SageTV Mpeg 2 Decoder (Deselected it.) How do I get it back?

[wayloncovil]

My Mpeg2 Video Decoder Filter was showing
SageTV Mpeg2 Decoder.
Unfortunately, I clicked the Default radio button and now it says Default.
I did a search but couldn't find the SageTV Mpeg2 Decoder in the list any longer.
How do I get the decoder back to the SageTV Mpeg 2 Decoder?
Thanks!

[Fuzzy]

If this is a v9 install without v7 previously installed, you don't HAVE the SageTV Mpeg2 Decoder. It is no longer bundled with sage, but unfortunately is still setup as the default decoder when sage is first run. So it will still show it as being selected, but is not actually there, so will not be presented as an option.

So if it is still set to use it, Sage will attempt to build the playback graph, and will fail, and retry letting DirectShow pick the 'best' decoder to use (typically, this would be the Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder, unless you've installed something else.

[Zogg]

This has been a mystery for me too. Thanks for explaining.

[wayloncovil]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

you don't HAVE the SageTV Mpeg2 Decoder

Fuzzy,
Thank you. Yep. Clean V9 install - no upgrade.
Currently have LAV decoders and the Microsoft decoder.
Any plan in the future to sell the Sage decoders?
Any recommendations on anything "better" than LAV or Microsoft? Kinda like to have CC work.
Thanks again!
-Waylon.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by wayloncovil

Fuzzy,
Thank you. Yep. Clean V9 install - no upgrade.
Currently have LAV decoders and the Microsoft decoder.
Any plan in the future to sell the Sage decoders?
Any recommendations on anything "better" than LAV or Microsoft? Kinda like to have CC work.
Thanks again!
-Waylon.

No, I seriously doubt you will see mainconcept decoders for sale. There are just better options out there for free. FWIW, you can still install v7, then v9 on top of it, and you'd have the sagetv decoders if you choose - but that technically would only be within license if you are a previous owner of v7.

[Zogg]

I recently went through an exercise to get CC working, and went through a number of codecs. More detail is in another thread, but your best option is to get the ATI AVIVO codec. It seems to be the only one that is free and will show CCs.

[wayloncovil]

Last night I played around with the Mpeg 2 codecs I have on my computer to see if I could detect a difference. I played an episode of The Flash which seems to be particularly tricky with regard to deinterlacing.
I have the LAV Filters, Elecard, Microsoft DTV-DVD Codec & I installed the trial Nvidia PureVideo decoder.
The Nvidia decoder looked the best to me with regard to interlace handling.
It looked like only the Elecard and the LAV filters supported Closed Caption.
I took a look on the web and noticed that Corel (WinDVD) and Cyberlink (PowerDVD) have decoders available but didn't notice if there were trials available.
It looks like Mainconcept has their decoders available in a trial. It's $50 for the codecs, though.
I was impressed with the Nvidia decoder. My concern is that the website says it's from 10 years ago and it doesn't support closed caption so I'm concerned about support especially if I'm going to pay at least $20 for a decoder. ($50 if you want their Platinum decoder.)
I did find this list on Wikipedia which looks interesting.
I would think that there are people out there who know how to evaluate different codecs and compare them based on certain criteria such as deinterlacing.
This topic seems to be revisited fairly often and it would be nice to have a reliable reference.
I think we like free stuff but for better quality, some people would be willing to spend money.

[Fuzzy]

I think these days more and more people are using hardware clients like the HDx00s, and now the android tv boxes (Shield, Mi, etc), instead of windows based ones.

[ranger]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I think these days more and more people are using hardware clients like the HDx00s, and now the android tv boxes (Shield, Mi, etc), instead of windows based ones.

but... "more and more" does not cover "all". There is still a Windows user base simply because you can get inexpensive PCs (<$200) to act as clients and still have the flexibility of a PC. I have found the LAV filters to work great, especially if the video chipset is supported (Intel, nVidia).

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by ranger

but... "more and more" does not cover "all". There is still a Windows user base simply because you can get inexpensive PCs (<$200) to act as clients and still have the flexibility of a PC. I have found the LAV filters to work great, especially if the video chipset is supported (Intel, nVidia).

I was not in any way dissuading the use of windows pc's for clients - simply explaining why there aren't any recent discussion of codecs here on the forums.