Problem using the PowerDVD 8 h.264 codec in MediaPortal 1.0 under XP and Vista (1 Viewer)

[mm1352000]

TV-Server Version: 1.0
MediaPortal Version: 1.0 (standalone install)
MediaPortal Skin: default (blue 2?)
Windows Version: XP Pro SP3, Vista Ultimate SP1 x64
CPU Type: Intel Core 2 e6600 2.4GHz
HDD: 4x750G + 640G + 160G in a variety of RAID 0, 1, and standalone configs.
Memory: 4x1G
Motherboard: Asus p5w dh deluxe
Video Card: Sapphire HD 4670
Video Card Driver: 9.1
Sound Card: Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 zs platinum (using this one), Onboard Realtek ALC882M, Graphics card: Realtek HDMI audio
Sound Card AC3: (as above)
Sound Card Driver: (latest)
1. TV Card: Digitalnow quattro s-t (Philips/NXP saa7162)
1. TV Card Type: dual dvb-s, dual hybrid dvb-t/analog
1. TV Card Driver: (latest)
(no other cards)
MPEG2 Video Codec: cyberlink powerDVD 8 ultra
MPEG2 Audio Codec: cyberlink powerDVD 8 ultra
h.264 Video Codec: cyberlink powerDVD 8 ultra
Satelite/CableTV Provider: (fta/none)
HTPC Case: full atx
Cooling: air - thermalright ultra 120 extreme (passive) and 7 fans
Power Supply: 850w
Remote: (none)
TV: hp lp2475w
TV - HTPC Connection: dvi

Now that all that is out of the way I can get on to the actual problem! You can pretty much ignore the specs as I am reasonably certain of what is causing my problem (I have looked at my error logs)... I just don't know what to do to fix it

Background: I am trying to watch freeview h.264 he-aac signals in NZ. I just upgraded my video card from a 6600GT to an HD4670 and bought powerdvd 8 ultra to get hardware accelerated h.264 decoding working. After installing hardware and software as administrator (note: I did NOT do a clean install) and upgrading from mediaportal 1 rc2 to 1.0, I hit the following problems:

1. h.264 powerDVD codec DOES appear in mediaportal config in the <b>XP</b> install. However it doesn't work when I try to use it to watch tv; I hear audio but get no picture. Error logs report:

"2009-02-18 21:07:25.046875 [ERROR][MPMain]: failed filter:CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder not found CyberLink H.264/AVC Decoder
2009-02-18 21:07:35.968750 [ERROR][MPMain]: d3dapp: An error occured in OnResize - Object reference not set to an instance of an object."

I'm a software engineer, so I can make an educated guess and say that the first error is the cause/description of my problem.

2. h.264 powerDVD codec does NOT appear in mediaportal config in the <b>Vista</b> install.

===================================================
What have I done to try to solve the problems? (I've performed all these steps in various combinations multiple times -> no change)
1. I tried reinstalling powerdvd (in default and custom directories).
2. I tried manually re-registering the codec.
3. Uninstalled my media software codec soup which includes k-lite mega (ffdshow, gabest, haali, divx, coreaac, ac3 etc.), powerdvd 6, windvd 4, dntv live!, twinhan digitaltv, coreavc.
4. Cleaned up my registry manually as best as I could.

===================================================
Further information:
1. I have been using mediaportal for a couple of years (0.2.3, 1 rc2). It has worked fine until now (ie. not a hardware problem).
2. Powerdvd can play mediaportal recordings in both XP and Vista with hardware acceleration working.
3. I can use mediaportal to watch tv using the coreavc codec. This works flawlessly.
4. Under XP: I can use mediaportal and the pdvd codec to record tv. Live viewing shows black screen as described. Playback of the recording in pdvd is flawless with hardware acceleration.
5. Under XP AND Vista: I can see the pdvd mpeg2 video and audio codecs under config. These can be used to watch mpeg2 dvb-s broadcasts. Flawless performance. To be clear: as it relates to problem 2, I see the mpeg 2 and audio codecs, but not the h.264 one on the config screen.
6. I have tried to use graphedt to capture the powerdvd and mediaportal graphs, but graphedt can't connect to either (it doesn't see them). Graphedt fails with an error when I attempt to manually set up a graph using the cyberlink h.264 codec - it says resources are may be in use.

Someone has suggested I do clean installs. This is a last resort for me! Ideally I would love to solve these issues without having to do that - it would take hours!

Regards

mm1352000

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/offtopic-57/powerdvd-8-ultra-build-2521-update-53997/

Might answer your question.

 

[mm1352000]

Thank you sooooo much!

Hey thanks for the quick response Paranoid Delusion. My build is definitely the 2521 build that the other thread talks about (it is listed in the file name). Symptoms seem to match. I guess I'll either wait for an update that solves the problem, or download an older build from somewhere...

Thanks once again

 

[crazyfool]

if u cant get it working you could try and install the MPC-HC codec which i believe decodes h.264 and can use dxva... https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...va-working-mp1-0-0-0-mpc-hc-standalone-54671/ ... and its free

 

[kiwijunglist]

MPC-HC codec wont work for NZ DVB-T Freeview H264 HDTV.
I suggest stick with XP, and do a reformat and only install these 3 codecs/programs -> PDVD8 + Halli + Manual register MPCVideoDec.ax (From MPCHC) + Whatever codecs are including in the MP1.0 installation. Also disable auto downloading of codecs in WMP11. Set live TV to use PDVD8 H264 and video to use MPCVideoDec

 

[mm1352000]

Hey there Kiwijunglist

Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge
One of the things that had been bothering me up until now was how a lot of people on these forums were saying that MPC-HC's codec would work really well with MediaPortal, and how you could use it to get hardware acceleration for free. Well I was frustrated because I had tried it on both xp and vista and failed both times with black video and no audio. Now I know why

I now have the PowerDVD codec doing hardware acceleration under XP. Was a bit of a struggle I must say! Both my original video card driver (catalyst 9.1) and my build of PowerDVD (2521) were causing problems. That took awhile to figure that out as might be expected, but once I rolled back to 8.12 and 2217 I was away laughing. Still got problems with Vista - appears to be independent of Aero, VMR/EVR, and catalyst version. When using PowerDVD 8.0.2217 I get stuttery video, but something is still badly wrong. I've heard reports of 4*** series ATI graphics cards having trouble with hardware acceleration under vista, but no confirmation yet. I have the luxury of plenty of hdd space and a little time, so I'll be doing a couple of clean installs of Vista on a new partition to check whether 32bit or 64bit makes a difference. Other than that I'm stumped so I have no choice but to stick with good ol' XP.

Thanks once again...

 

[kiwijunglist]

Yeah it seems that for XP 8.12 is best for XP (Altho it means DXVA of MPEG2 is broken <- i've read this, but i don't think it really matters much, i think you need either 8.5 or 8.6 for DXVA of MPEG2 - however if using 8.5/8.6 then freeview doesnt work with DXVA) . I've read that 9.1 & 9.2 break DXVA X264 in XP.