What Decoders will work with Sage?

[srothwell]

With all the stuttering problems with Sage (especially 2.1 and 2.23) I decided to install Cyberlink's PowerDVD to try to use its MPEG decoder to see if maybe the stuttering had something to with Intervideo.

The decoder shows up as Cyberlink Video/SP decoder.

When I try to use it I get the error:

There was an error in Playback. Details:
sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x80040217): There was a problem
rendering the video portion of the content for playback.


Anyone have an idea what's going on here? The new Sage decoder locks up the PC and this one won't play at all.

Stacy

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by srothwell

With all the stuttering problems with Sage (especially 2.1 and 2.23) I decided to install Cyberlink's PowerDVD to try to use its MPEG decoder to see if maybe the stuttering had something to with Intervideo.

The decoder shows up as Cyberlink Video/SP decoder.

When I try to use it I get the error:

There was an error in Playback. Details:
sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x80040217): There was a problem
rendering the video portion of the content for playback.


Anyone have an idea what's going on here? The new Sage decoder locks up the PC and this one won't play at all.

Stacy

Intervideo, Cyberlink, Sonic, NVidia (and one other I forget which) decoders all installed and all work on my HTPC Client so don't believe it's a Sage issue per se'. (Currently running Sagev2.1.10.) Can you record and playback the file in WMM or other app ok? Are you trying VMR9 or Overlay in Sage? I couldn't lick the stuttering using VMR9 until recently when I pulled my ATI Radeon 9600 and replaced it with MSI GeForce 6600GT AGP. VMR9 now smooth as silk, 5 or 6hrs watched since installing a couple days ago and not a single stutter.

[nielm]

0x80040217 == 'CANNOT CONNECT'
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...ccesscodes.asp)

Basically Sage could not get the decoder to connect to the renderer...

Some decoders don't like rendering to VMR9 (IIRC PowerDVD XP V4 is one of them)

Some grafics cards only have hardware MPEG2 accelleration for Overlay or VMR7 renderer, so if the decoder has hardware acelleration enabled, you will not only be able to render to VMR9.

Some decoders only support certain Mpeg DXVA modes...

Some Graphics card drivers (mine) have bugs which means that sometimes connections are refused and you need to reboot or restart Sage to fix it.

So as always... the answer is 'it depends' on your Sage settings, decoder settings, hardware etc...

(Offtopic... why is Windows' Video subsystem so 'bleeding edge' -- they have had years to get it stable!?!)

[mayamaniac]

Recently reinstall WinXP-SP2 on my laptop and now having same problems with the nvidia decoder and cyberlink one with both SageTV Client 2.1 and 2.2.x beta. I downloaded the latest version from the nvidia site and using powerdvd 5. Both decoders show the same playback error message mentioned in the first post of this thread. The Default decoder works along with the new SageTV decoder in 2.2.x. Also the Elecard decoder works too. Just the nvidia and cyberlink ones don't. I might install the old nvidia DVD player to see if that old nvidia decoder will work. Tried all different settings, VMR9/overlay/DXVA A,B,D,C/Bob,Weave, etc. Nothing seems to get it to work. Anyone has any ideas whats going on?

[jonmills]

Originally Posted by srothwell

With all the stuttering problems with Sage (especially 2.1 and 2.23) I decided to install Cyberlink's PowerDVD to try to use its MPEG decoder to see if maybe the stuttering had something to with Intervideo.

The decoder shows up as Cyberlink Video/SP decoder.

When I try to use it I get the error:

There was an error in Playback. Details:
sage.PlaybackException: ERROR (-4,0x80040217): There was a problem
rendering the video portion of the content for playback.


Anyone have an idea what's going on here? The new Sage decoder locks up the PC and this one won't play at all.

Stacy

I've experienced your problem. I solved it by doing the following: for regular LiveTV viewing, I use VMR9 in combination with the InterVideo nonCSS decoder from Hauppauge. But for DVD playback, I use the CyberLink decoder with Video Overlay instead of VMR9. In case you're wondering, I'm running WinXP Pro (SP2) with DirectX 9.0c with an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 on an Athlon XP 1800 MHz with 512 MB of RAM. This seems to work very well, very reliable. For the audio, use the audio decoder that matches the video decoder (there's a CyberLink audio decoder and an Intervideo audio decoder). I keep hearing people talk about the wonderful nVidia Decoders, but I've never gotten them to work in Sage under any circumstances.

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by jonmills

I've experienced your problem. I solved it by doing the following: for regular LiveTV viewing, I use VMR9 in combination with the InterVideo nonCSS decoder from Hauppauge. But for DVD playback, I use the CyberLink decoder with Video Overlay instead of VMR9. In case you're wondering, I'm running WinXP Pro (SP2) with DirectX 9.0c with an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 on an Athlon XP 1800 MHz with 512 MB of RAM. This seems to work very well, very reliable. For the audio, use the audio decoder that matches the video decoder (there's a CyberLink audio decoder and an Intervideo audio decoder). I keep hearing people talk about the wonderful nVidia Decoders, but I've never gotten them to work in Sage under any circumstances.

I never could get the NVidia decoders to work well with my ATI 9600 VMR9 or Overlay. But then, I never could get any of 5 or 6 decoders I have to work well VRMR9 without some stutter or hangs with my ATI 9600. Since I've switced to MSI GeForce NX6600GT AGP card NVidia decoder works great VMR9 for Sage. (both cards run component output 480p 720x480res.) BTW, I'm using the Cyberlink audio decoder with NVidia direct link renderer paired with NVidia mpeg decoder VMR9 perfect sync.

[kny3twalker]

check out the new beta nvidia drivers just released
they do really well at 720p and are an improvement at 1080i

I actually bumped up the anisotropic filtering and antilaising
and playback is still kicking at 720p

also using cyberlink for audio decoding

[mdmint]

Originally Posted by kny3twalker

check out the new beta nvidia drivers just released
they do really well at 720p and are an improvement at 1080i

I actually bumped up the anisotropic filtering and antilaising
and playback is still kicking at 720p

also using cyberlink for audio decoding

I'd love to try 720p but unfortunately my 3yr old HDTV (almost) "Ready" Toshiba 55HX70 only supports 480p or 1080i component input. Since it's a 4:3 screen and most of what we record is standard screen format 480p seems to work better for me than 1080i. (DVDs I usually still playback on my Denon DVD player)