Vista Aero Getting disabled

[gman90706]

Anybody know how to fix this? I'm new to SageTV from BeyondTV... got Sage working great with my Hauppage 1800, but one big annoyance with Vista Aero:

1) Start SageTV works fine with Vista Aero enabled ...

2) If I start ANOTHER application that requires the user approval to continue, while SageTV is running, then SageTV will kick the Aero interface out and switch it to the "basic" scheme.

3) Exiting SageTV brings back the Aero interface.

Kindof annoying, considering Sage runs fine with Aero enabled on my system ... only when that UAC prompt hits, does it switch to basic.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[heffe2001]

If it were me, I'd disable UAC and be done with it. Don't use it on my laptop, but DO on my desktop (I use my laptop for work, and I'm on it 2 or 3x as much as my desktop, so it's more annoying there). The only problem I have with Sage & Vista, if you use placeshifter, it drops out of Aero as well when you play a video.

Originally Posted by gman90706

Anybody know how to fix this? I'm new to SageTV from BeyondTV... got Sage working great with my Hauppage 1800, but one big annoyance with Vista Aero:

1) Start SageTV works fine with Vista Aero enabled ...

2) If I start ANOTHER application that requires the user approval to continue, while SageTV is running, then SageTV will kick the Aero interface out and switch it to the "basic" scheme.

3) Exiting SageTV brings back the Aero interface.

Kindof annoying, considering Sage runs fine with Aero enabled on my system ... only when that UAC prompt hits, does it switch to basic.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[gman90706]

Thanks for the reply, yeah I realize disabling UAC is an option, but I'd rather keep it on - considering I've had zero problems with spyware/malware, etc. ever since upgrading to Vista ...

Hopefully there's some other way to fix this?

[Humanzee]

I don't think there is a fix, I have UAC disabled and Aero just won't stay up. SageTV was never written for Vista though it does work. Until Sage writes a version of their product to make use of the different graphics rendering capabilities of Vista I doubt you'll get far in Aero. If Aero is coming back with when you close sage, then is it just the annoyance of the alert messages that gets to you?

[Opus4]

I thought I saw a comment somewhere that if Aero is going away when a video is played, then maybe PS is configured to use Overlay. Have you tried checking the PS option for "Enable 3D Acceleration" in its settings dialog before connecting to a server?

- Andy

[mkanet]

Yes, this has happened to me. I'm not sure what it's related to, but the problem went away after I upgraded my SageTV version and PowerDVD version to the latest versions.

[gman90706]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I thought I saw a comment somewhere that if Aero is going away when a video is played, then maybe PS is configured to use Overlay. Have you tried checking the PS option for "Enabel 3D Acceleration" in its settings dialog before connecting to a server?

- Andy

Checked and yeah 3d Acceleration is enabled. I use 3 monitors + a TV for output, so the smoothest config for me was to just use the "Default" for Video Renderer.

As mentioned, SageTV starts fine and runs GREAT with Aero enabled and does not kick it down to basic mode... UNTIL I run another app (example I run MS Visual Web Developer which requires a user prompt) ... or if you have Sage running and try to do a software install of another app, which obviously requires user prompt with UAC on ... once you accept the user prompt, Sage kicks Aero out and drops to the Basic scheme, until you stop & restart Sage.

My understanding from reading around is it's because "an application is incompatible with the Windows Aero color scheme" .... but that explanation doesn't make sense to me since Sage starts fine and runs fine with Aero ... it's only after another app UAC prompt???

Anyway, yeah it's just an annoyance, but once you're used to Aero and Flip3d, etc.... it's tough to go back to XP style Alt-Tab stuff

(BTW, out of curiousity I tried BeyondTV and it does the same exact thing ... haven't researched that side though 'cuz I really like the Sage interface a lot better )

[gplasky]

It's not Sage that is incompatible-it's the other app you are running. Sometimes the same thing happens when you play an Internet video or streaming media off the web or just a web site with video links. It's the other apps that are the issue, not Sage.

Gerry

[gman90706]

Originally Posted by gplasky

It's not Sage that is incompatible-it's the other app you are running. Sometimes the same thing happens when you play an Internet video or streaming media off the web or just a web site with video links. It's the other apps that are the issue, not Sage.

Gerry

If so, I would think that the other app would kick the aero theme out when Sage isn't running - which isn't the case. Sage is what's kicking aero out, not the other apps, and when you close Sage it re-enables aero... try installing any software app with Sage running, you'll see what I mean...

[mkanet]

Did you check to see if you have PowerDVD 7 installed on that machine? If so, what version. You have to think about all the apps installed on your machine that have the ability to disable Vista Aero enhancements. Maybe one of those components get loaded indirectly. My problem went away after I upgraded both SageTV and PowerDVD.

[gman90706]

Originally Posted by mkanet

Did you check to see if you have PowerDVD 7 installed on that machine? If so, what version. You have to think about all the apps installed on your machine that have the ability to disable Vista Aero enhancements. Maybe one of those components get loaded indirectly. My problem went away after I upgraded both SageTV and PowerDVD.

Thanks mkanet! I didn't have PowerDVD installed, but did have BeyondTV installed ... which I think somehow uses some Cyberlink stuff? Anyway, I uninstalled BeyondTV and the problem went away - Aero now stays on regardless of UAC prompts.

EDIT: OOOPS - guess I spoke too soon, problem still happening, just that the "switched to basic" message isn't coming up now ... but it's still getting rid of aero - hmmmm time to dig some more I guess

[gman90706]

From my Application Event Log:

A request to disable the Desktop Window Manager was made by process (SageTV)

and 1 second after:

The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because composition was disabled by a running application

[mkanet]

What video decoder have you selected in SageTV? I think above you said you used the system default. Try specifying a specific decoder. Also can you tell us what decoders you have to choose from in that list?

[gman90706]

Originally Posted by mkanet

What video decoder have you selected in SageTV? I think above you said you used the system default. Try specifying a specific decoder. Also can you tell us what decoders you have to choose from in that list?

OK been playing with the settings and found how to make it go away...

My lists have:

Video Renderer
- Default Video Renderer
- Video Overlay Renderer
- DirectX9 Video Mixing Renderer (VMR9)

MPEG2 Video Decoder Filter
- Default
- ATI MPEG Video Decoder
- Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder
- InterVideo NonCSS Video Decoder for Hauppauge
- InterVideo Video Decoder
- SageTV MPEG Video Decoder


The best/smoothest video I can get and I use is: Default Video Renderer, SageTV MPEG Video Decoder. With this setup, Aero gets disabled on another app UAC prompt.

When Set to: VMR9 and SageTV MPEG Video Decoder, Aero does NOT get disabled.

I played with a bunch of combinations, and pretty sure now that it's the VMR9 vs. Default Video Renderer setting that causes it.... regardless of which decoder I choose.

BUT - with my system setup, VMR9 makes my video sketchy when in full screen mode on my 2nd video card or TV.

Setup is: Vid Card 1: ATI x1950Pro (PCIe x16) - 2 flatscreens 20" @ 1900x1200. Vid Card 2: ATI x1550 (PCIe x1) - 1 flatscreen 22" wide @ 1680x1050

VMR9 runs nice on my 1st card, but the 2nd card just can't handle the load (at only a 1x card it's understandable) - I'd gladly upgrade the 2nd vid-card BUT I only have one PCIe x16 slot (Dell XPS 410) and if I run the TV on the 1st card instead of the 2nd, I lose one monitor

OH WELL - guess I need more PCIe x16 slots what a bummer.

ANYWAY - yeah in VMR9 mode it's all fixed for Aero.... I'm just guessing that in "Default Video Renderer" mode I'm probably stuck dealing with the issue?

[Yooper]

That didn't do it for my system. I probably need to look at the decoder merits - I messed with that stuff some time ago.

[mickp]

Hey there,

Narflex just provided the solution (for me at least) to this problem here.

Originally Posted by Narflex

Try this property in SageClient.properties on Vista and see if it helps:

ui/window_title_style=10

http://www.daleks-of-god.net/sage/sageGlass.jpg


Mick.

PS: It took me a while to work out that my sageclient.properties has moved to c:\users\username\appdata\local\virtualstore\program files\sagetv under vista.

[gman90706]

Woot! Worked the glass fix worked like a champ as well....