, Win7, SageTV7: What are my options?

[jmv]

How did you select the TMT 5 codec and did you have to do anything special to install it / register it, or is it automatically available to 3rd party applications after you install TMT 5?

[Polypro]

+1 How did you get it exposed to DirectShow?

I just did a rebuild and used the Doom9 checkactivate.dll with the TMT3 Codec (registered asvideo.ax individually)

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...4&postcount=32

...and it works fine. TMT 5's decoder didn't show in DSFM or Sage, even though I have it installed.

P

[sflamm]

Works on both Nvidia and AMD GPU cards... have used in both.

Plays all VC-1 content.

[Kirby]

I too have TMT5 installed (not a trial version) and cannot access the codecs either.

sflamm, how did you do it???

[sflamm]

I placed all the associated dlls for the codec ax in a single directory (ie. "C:\Program Files\Arcsoft-codec" ) as well as the latest checkactivate.dll (must be placed in same directory).

My directory contains:

ASVid.ax
ASVC1Vid.dll
ASMPEGVid.dll
ASH264Vid.dll
checkactivate.dll

Then I use regsvr32 to register the asvid.ax:

regsvr32.exe “C:\Program Files\Arcsoft-codec\ASVid.ax”

The codec ax and dlls can be taken from a TMT5 trial installation.

The checkactivate.dll is NOT the old one used for TMT3. It is the latest doom9:

http://forum.doom9.org/attachment.ph...7&d=1271603449

From SageTV I choose to use Arcsoft as the VC-1 decoder (also works great for MPEG2 and H264 - I actually prefer it for everything now).

[Polypro]

Ahh, gotcha. Works fine, just changed over to TMT 5's codec. I never used those other .dll's with TMT 2 & 3 though, just the .ax file...are those needed because of 5? Thanks for the walk through and links.

P

[jmv]

Activated the TMT 5 codecs. With limited testing works well for MPEG 2 DVD, and some of the .mkv files. I haven't figured out if it is some VC1's, some X264's or both, but with most of the HD .mkv's, the bottom 25%-50% of the video is garbeled and the top portion is clear. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong. I did not install TMT 5 on this PC, I only copied them over from another PC I had it installed on and ran the reg command, then selected the Arc Soft filter for MPEG2, VC1, H264. I tried both EVR and Direct both exhibit the issue.

[sflamm]

Unregister the other codecs.
Make sure that the Arcsoft codec has a high enough priority to join graphs first.
SageTV allows you to explicitly specify the codec for VC-1, H264, Mpeg2 but not for anything else.

The TMT5 codec generally is excellent and support hardware acceleration.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by jmv

Activated the TMT 5 codecs. With limited testing works well for MPEG 2 DVD, and some of the .mkv files. I haven't figured out if it is some VC1's, some X264's or both, but with most of the HD .mkv's, the bottom 25%-50% of the video is garbeled and the top portion is clear. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong. I did not install TMT 5 on this PC, I only copied them over from another PC I had it installed on and ran the reg command, then selected the Arc Soft filter for MPEG2, VC1, H264. I tried both EVR and Direct both exhibit the issue.

The sage splitter is causing that. Disable it and it will stop. It does the same with .mov's too. .m2ts files use a different splitter than .mkv. I'd be willing to bet that a .m2ts file won't have that issue.

[jmv]

I'll give that a shot...do I need to install some other splitter, or do I just disable the sageTV splitter and it will be happy?...well I gave it a shot...searched the registry for the sagedemux and replaced a 1 with a 0...and it broke everything...just was getting errors in sageTV playback for DVD, AVC, normal TV and mkv's too!...so evidently I did something wrong

[sflamm]

it is a property - you can disable in sagetv.properties

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by sflamm

it is a property - you can disable in sagetv.properties

No, I'm pretty sure it has to be disabled in the registry. The problem is he probably didn't have another capable splitter to use. Might try Haali.

[sflamm]

Now that you mention it that rings a bell.


Keep in mind no reboot is necessary - simple restart of SageTV is all that is required.

I use / have Haali installed.

[jmv]

Just chiming back in...after installing Haali SageTV starting working with the Arcsoft decoders. This is on a Windows Server 2008 R2 setup with all the Workstation tweaks to turn on Aero, install directX, etc. Thank you very much I haven't had playback on this system of anything other than TV and DVD for 3 years, so everyone is now very happy they can access our blu-ray library also!

[dcardellini]

Wow...it works. Thanks all for the support here.

I now have smooth DXVA playback of VC-1 in mkv container with non-commercial codecs!!

Just as a quick summary:

1. Downloaded MPC-HC Stand Alone Decoders, 32-bit (I have Win7 x64).

2. Copied the codec MPCVideoDec.ax file to a new directory I created on my OS drive ( C:\CODECS )

3. Opened a command prompt window (right click "as administrator") and changed directory to C:\CODECS

4. Register codec with: "regsvr32.exe mpcvideodec.ax" command. You should get a success message.

5. Open Regedit and modify from "1" to "0":

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Frey Technologies\Common\DirectShow]
"EnableSageTVStreamDemux"

(this was on the 785g system.....on the Intel Sandybridge, "EnableSageTVStreamDemux" was in a different place. In Regedit do a "find" for EnableSageTVStreamDemux, change it form "1" to "0" and do a "Find Next" to check that all instances have changed)

6. Download and install Haali Splitter...use default install settings.

7. In Sagetv7, detailed setup Video/Audio, choose MPC Decoder (list all codecs) for VC-1 playback.


p.s. this also works great on my older ATI 785g motherboards with iGPU!

[dcardellini]

OK....like a good HTPC'er, I now realize I am not completely happy.

Now want to play M2TS files from ripped BR Folders directly from Sagetv.

Not clear from the above posts..... is this basically a choice between playing either mkv vc-1 (EnableSageTVStreamDemux = 0), or being able to play m2ts files with EnableSageTVStreamDemux =1 )

I can't have both? Or can I get there, have it all, with the TMT5 codecs?

Again, thx in advance.

[Kirby]

Originally Posted by dcardellini

OK....like a good HTPC'er, I now realize I am not completely happy.

Now want to play M2TS files from ripped BR Folders directly from Sagetv.

Not clear from the above posts..... is this basically a choice between playing either mkv vc-1 (EnableSageTVStreamDemux = 0), or being able to play m2ts files with EnableSageTVStreamDemux =1 )

I can't have both? Or can I get there, have it all, with the TMT5 codecs?

Again, thx in advance.

If someone can tell me how to play my Avatar BD rip (BDMV structure) inside sage, that would be great, with correct subtitles (color and font) and HD audio. However I have never been able to make that title work. almost all my others play fine. not avatar. Thus I use the awesome external player plugin!

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by dcardellini

OK....like a good HTPC'er, I now realize I am not completely happy.

Now want to play M2TS files from ripped BR Folders directly from Sagetv.

Not clear from the above posts..... is this basically a choice between playing either mkv vc-1 (EnableSageTVStreamDemux = 0), or being able to play m2ts files with EnableSageTVStreamDemux =1 )

I can't have both? Or can I get there, have it all, with the TMT5 codecs?

Again, thx in advance.

I can play M2TS H264 files fine with EnableSageTVStreamDemux = 0. I cannot play VC-1 M2TS (lots of studders) since you do NOT actually disable the SageTV splitter on M2TS files. EnableSageTVStreamDemux = 0 is ignored for M2TS files.

[dcardellini]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

I can play M2TS H264 files fine with EnableSageTVStreamDemux = 0. I cannot play VC-1 M2TS (lots of studders) since you do NOT actually disable the SageTV splitter on M2TS files. EnableSageTVStreamDemux = 0 is ignored for M2TS files.

OK..... so there is a way to get M2TS going, just not smooth VC-1 encoded ones. So I must have something setup wrong, because I get an error if within Sagetv I browse local files, go to my bluray drive, pick an M2TS and try to play. Would I be better off ripping it to a folder? Any other thoughts on how I must be mangling this?

Originally Posted by Kirby

If someone can tell me how to play my Avatar BD rip (BDMV structure) inside sage, that would be great, with correct subtitles (color and font) and HD audio. However I have never been able to make that title work. almost all my others play fine. not avatar. Thus I use the awesome external player plugin!

I did load TMT5 and now use Fuzzy's great plugin! I could live with TMT5 for all bluray content. Using this plugin seems great for popping a BR disc in drive, launching TMT from Sagetv and enjoying.

But what do you do (Fuzzy) for ripped BR stuff? Do you launch TMT, then navigate thru TMT5' "Open file" to browse your content?

I really would like to navigate thru Sagetv's database with rich metadata, and launch on my choice of movie. Am I missing something here?

thx again in advance!

[Fuzzy]

My plugin will launch TMT5 for any bluray content, either inserted disc, or library. So I just rip the BD to a folder, and watch them in TMT5.. no interacting with TMT other than the actual playback/menu controls.