SAF v4.00 ''stable'' (StandAlone Filters) - DXVA ready (H.264 and VC-1). (8 Viewers)

[akajester]

Hello to the group,

I spent 2 days cleaning my htpc and installing MP 1.0. (from 0.2.2!!!, doing a good job for nearly a year). 1.5 days for cleaning and 0.5 days for installation.
The installation procedure (my first time use of the TV server!) is very good and extremely simple. Great work!!!

I followed exactly Hoborg's guide (it was a nightmare having my ffdshow uninstalled, because the directshow filters were not correct deregistered, don't know why). Did everything mentioned, except the CLVsd.ax is version 8, but not the very latest release as saf3.15 reported. It is the one, that comes with Terratec Home Cinema software (latest version), which is working well on my son's pc with DXVA enabled (Win XP, P805d, 2.6 GHz, ATI X600, ATI 8.10???, Terratec DVBS USB).

Used ATI driver: 8.5., Haali Media Splitter, saf 3.15, MP 1.0.

The first look on the new MP shows again, that the developers have done a GREAT JOB!!! Channel switching is faster than in ver. 0.2.2

2 main issues:

When switching to Cybelink codec, screen is still dark, sound ok. As PowerDVD is no longer installed, how to disable DXVA in MP 1.0 ???
GraphEdit showed, that the Cyberlink codec is used.

When switching back from a HD channel (dark screen) the SD channel also is dark, both have sound. I have to stop live TV in order to get sd channels working again.

2 minor issues:

I exported my channel list in order to configure WEBEPG but the log reports an error while reading the channel list. I did it as described in "the dummies guide to WebEPG". When selecting "MediaPortal" in the combobox nothing happens, selecting "TVserver" the error occurs. It seems a xsd, dtd or so is missing to read the channel list correctly.

MP client hangs after direct start of live tv. When first stepping into "programs", waiting for the list to occur and then selecting a channel everything works fine.

WMP 11 is playing dvr-ms but some tests are still outstanding to have more information.

Please, can anyone help?

Also, I need to know which codecs are really missing? (ffdshow, I think, for automatically switching to AC3, having a Yamaha 5.1 sytem connected via SPDIF coax)

eku60

I'm not sure about all your issues, but I always start from a scratch install of winxp when I install MP. If you don't and you have or had other codecs installed, it can screw with things. For instance, just having the zune software installed on my htpc messed up my codecs. Others have reported nero, powerdvd, windvd, etc. So, I would start with a fresh install of windows, make a backup of the pc and go from there. Regarding spdif and ac3, this is all supported by MPA, which is included in the SAF package. I've also used ac3filter in conjunction with SAF, but I don't believe it's necessary.

Regarding Webepg, this isn't really the place to ask. However, I happen to be following such a thread and I could never get Webepg to work (of course that's in the USA). Check out an alternate plugin and instructions here; https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...ome-here-support-5231/index43.html#post339085

I would also recommend filling in your "My System" specs so we can see what you're running.

Good luck!

 

[eku60]

Hello Akajester,

thanks for the reply.

For the (minor) WebEPG issues, there exists a new WebEPG-Config.exe which seems to be able to work together with the TVserver. Some other threads gave some good hints. It was not so easy to gather all the information. I was using WebEPG for more than a year now (doing a upload every saturday morning for seven days). This worked well for me, whereas SatEPG produced problems in 0.2.2. I will install it this evening and do some tests.

For my other problems I found in the forum, that the MPC decoder is not working with liveTV, so I have to install another codec, a solution.

The main problem is, that I do not know how to get DXVA working in SD - mode. That's important for me to reduce CPU usage.

Also, I do not know how to disable DXVA as I don't have PowerDVD installed anymore. I didn't find where to enable/disable DXVA in MP config. Some talked about a checkbox. Where is it in MP 1.0?.

So Hoborg's saf 3.15 did'not really help me, but gave a good reason to clear all that codec stuff. Radlight Filter Manager and DecCheck were showing, what I expected afterwards. WMP 11 is able to play the TV server installation avi files, after the Cyberlink codec was installed.

My system (I will update my profile soon, sorry):

Gigabyte GA-915G-MF,
P4 3.00 Ghz (Prescott, don't need heating the living room any more),
2 DVB-S cards TwinHan 1020 (driver 1.2.3.8, latest) and Terratec cinergy 1200 DVB-S (4.8.3.18, latest driver also),
2 quad LNBs with a Spaun switch.
Case is a Antec Aria, with a seperate fanless power supply outside
VGA ATI X300 (passive cooling) with 256MB (instead of onboard Intel VGA)
Sound Realtek HD onboard, SPDIF (coax) out, connected to a yamaha 5.1 system
Remote is the one from TwinHan used in conjunction with a small program, to use the start button (TwinhanDTV.exe is emulated).
TV is a Phillips FlaTV 32fp??? LCD (1366*768), HD Ready. No other monitor connected.


Regards
eku60

 

[hoborg]

For my other problems I found in the forum, that the MPC decoder is not working with liveTV, so I have to install another codec, a solution.

The main problem is, that I do not know how to get DXVA working in SD - mode. That's important for me to reduce CPU usage.

Also, I do not know how to disable DXVA as I don't have PowerDVD installed anymore. I didn't find where to enable/disable DXVA in MP config. Some talked about a checkbox. Where is it in MP 1.0?.

So Hoborg's saf 3.15 did'not really help me, but gave a good reason to clear all that codec stuff. Radlight Filter Manager and DecCheck were showing, what I expected afterwards. WMP 11 is able to play the TV server installation avi files, after the Cyberlink codec was installed.

Hello.
I am not sure if i understand you correctly.
First of all, SAF + CLVsd.ax addon + catalyst 8.5 (XP) make SD Live TV working perfectly with DXVA enabled.
Only problem is with HD channals, but i believe it is MP TS reader problem.

HD channels are using H.264 compresion, SD are based on MPEG2 (like DVD's), and you need different decoder for each one.

I have no acess to HD chanels, so i cannot do any test and add some support to SAF.

I believe that MP team decide to modify TS reader to wotk with MPC-HC filter one day, so there will be no problem with HD chanels at all.

 

[edterbak]

Hi Hoborg,

I don't know how codec things work internally. But I do have a question about it. (Just out of interest)
I am now using a manually registered MPCVideoDec.ax as H.264 decoder in MP. I also tried this in KMPlayer. It works very well with KMPlayer. I seem to be getting DXVA working with and without subtitles in that player. But what I am wondering, what is the difference between playback in MP and in KMPLayer. What is the cause DXVA won't work with MP in combination with subtitles, while it does work within KMPlayer?


BTW, To continue on an other thing. I tried the latest SAF from you. The installation works nicely and all is clear. I do however have a problem where MKV + subtitles wont play at all. once I remove the .srt file from the folder, the MKV file plays perfectly. So I think I did something wrong somewhere...

Also, to be able to play any MKV or WMV (H.264/VC1) file, I need to untick "H.264/AVC (FFmpeg)" and "VC1 (FFmpeg)" from the list. If I don't, none will play.

I use ATI HD 4350 + ATI CCC 8.12 + Windows XP(SP3)

For the time being, I went back to a manually registered MPC codec.
Things I have installed is: CoreAVC + PowerDVD + HaliMediaplitter. Nothing else (ever).

 

[hoborg]

Hi Hoborg,

I don't know how codec things work internally. But I do have a question about it. (Just out of interest)
I am now using a manually registered MPCVideoDec.ax as H.264 decoder in MP. I also tried this in KMPlayer. It works very well with KMPlayer. I seem to be getting DXVA working with and without subtitles in that player. But what I am wondering, what is the difference between playback in MP and in KMPLayer. What is the cause DXVA won't work with MP in combination with subtitles, while it does work within KMPlayer?


BTW, To continue on an other thing. I tried the latest SAF from you. The installation works nicely and all is clear. I do however have a problem where MKV + subtitles wont play at all. once I remove the .srt file from the folder, the MKV file plays perfectly. So I think I did something wrong somewhere...

Also, to be able to play any MKV or WMV (H.264/VC1) file, I need to untick "H.264/AVC (FFmpeg)" and "VC1 (FFmpeg)" from the list. If I don't, none will play.

I use ATI HD 4350 + ATI CCC 8.12 + Windows XP(SP3)

For the time being, I went back to a manually registered MPC codec.
Things I have installed is: CoreAVC + PowerDVD + HaliMediaplitter. Nothing else (ever).

Hello.
MPC-HC filter needs direct connection to renderer for DXVA. If you put directvobsub(subtitles) between them, DXVA cannot be used.

MKV+external subtitles are not possible in MP - this is not supported by MP (yet). You need to put them inside MKV. It is just few mouse click in MKV merge - read first page of this thread for more info.

About disabling software rendering (FFmpeg) - i never try it, there was no reason for that - you are first one who reported such problem... Didn't this broke h.264/VC1 video + subtitles?

If you have installed PowerDVD, i believe this will mess your system a lot... You only need one file from PowerDVD. Make sure by graphstudio that MPC-HC are realy in use when playing H.264/VC-1 video.

BTW- cat.8.12 (XP) have broken hardware MPEG2 deinterlacing (DVD's, Live SD TV), so if you want best picture quality, try cat.8.5.

 

[eku60]

DXVA - Problems

Hello,

I can put a "fixed" icon on some probs. Thanks for the group's help.

I found a solution for WebEPG.

akajester
There is a nother thread with a newer WebEPG-Config.exe, which is able to work together with the TV server. This one reads from the database.
So I will use it as before, which worked well, and I think it is better than using EPG-data from DVB-S, because I don't know how much this "loading" will work against channel switching mechanism.

hoborg
I added a registry entry to "HKLM/software/Cyberlink/...CLVSD/: Reg_dword: EnableVMR: 0x000001. There was already an entry EnableVMR9: 0x000001
I found this in another thread here, some time ago.
Then I called ATI Control Center, unchecked/checked "use Hardware acceleration" and saved the settings.
Then switched to Cyberlink decoder in MP config and opened MP -> live TV and had video and sound. CPU usage below 11%.
Opened graphstudio and could verify, DXVA is enabled.
Don't know if you can receive from ASTRA 19.2 sat, but there are some FTA HD channels for testing


By the way my CLVsd.ax is 8.2.28xx (the newer one saf3.15 reported would be 8.2.29xx) and it has "(Terratec)" added to its shown name (Interesting, Terratec might have bought the right to deliver the codec with their own software) Will have a look, whether or not they also do so with a h.264 codec.


Still left are the problems

MP client freezes some times when starting liveTV. On first time start (after booting the PC) of liveTV MP client hangs, CPU usage nearly 0%, have to kill it in task manager. Then calling it again, opening liveTV -> programs, waiting for the epg-lists, when showing, clicking a tv show and tv starts.
Once started, it works and channel switching also. The pc is client and server for MP.

After having selected a HD channel and switching back to a SD channel, screen is dark, have to restart liveTV to make it work again.


These problems are not so important and one can avoid the second one by deleting HD channels or buying a h.264 codec, but it's boring, because MP is used by the whole familiy and they are no IT professionals.

Nevertheless MediaPortal is the only software we use for liveTV (90%), videos, DVDs (music and video) and pictures, and weather, very seldom for radio. And it is a really good piece of software.

Regards,
eku60

 

[RandyKC]

After installing the package, I am seeing the following error when trying to start Slingplayer outside of MediaPortal...

You must install Windows Media decoders prior to using SlingPlayer. Please run Windows Media Player or download the decoders.

(Context: 0, Operation: 0, Error: 0x9234015F)

If I uninstall the package, then I can successfully launch SlingPlayer and connect to my remote Sling box. Anyone else see this or know what the cause could be?

 

[MetalKiller]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for this nice package and all the info.
I have an ATI 4850 and I was using Catalyst 8.12 and now I am trying to install Catalyst 8.5 but there is no way because I receive a message "No compatible hardware found"

My PC is running:
ATI Gigabyte HD 4850
Windows XP Pro (SP3)
Intel Dual Core 3.0 Mhz

Any suggestion?

Thanks a lot in advance and happy new year ;-)

 

[edterbak]

I think ATI 4850 are only supported from 8.11 or something. I have the same issue with my 4350. ATI CCC 8.12 give me the best results though. I don't think there is any way around it.

 

[eku60]

Naviagtor checkbox in MP Configuraton is empty

Hello,

after having nearly all problems solved or an answer is given, I found one new problem:

The checkbox "Navigator" in MP config-> DVD -> DVD codecs is empty. What is missing?
Playing DVD's in WMP 11 is not possible too, an error message occurs.

I only did follow Hoborg's instructions and installed nothing else.

Which free codec should I use for x264? Any ideas?

Here's the error.log

2008-12-30 22:00:48.875000 [ERROR][MPMain]: d3dapp: An error occured in OnResize - Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt.
2008-12-30 22:01:06.828125 [ERROR][MPMain]: DVDPlayer:Unable getinterfaces()
2008-12-30 22:01:06.921875 [ERROR][MPMain]: PlaylistPlayer: *** unable to play - D:\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO - skipping track!
2008-12-30 22:01:13.843750 [ERROR][MPMain]: DVDPlayer:Unable getinterfaces()
2008-12-30 22:01:13.843750 [ERROR][MPMain]: g_Player.PlayDVD():failed to play
2008-12-30 22:01:13.968750 [ERROR][MPMain]: No translation found for id -1
2008-12-30 22:02:05.234375 [ERROR][MPMain]: Could not open directory 'D:\'. Error: Das Gerät ist nicht bereit.

2008-12-30 22:02:05.375000 [ERROR][MPMain]: Could not open directory 'D:\'. Error: Das Gerät ist nicht bereit.

2008-12-30 22:02:12.250000 [ERROR][MPMain]: Could not open directory 'D:\'. Error: Das Gerät ist nicht bereit.

2008-12-30 22:02:12.328125 [ERROR][MPMain]: Could not open directory 'D:\'. Error: Das Gerät ist nicht bereit.

2008-12-30 22:02:38.468750 [ERROR][MPMain]: Could not open directory 'D:\'. Error: Das Gerät ist nicht bereit.

2008-12-30 22:02:38.468750 [ERROR][MPMain]: Could not open directory 'D:\'. Error: Das Gerät ist nicht bereit.

2008-12-30 22:03:03.375000 [ERROR][MPMain]: OnMessage exceptionystem.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Der Index lag außerhalb des Bereichs. Er muss nicht negativ und kleiner als die Auflistung sein.
Parametername: index
bei System.Collections.ArrayList.get_Item(Int32 index)
bei WindowPlugins.GUISettings.TV.GUISettingsDVD.OnDVDNavigator()
bei WindowPlugins.GUISettings.TV.GUISettingsDVD.OnClicked(Int32 controlId, GUIControl control, ActionType actionType)
bei MediaPortal.GUI.Library.GUIWindow.OnMessage(GUIMessage message)


Regards
eku60