SageTV 5.0.4 installer keeps screwing up my working ac3filter.(PERMANENTLY!)

[bitbyte]

I have a freshly installed XpMCE system. I bring it up, install ac3filter 0.70b (the last stable version). Configure ac3filter for spdif. Play my dvix/xvid or dvd with ac3 in it and it works fine.

Then I install SageTV. Now spdif passthrough stops working. So I go into the ac3filter config and lo and behold! Now all of a sudden I have 1.01a of ac3filter. This version has huge issues with spdif and isn't even a stable release and SageTV installed it even though I already HAD ac3filter in and working.

So I uninstall ac3filter and reinstall 0.70b. Still no spdif passthrough and WMP10 complains that it doesn't have the required codec to decode the ac3 stream. I run gspot, it says I have ac3filter installed and it shoudl be fine.

Nothing I have tried gets my spdif passthrough back into a working state. The only solution I've found is to reformat and start over.

Oh, did I mention I had to reformat and install XP and all the drivers etc 3 TIMES before I narrowd down what was screwing it up?

All of this leaves me with 3 questions.

1. Why (OH WHY?!?) does Sagetv installer put in a different version of ac3filter when I had one installed and working perfectly?
2. Why does it install a non-stable(!) version with KNOWN spdif problems?
3. How the <censored> do I get SageTV to install without doing this?

[gplasky]

Did you try installing the latest version, 1.09a?

AC3filter 109a

Gerry

[bitbyte]

Yes, I did do that.

But the passthrough still doesn't work. I no longer get the error saying it doesn't have a codec to decode, but something is still interfering with the passthrough. So I get audio through the spdif, just not digital audio.

Bottom line is that the SageTV installer is what keeps messing it up, and whatever it's doing isn't undone by an uninstall.

[joematt]

Try this:

Just
COPY "ac3filter.ax" from the AC3Filter folder in the Program Files folder to "Program Files\SageTV\SageTV" folder. When prompted say "Yes" to replace.

Then use the Control Panel applet to configure AC3filter. Rember you must stop Sagetv and anything else that uses AC3filter before you can configure.

This worked for me but may not work for you. It should not break anything as long a you COPY instead of move the .ax file

[bitbyte]

Well, the bigger issue at hand here isn't that AC3 is only breaking in Sage, it's broken completely, whether in SageTV or in windows media player. So copying that file isn't going to fix the system wide problem. I've already gone so far as to remove the file from the SageTV folder entirely, it had no bearing on spdif passthrough functioning again.

The SageTV installer is making some other sort of changes that's breaking spdif passthrough. I can take the system with no SageTV installed and all ac3 passthrough working fine. I install SageTV and it stops working for everything. I've narrowed it down specifically to the SageTV installation as the single event which causes spdif passthrough to cease functioning.

[ToxMox]

Longshot but perhaps the default decoder Sage installs is taking higher merit than the AC3filter and causing some other decoder to be playing your audio. Try Radlight Filter manager or whatever it is called and make sure AC3 is the highest audio decoder.

[bitbyte]

I was just sitting here thinking about this, and I think part of the problem may be that Sage registers the ac3filter.ax again when it installs. So the system either has 2 of them registered in different location (also different versions) or when they registered the second one it overrode the original ac3filter.ax that's installed in the ac3filter directory. I'm going to try and register the correct ac3filter.ax (copied from the ac3filter directory) from the sage directory. Alternatively I may just try and unregister the oine in the Sage folder.

I had the foresight on this last install to do a system restore point prior to installing SageTV. This might get my ac3 back into a working state, it won't help me when I install sage again though.

[stanger89]

Try this (at your own risk )

At a command prompt, go into the SageTV folder with ac3filter.ax.
Type:
regsvr32 /u ac3filter.ax

Then either re-install your preferred version, or, find the preferred ac3filter.ax and go to that folder in a command prompt and type:
regsvr32 ac3filter.ax

Or, have you tried re-installing 0.7 (or whatever) after Sage is installed?

[bitbyte]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

Longshot but perhaps the default decoder Sage installs is taking higher merit than the AC3filter and causing some other decoder to be playing your audio. Try Radlight Filter manager or whatever it is called and make sure AC3 is the highest audio decoder.

Well, I would think that reinstalling ac3filter and setting it to prefer the most recently installed one. I've messed with the radlight filter manager a little bit and to be honest i'm not entirely certain which part it is i need to be messing with as far as changing merits.

All of this talk about merit made me remmeber something odd in Sage's configuration though. When you go in and define your audio decoder in the setting in sage, it shows 2 ac3filter entries. So I'm thinking it has 2 different version registered like I posited in the posting just prior to this one.

[bitbyte]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Try this (at your own risk )

At a command prompt, go into the SageTV folder with ac3filter.ax.
Type regsvr32 /u ac3filter.ax

Then either re-install your preferred version, or, find the preferred ac3filter.ax and go to that folder in a command prompt and type:
regsvr32 ac3filter.ax

Hehe, thanks. That's exactly what I was just thinking about doing. As i just said in the previous posting, Sage has 2 ac3filter entries in the confguration selection menu where you define what audio decoder you are going to use.


Someone in a different posting I read awhile back suggested using Sonic DVD decoder pack. Do any of you know of a single pack that I could use which would eliminate the need for me to use ac3filter at all?

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by bitbyte

Hehe, thanks. That's exactly what I was just thinking about doing. As i just said in the previous posting, Sage has 2 ac3filter entries in the confguration selection menu where you define what audio decoder you are going to use.


Someone in a different posting I read awhile back suggested using Sonic DVD decoder pack. Do any of you know of a single pack that I could use which would eliminate the need for me to use ac3filter at all?

Get the Nvidia Purevideo Trial and see if using that works for you. I have it and use spdif passthrough no problem when playing DVDs and MPEGs with it.

[bitbyte]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

Get the Nvidia Purevideo Trial and see if using that works for you. I have it and use spdif passthrough no problem when playing DVDs and MPEGs with it.

I have that already. It's my recollection that it didn't work, and that's why I went to ac3filter. (At this point I wouldn't swear to which one came first tho, I'll give it a try after I uninstall and unregister all the ac3filter bits)

[ToxMox]

Originally Posted by bitbyte

I have that already. It's my recollection that it didn't work, and that's why I went to ac3filter. (At this point I wouldn't swear to which one came first tho, I'll give it a try after I uninstall and unregister all the ac3filter bits)

Yeah you need to make sure you edit the audio properties for the Nvidia Audio Decoder to enable spdif passthrough.

[bitbyte]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

Yeah you need to make sure you edit the audio properties for the Nvidia Audio Decoder to enable spdif passthrough.

I did that in the configurator. Altho it's fairly lacking as far as all the different options you really have. From what I've read at least.

Sometimes it's hard to guage what information you get out there is outdated.

[joematt]

Proof in pudding! Just because you registered new one...doesn’t mean old one gets unregistered. Just copy .ax file to sagetv folder. Maybe rename current one old. Come on what you got to loose. AC3filter will be same no matter which one is used. I believe AC3filter is the only thing that can decode an AC3 AVI stream. You can't configure while sagetv is running as changes will be undone when you exit sagetv.

Some times to much THINK ((r) IBM) gets in the way!

[nkd]

I have exactly the same problem ...

I have tried all the recommended fixes discussed here as well as others but without success. I know it is Sage doing this as the bug is reproducible. I can revert back to a clean image with Sage TV 4X using AC3 filter version 0.7b and working spdif passthrough using Sage and Media Player Classic. As soon as I install Sage TV 5X I have no spdif passthrough, not with Sage or Media Player Classic

At this point I have resigned to 2 alternatives

1. Revert back to 4X and wait until Sage finds a fix
2. Or live with PCM

Can some one from Sage please help

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by nkd

I have exactly the same problem ...

I have tried all the recommended fixes discussed here as well as others but without success. I know it is Sage doing this as the bug is reproducible. I can revert back to a clean image with Sage TV 4X using AC3 filter version 0.7b and working spdif passthrough using Sage and Media Player Classic. As soon as I install Sage TV 5X I have no spdif passthrough, not with Sage or Media Player Classic

At this point I have resigned to 2 alternatives

1. Revert back to 4X and wait until Sage finds a fix
2. Or live with PCM

Can some one from Sage please help

Have you submitted a support request to Sage yet? If you want them to help, you should definitely do that.

Mike

[nkd]

will do

Thanks

[newmedia42]

Does the new version finally have an option to choose NOT to install the Sage codec, or is this just another example of why it should? It boggles my mind why there isn't an 'Advanced' install that lets you not install the codec - it's simple to do, and would eliminate one consistent nightmare for some (most, or at least most of the serious ones) users who don't use the Sage codecs...

[judoGTI]

Just a reply I had a similar issue where the new Sage broke my AC3Filter. I also have two entries in the setup screen, and Sage uses neither when selected. I have tried messing with Radlight and it doesnt change anything.

I might try the recommend above uninstalling and unregistering and then reinstalling and see if it fixes.

This issue has caused me to have to go back to watching DVDs on my Playstation because the DVD audio is too low to hear without adjustments with the AC3Filter.