Codec/Decoder What?

[devnet]

Hi all,


I'm new to SageTV and have downloaded the trial. I've looked through the forums and found everything I need to know to set things up. The only thing I'm really confused about is decoders and codecs. I have no idea what they are, what they do, or how to set them up for Sage. I'd really like to have the best for everything as I've spent a butt-load of money to build my HTPC already...but I have no clue as to how to install/remove codecs/decoders and I have no idea where to set them in SageTV. Can anyone shed light on this subject for me?

[stanger89]

The terms "codec" and "decoder" are used pretty interchangeably. Codec is short for (basically) encoder/decoder. For example the PVR 350 has a hardware (a chip) MPEG codec, it encodes raw video to MPEG-2 and then decodes MPEG-2 when you play it via the 350's TV out.

Now, the way Sage works is it records (via the TV card) to MPEG-2. To play those you need an MPEG-2 decoder, usually called DVD Decoders, and most commonly installed by DVD playback software (like PowerDVD/WinDVD), but with MCE (which works roughly the same way as Sage) many companies are providing MPEG/DVD decoders all by themselves. There's really no great mystery to decoders, you just install them, and then pick them from the list in SageTV.

You set them in Detailed setup, Video decoders in the Video section and Audio decoders in the Audio section. Sage also provides separate settings for DVD playback in the DVD section.

[korben_dallas]

I'd highly recommend the Nvidia DVD/MPEG-2 Pure Video decoder. Even if you don't have an Nvidia video card (I don't), this is a great decoder and well worth the $20.

http://nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html
You can trial it for 30 days.

[devnet]

Thanks for the replies all

So how does one go about getting and installing these codecs? I know the nvidia one has been mentioned...but I'm sure there are some good free ones that I can slap in that will do a good job right? And how does one slap those codecs in?

[Dargason]

I think SageTV comes with its own codecs now... not sure though.

Do you have a capture card yet? If so, it probably has software that came with it and that software probably has codecs too. For example, my Plextor TV402U came with WinPVR and WinDVD which include the Intervideo codecs.

[devnet]

Actually, for some odd reason...the codecs that I found that came with the card wouldn't install (PVR350) on Windows...it kept saying that there wasn't some .dll it needed. So, I just picked up WinDVD and WOW! The picture quality DRASTICALLY improved. I was tickled...well pink

Now to find out which one provides the best experience! And to find out what the other DVD settings are in those menu's. I assume the wiki will have a majority of the info I'm after for that one...so it's off to do some light reading

[korben_dallas]

I'd say the codec is about 30% of the puzzle. The other important factors would be: source hardware and signal quality, input cables and capture hardware, SageTV capture settings, SageTV rendering settings, video card and its drivers, output cables and hardware, and the viewing tvmonitorpanelprojectorhandheldclientmvpextender.

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

tvmonitorpanelprojectorhandheldclientmvpextender

Ha! Say that ten times in a row real fast..