SageTV Playback issues.

[Kaervek]

I'm able to play my .avi movies just fine in Windows Media Player after installing the required codecs, however, SageTV simply refuses to give me video playback. I get audio just fine.

I've searched these forums, and every other answer to this issue seems to be: "if WMP can play it, SageTV can play it." This is getting quite frustrating, and I'm not sure what I can do about it.

Video Card: GeForce 6800GT
Codecs: K-Lite Codec Pack (I haven't done anything with this other than simply installing it - is there some configuration I should be doing?)

SageTV settings:
Video Renderer: Default (Can somebody explain what VMR9 is and why I do / don't want to use it?)
MPEG2 Video Decoder Filter: Default (What is this FFDShow, and why is it talked about so often?)

Like I said, Windows Media Player is playing these files without issue, as is Media Player Classic. Why won't SageTV show me some love? Any help would be great!

I should also note that while Windows Media Player lists the codec used as XviD MPEG-4 Video Decoder, the program "TFO Codec Finder" gives me the following information:

Video Codec FourCC: XVID
Video Codec: XviD MPEG-4
Codec or Variant Installed?: NO!
Video Width x Height: 576 x 240
Video FPS/Bitrate: 23.976 / 788 kbit/s

[mayamaniac]

If it is actually an Xvid AVI, then maybe uninstall the K-Lite codec and install the regular Xvid codec, you can find it with google. I wouldn't count on the "if WMP can play it, SageTV can play it" claim. But I know SageTV can play Xvid AVIs

[Kaervek]

Well, I uninstalled the K-Lite Codec Pack, reinstalled the XviD Codec all by its lonesome, and now they won't play at all.

[mayamaniac]

so maybe its not a standard Xvid AVI, but something different. Try playing it in WMP, and go to File > Properties. See if it list the codec as Xvid.

[Kaervek]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

so maybe its not a standard Xvid AVI, but something different. Try playing it in WMP, and go to File > Properties. See if it list the codec as Xvid.

Well, now that I've re-installed the K-Lite Codec Pack, WMP is playing the video back with artifacts. Before, WMP listed the codec as XviD MPEG 4, and now it's listing DivX Decoder Filter. When it was using XviD MPEG 4, it looked great, and now it looks horrible.

Interestingly enough, Media Player Classic is playing everything I throw at it flawlessly. I'm completely clueless.

[mayamaniac]

Yeah, I hear your frustration. I hated when people encode video using bizarre codecs that not many player support unless you install the correct codec. I suggest converting to some other format that is more friendly with SageTV. I had to do that with VirtualDubMod before.

[Kaervek]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

Yeah, I hear your frustration. I hated when people encode video using bizarre codecs that not many player support unless you install the correct codec. I suggest converting to some other format that is more friendly with SageTV. I had to do that with VirtualDubMod before.

But the codecs for the file types are installed - they're playing perfectly fine with Media Player Classic. I think that I'll try to re-install SageTV tonight when I get home (is that going to present any problems since I'm using a trial version right now?), and see if that helps any. So far I'm pretty much addicted to SageTV, and the experience has been excellent, but if I can't play a simple .avi file, I'm not too sure I'll be purchasing it.

[heffe2001]

Those 'codec' packs are nothing but trouble, they install alot of junk you don't need. I'd install the reguarl Divx codec, xvid codec, ac3 codec, and a decent MPG codec (Nvidia's for example), and you should be able to play about anything.

I have a few things in my library though that use Ogm and other codecs, but I try to re-encode that type stuff into something my system can play. Those oddball files are a big pain sometimes though.

Media Player Classic uses it's own codecs built in doesn't it? Or is that just the VLC player?

[Kaervek]

Originally Posted by jds23

You can't use Media player classic as a gauge, it does a lot of custom stuff that others won't do. Here is what I would do for starters before you reinstall Sage. Get a GOOD AVI, something you know that's been encoded with either divx/xvid/hdx4/etc. Download one off of the divx site if you need a good source. Then install your codecs (if you haven't done so already). Just make sure you get the latest versions of each. Now go try that AVI in Sage. The problem with saying "it won't play a simple AVI file" is that there are some AVI's floating around that were encoded with obscure encoders, and you may be dealing with some of that now.

I have had excellent luck with the HDX4 codecs, they play just about anything I throw at 'em. Here is a link to a free download of their player (which will also install the codec). http://80.190.241.27/hdx4/hdx4p.exe . It is from www.HDX4.com . I would try that first on the avi you are having trouble with, it just might solve your problems... Here is a download link to an AVI file for testing http://80.190.241.27/hdx4/trailer/gu_portable.avi (it is about 30 MB). The thing I can tell you is that it really isn't Sage that is the problem, I have gone through this before with several different PVR's, and once you get a good configuration of codecs installed, you will be golden. Good luck, and if none of this works, we'll just go to plan B, I am sure this is fixable!

As an afterthought, start with the HDX4 just for grins on that AVI you have, then go from there with the others. That will be the easiest and fastest anyway.

I'll definitely give this a shot tomorrow when I get back home. I'm really enjoying SageTV and everything about it, and I'd really hate to not commit to purchasing it over something that's undoubtedly fixable. Thanks alot for your help - I really appreciate you taking the time to help guide me through this little issue!

-Aaron

[reboot_this]

A nice free program to figure out what codecs a video file takes to play is GSpot. It will tell you what codecs are needed to play the file AND will let you know if they are installed on your system or not... just google gspot to get it.

One tip, after opening the program, just "drag-n-drop" the video file onto the gspot ui and it will populate practically everything you need to know about that file...

FYI, I had a file today that was an xvid file, gspot told me the codecs where installed (on my htpc)... the file played fine on my office computer but was having difficulties on the htpc still... I decided to reinstall the dvix codecs over their old installation, and then sage was able to play the file on the htpc. I guess the codecs got messed up on that computer... so just because gspot says the codecs are installed... those same codecs may be having issues!

hope that helps you out...

[Kaervek]

Well, HDX4 has fixed the issues I was having with Windows Media Player (Thanks!!), but SageTV still doesn't want to display the video from these particular files. The audio comes through just fine. Video Inspector says that I have the appropriate video codecs installed for them all (XviD MPEG-4).

Any other ideas?

[reboot_this]

I agree with jds23 about both gspot and video inspector, I just got used to using gspot because you don't have to install it to use it. I have also used gspot in the past to troubleshoot home videos I have made because it does have so much information!

But both are very good.

[robmarch]

I just ran into this issue with avi files created with my canon digital camera. I was pretty surprised that they didn't play out of the box, since windows media player plays them fine. I'll be trying all of the tips in this thread when I get a chance to see what's going on.