Nvidia decoder help needed

[jsmcwilliams]

I am new to the HTPC and DVR worlds and am using the trial of Sage. I am quite impressed with it but have one issue - I cannot get the Nvidia decoders to work.

I have checked the forums and none of the threads address my issue - at least that I have found...

I have an older Athlon 2000+, 512Mb, XP Pro, Nvidia 5200 128M card, Happauge 150.

Sage works like a charm with no problems using the Sage decoders or using Intervideo decoders already installed via WinDVD. I purchased the Nvidia drivers with the 150 card from PCAlchemy - the Nvidia DVD says it is for WinMCE. After installing I switched Sage to the NV decoders and get the playback error that says "problem rendering video portion..." I have tried all the various combinations of the settings under Detailed Settings Video/Audio and DVD.

I am guessing that either I am missing a checkbox in Sage somewhere or the MCE version of the Nvidia decoders won't work for XP Pro.

Any help would be appriciated!

[jsmcwilliams]

I tried using the Nvidia decoders in Windows Media Player 10 following Nvidia's install directions. Couldn't get video to play either via file or DVD. So my Nvidia issue is an installation issue - not a Sage issue.

I installed the demo of TheaterTek since it uses the Nvidia decoder - now Sage and Media Player work fine with the Nvidia decoder.

I know it is a noob question, but can someone tell me why TheaterTek would fix this? Is there a software layer required between the decoder and the Sage/Media Player?

Thanks.

[Commodore 64]

I use the TheaterTek decoders and do not have problems playing back anything in Mpeg 2. However, if I play live TV or watch anythign Mpeg2, then SageTV "forgets" something regarding playback of non Mpeg2 stuff (Xvid, Divx, h264). What forgets is sound. I get no sound with my .avi or .mkv files. I have to exit Sage and restart the program. After that, everything is fine until I watch something with the nV Decoders.

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by jsmcwilliams

I have an older Athlon 2000+, 512Mb, XP Pro, Nvidia 5200 128M card, Happauge 150.

It may be that your 5200 card doesn't support the Pure Video decoders

Originally Posted by Nvidia Web Site

Graphics Chips Supported
All Microsoft DirectX® 8.x compatible chips, including:

* NVIDIA GeForce 7 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 6 series
* NVIDIA GeForce FX series
* NVIDIA GeForce4 series
* NVIDIA GeForce 3 series
* NVIDIA Quadro FX series
* NVIDIA Quadro4 series
* NVIDIA Quadro DCC series

Check to see that the TV is the primary monitor. DirectX doesn't like rendering on the secondary monitor.

I also had a problem with my chipset drivers. I could not activate DirectX 3D acceleration before I had updated my motherboard chipset drivers. Afterwards I was able to get VMR9 and PureVideo to work with my 6600GT.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Humanzee

It may be that your 5200 card doesn't support the Pure Video decoders

The 5200 is an FX series.

Sounds like it was a "simple" installation bung-up. Theatertek installs it's own version of the decoders, so it sounds like it's install fixed whatever was broken in the original install.

[jsmcwilliams]

Thanks for the help. As of right now, all is stable. I am assuming that the Nvidia decoders just were not properly installed - will play around with this more soon - but right now I am having to much fun using Sage to record more TV than I can watch in a year!

[Pinan]

Stranger89:

Does it matter what decoder is chosen if you're using a Hauppauge 350, using TV Out? I'd guess not, as switching them around seems to make no difference, as with Overlay, etc.

I would guess that the hardware decoder is doing all of the work?

Thanks.

Happy Holidays.

[stanger89]

Correct

[Pinan]

Cool, thanks. Saves me some green too.

[Al1]

I believe I have a similar issue but not sure I follow / understand the advise here. I am new to this space. Have reviewed a number of these threads.

Sage Trial, new home built PC. All recommended DirectX, Java etc down loaded, was working on WinTV150 out of box. No Sage TV image on Monitor or TV (NVIDIA 5500 clone mode). Error "Playback Exception error ~4,0x0 Problem rendering the video portion for playback.

I have un-installed Sage, and re-installed. No success. My guess is that I have made an install error. Any suggestions would be helpful.

P4 2.8G; 2G; Asus P4P800SE;FX 5500 Nvidia; Wintv 150;

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by Al1

I believe I have a similar issue but not sure I follow / understand the advise here. I am new to this space. Have reviewed a number of these threads.;

Have you tried both overlay and VMR9 (w/ Full Screen Exclusive off)?

Have you tried different AUDIO and Video codecs?

[jsmcwilliams]

I second the above post. Try the different settings for Overlay, Default and VMR9. I was able to reinstall Nvidia drivers and get it to work. But my machine still only will work with VMR9 - any decoder will fail if I set to Overlay mode - still haven't figured out why. I would like to try Overlay since the video looks very dark in VMR9 and some threads have suggested using Overlay instead of VMR9 to resolve this. Still tinkering...

[blade]

Originally Posted by jsmcwilliams

I would like to try Overlay since the video looks very dark in VMR9 and some threads have suggested using Overlay instead of VMR9 to resolve this. Still tinkering...

It sounds like you need to calibrate your display, that's assuming you've already calibrated your capture cards.

[Al1]

Good People - many thanks for the suggestions. I uninstalled SageTV last night, and reinstalled, changed config to single display (no clone), tried default codec, and systematically started changing codecs, rebooting (necessary ?), and re-trying. Discovered I was unable to get the Wintv remote / IR to work. I confess I didn't even notice this was not functional (perhaps too focused ;-)). Ran out of time.

Will continue in a systematic way to isolate problem but I am thinking there is something more fundamental wrong here (I am missing something !). I find the SageTV user interface extremely awkward. Guess I am going to have print and read the manual cover to cover!

Should I remove (un-install) the WinTV apps (non-H/w related, e.g., titian, scheduler etc? ), leaving IR etc.. ?

[jsmcwilliams]

Originally Posted by blade

It sounds like you need to calibrate your display, that's assuming you've already calibrated your capture cards.

Blade - Thanks for the reply!

I have calibrated the display....

I think the problem is the capture card. When I run DVDs or look at my desktop everything is fine. It is only viewing through the capture card that stinks. I am new at this so I don't have the vocab down - but the card seems to mute or collapse all the colors including black and white. So boosting the contrast or brighness controls on the card make it bright enough to watch but do nothing for the crushing or muting that is happening. The background blacks are grey and all the colors are less vibrant - red is still red just witish or greyish red...hard to describe.

I have tried Stanger89s callibration routine but due to noobness have not been able to get it to work...I only get an option for ffshow MPEG4 decoders in Sage not ffshowMPEG2 decoders...

Using my Happauge 150 and Nvidia geforce FX 5200 128MB is there any way to switch to overlay (the 5200 drivers have a way to adjust overlay settings....but adjusting those settings do not change the Sage video at all...I am assuming this is because sage is set to VMR9)?

[jsmcwilliams]

Originally Posted by Al1

Good People - many thanks for the suggestions. I uninstalled SageTV last night...Should I remove (un-install) the WinTV apps (non-H/w related, e.g., titian, scheduler etc? ), leaving IR etc.. ?

Al1 - take my advice with a huge grain of salt ... but I remember reading in one of the threads that dual displays cause all sorts of problems having to do with DirectX or Direct Draw or something (as Humanzee notes above)...so you might try going with only one monitor physically attached and setting Windows to work with only one display, no cloning, etc. (I know my machine auto configures itself for dual display if another monitor is physically attached.) Then try various configs of sage...

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by jsmcwilliams

I have tried Stanger89s callibration routine but due to noobness have not been able to get it to work...I only get an option for ffshow MPEG4 decoders in Sage not ffshowMPEG2 decoders...

I know, it doesn't matter though, you're not using ffdshow to decode. When you specify ffdshow as the decoder, the way stuff works behind the scenes, an mpeg2 decoder will get stuck in where it's needed. Don't let the name stop you.

[Al1]

Good people I really have to thank you all for the ideas, suggestions and most of all, experience. So far I have tried almost all ideas and nothing. SageTV Tech support have asked for some log files - but as I replied, my bold (below) I do not know how to collect these.

> Get me the log files for when you get the error code. To enable
> logging close SageTV and the service if running (---> found how to close service and is done), then open up your
> Sage.properties file in your Frey Technologies or SageTV folder. Add this
> line to the properties file(---> my computer-->c/programs--> SageTV --> Sage -->right click -select properties, but do not know how to place the line into 'properties' - sorry to be so primative): "debug_logging=TRUE" Without the quotes. Then
> run SageTV and recreate the problem. After you recreate it, you can then
> close SageTV. Now look for this file in your Frey Technologies or SageTV
> folder: "sagetv_0.txt" Send me that file. Do not paste the text, but rather
> paste the whole log file. I want it as an attachment. The quicker you can
> reproduce the problem the smaller the log file will be. You can also zip up
> the log file to shrink the size down considerably.

I have replied to Sage Support but their turn around is very slow.
If any one can painlessly explain how to place the line 'debug_logging=TRUE' I would be grateful.

I am seeing inconsistent symptons/issues and behaviour of several aspects. Begining to think i should un-install everything (Sage, Hauppauge, blasters, etc) and start a fresh. Capture card isses noted by williams, and dual/clone all ring tur in my case to some measure. Again - thnaks- and I remain open to ideas Al

[Opus4]

You can edit sage.properties in Notepad (always make a backup copy first, just in case). Make sure that Format -> Word Wrap is NOT checked in Notepad. Then, open sage.properties, simply go the end of some line, hit return, and enter the logging property. Note that TRUE has to be all CAPS, just as it is shown. Save the file & close notepad. When you restart SageTV, it should create a log file.

- Andy