Transcode to mpeg-4, no playback in sage

[camus]

Much to my suprise I can't play these files back in Sage, I don't have Divx installed on my HTPC.

On another PC I opened the file in WMP and it played but opened the Divx decoder.

I am hesitant intsalling that on my HTPC, what are you all using to playback mpeg-4 files?

I am not too familiar with mpeg-4 or Divx, typically when I need video I use h.264 (I am quicktime type).

[Patilan]

You don't really need to have Divx installed. Just add the following line to your sage.properties file (remember to quit Sage before doing that)

mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=true

With this option enabled, all mpeg4 files (Divx, Xvid, h264, etc.) will be played by the SageTVPlayer (aka: MPlayer) that comes bundled with Sage.

Unfortunately the version of MPlayer that ships with Sage is rather old (I wish they get a more recent and improved version), but it is still a nice swiss army knife that will nicely play almost any video format that ever existed.

Patilan

[morfinx]

I'm trying to accomplish the opposite, trying NOT to use mplayer to play H.264 files. Even if mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=false is set, h.264 files are still opened in mplayer, which uses the slower ffdshow decoder. Any suggestions?

[Patilan]

Originally Posted by morfinx

...h.264 files are still opened in mplayer, which uses the slower ffdshow decoder..

Huh?? MPlayer does NOT use any ffdshow decoder. It is a self-contained application which knows how to deal with numerous audio/video formats.

Anyway, for "mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback" the keyword is ALL. Not use it for ALL (false) means just use it for SOME -- for those mpeg4s for which no other compatible player is found on your PC. (which is the case with your h.264s) So "false" there doesn't mean disable MPlayer altogether.

Originally Posted by morfinx

...trying NOT to use mplayer to play H.264 files...

Then what are you trying to use to play H.264 files in Sage?

[morfinx]

Originally Posted by Patilan

Huh?? MPlayer does NOT use any ffdshow decoder. It is a self-contained application which knows how to deal with numerous audio/video formats.

Sure it does. Read this thread:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22379

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by morfinx

I'm trying to accomplish the opposite, trying NOT to use mplayer to play H.264 files. Even if mplayer/use_for_all_mpeg4_playback=false is set, h.264 files are still opened in mplayer, which uses the slower ffdshow decoder. Any suggestions?

ffmpeg is NOT ffdshow.

FFmpeg is a collection of free software that can record, convert and stream digital audio and video. It includes libavcodec. FFmpeg is developed under Linux, but it can be compiled under most operating systems, including Windows.

ffdshow is an open source decoder (and encoder) mainly used for the fast and high-quality decoding of video in the MPEG-4 ASP (e.g. encoded with DivX, Xvid or FFmpeg MPEG-4) and AVC (H.264) formats, but supporting numerous other video and audio formats as well. It runs on Windows and is implemented as a DirectShow decoding filter.

You can't be using ffdshow unless you installed it.

Gerry

[morfinx]

Originally Posted by gplasky

ffmpeg is NOT ffdshow.

FFmpeg is a collection of free software that can record, convert and stream digital audio and video. It includes libavcodec. FFmpeg is developed under Linux, but it can be compiled under most operating systems, including Windows.

ffdshow is an open source decoder (and encoder) mainly used for the fast and high-quality decoding of video in the MPEG-4 ASP (e.g. encoded with DivX, Xvid or FFmpeg MPEG-4) and AVC (H.264) formats, but supporting numerous other video and audio formats as well. It runs on Windows and is implemented as a DirectShow decoding filter.

You can't be using ffdshow unless you installed it.

Gerry

You are right, got me on a technicality there. ffdshow uses libavcodec which is a part of ffmpeg. Regardless, this was the the point of my thread.