Avisynth and SageTV, is it possible?

[justme]

I've been playing with the new SageTV versions(currently using 6.3.6) and like them, but...

For various reason I still want to use Dshow for playback. I've got it working(the way I want) with my OGM and MKV files using various properties settings and tweaking Dshow filter merits. Anyway this works great on a actual PC, meaning when I'm using SageTV(as a local playback device) and on SageTVClient(on another PC, osmium I setup the filters and properties). What I'd like to do though is get my tweaked playback to work with the hardware extenders(SD or HD).

I don't currently have an extender(want a new HD one) to actually test/play with. But as I understand(if I understand at all), the extenders are basically(maybe not in all file formats) just displaying a video stream(sometimes transcoded) sent by the SageTV server software. However since to get my desired playback features I need(want?) Dshow. So I made a simple Avisynth script that called a file by DirectShowSource, and after adding .avs(Avisynth's script file extention) to the properties file(as a video import file type), sage see's the script for playback(just no thumbnail which is unimportant to me for this). However Sagetv fails to render the video on attempting playback and the UI hangs for a long time before even displaying the error. I don't have the error message or logs handy but can recreate and supply this info if asked.

I know that mplayer(at least certain builds/versions) can handle avisynth as an input because the same script plays great(exactly as I want) with MPlayer-1.0rc2. I'm guessing that Sage's built-in transcoder(ffmpeg or memcoder based, I think but can't remember which) would fail too. I haven't tried it since I don't have a extender and don't own a placeshifter license(I know the trial was reset but I don't what to test until I get local avisynth playback working, this way would give me more time to use the trial's time limit to work on just streaming issues).

So questions,
Does anyone know if Sage can handle Avisynth?
Did Sage strip out the avisnyth support of it's mplayer build, OR do I just need to use a specific colorspace(tried yv12 and RGB) for it to work?
Could someone with an extender, and or, a placeshifter client see if avisynth input works that way? This would be fine(if extenders did work) even if local playback didn't work, since I only want it for the same features on my extenders and my PC works(as desired) using Dshow playback.
Does the new HD extender function in different/new way that would make all this avisynth work-around unneeded, as long as the Server can playback(as desired) using Dshow? I'm guessing there are several signifigant differences(between the SD and HD entenders behavior) from the posts I've read recently. The HD version appears to be able to handle many more file types/specs in a native(in hardware, no transcoding at all?) manner. Still I doubt that the server can just stream the Dshow video to the HD extender. Of course I'm just guessing... and maybe when I'm fully aware of the HD extender's full/mature abilities, I won't need anything other than the HD extender's built-in features to get what Dshow gets me now.

Any help(official or fellow user) would be appreciated, even if it's a straight "nope can't ever be done". My particular reasons for using avisynth may be rare, or even strange, but I think supporting something as powerful as avisynth would be a usefull ability in SageTV. There's so many filters and options it could potentially open a whole new world of playback options.

Thanks for your time,
justme

PS:Hi to all my old pals on this site, I am still alive . I know I've been quiet for a while, but I do still use and love Sage. Hope CES and recent announcements(HD hardware ) bring Sage an even wider following.

[sleeeves]

Originally Posted by justme

I've been playing with the new SageTV versions(currently using 6.3.6) and like them, but...

For various reason I still want to use Dshow for playback. I've got it working(the way I want) with my OGM and MKV files using various properties settings and tweaking Dshow filter merits.

Hi. I would LOVE to know what properties you set and the tweaks you used to get all your media to play in SageTV via DirectShow. I (unfortunately?) know my way around using DSFmgr, GraphEdit, etc. Some settings just don't seem to have an effect, even when all appears set correctly. I fell upon your post (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20336), but that thread died before the final results of your testing...

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by justme

What I'd like to do though is get my tweaked playback to work with the hardware extenders(SD or HD).

Well, this may stop right here. For the HD extender, it (basically) decodes everything natively on the box, no decoding on the PC, no filters involved nothing, the files are just streamed to the extender and it does the work.

For the SD extender, anything but SD MPEG-2 is transcoded to MPEG2 (by SageTVTranscoder) and there's no way to change that.

I'm guessing that Sage's built-in transcoder(ffmpeg or memcoder based, I think but can't remember which) would fail too.

It's ffmpeg based.

So questions,
Does anyone know if Sage can handle Avisynth?

Not directly, but you can put avisynth code in ffdshow and Sage can (directly or indirectly) use ffdshow for playback.

Did Sage strip out the avisnyth support of it's mplayer build, OR do I just need to use a specific colorspace(tried yv12 and RGB) for it to work?
Could someone with an extender, and or, a placeshifter client see if avisynth input works that way? This would be fine(if extenders did work) even if local playback didn't work, since I only want it for the same features on my extenders and my PC works(as desired) using Dshow playback.

Sage uses ffmpeg for transcoding. The mpeg4 player is mplayer based but I don't think that's used for anything but mp4, not sure. If you really want avisynth running, and to use your current dshow config, ffdshow with avisynth is what you want to try.

Does the new HD extender function in different/new way that would make all this avisynth work-around unneeded, as long as the Server can playback(as desired) using Dshow?

I'm guessing there are several signifigant differences(between the SD and HD entenders behavior) from the posts I've read recently. The HD version appears to be able to handle many more file types/specs in a native(in hardware, no transcoding at all?) manner. Still I doubt that the server can just stream the Dshow video to the HD extender. Of course I'm just guessing... and maybe when I'm fully aware of the HD extender's full/mature abilities, I won't need anything other than the HD extender's built-in features to get what Dshow gets me now.

For all intents and purposes, the HD extender doesn't use anything on the server for playback, beyond streaming the data. Some formats are remuxed by the server, but I have yet to run into anything that's transcoded by the server for the HD extender.

Short answer is, well twofold, 1) there's no way to get the extenders to use avisynth, and I doubt there will be, 2) if you want avisynth, you don't want extenders IMO.