Option to NOT install MPEG decoder on installer

[newmedia42]

Can you please please please add an option to the installer to NOT install the Sage MPEG decoder package? I run the NVIDIA PureVideo decoder, and every time in I install the new version of Sage, the AC3 Decoder bumps the PureVideo one, I need to go in and delete it from the DirectShow list and then re-install PureVideo to get everything back to it's happy place. It's quite a bit of a pain, and I have to imagine that while I think it's cool that they're included, there's more than a few people on here that don't need to install them.

[ToxMox]

Are you saying that by going into detailed setup -> Video/Audio and setting MPEG2 Video Decoder Filter to NVIDIA Video Decoder and setting MPEG2 Audio Decoder Filter to NVIDIA Audio Decoder isn't working for you?

[gplasky]

Bring up Windows Media Player. Go into Tools-Options-DVD-Advanced. Find the AC3 Decoder and change the option in the last tab (i think) to prefer other decoder or whatever it is. I don't think you need to change this each time you install Sage but if you do it's easier than reinstalling your decoder.

Gerry

[bcjenkins]

I would agree with the original request. I think that should be in there.

B

[newmedia42]

Once the Sage one gets installed, I've never been able to get PureVideo back to workable without deleting their AC3 Decoder - to be honest with you, I don't really care what steps I have to go through, I keep having to go through them every time I install a new update. Either way I don't want the thing installed, and it's not a huge request I think to have an option. It just strikes me as odd since alot of people on here use other decoders, and it is a very easy change to make the guarentees that you won't have problems.

[ToxMox]

While I do agree that this is a decent feature request I'm still just trying to solve your problem in the meantime.

I'm only asking because it doesn't make sense what is happening to you unless you have Sage configured to use the default decoders instead of specifically set to the Purevideo ones. If you do have Sage configured to use the Nvidia ones specifically then something is going wrong during install that it is hosing your properties file which I've seen happen when people don't completely shutdown Sage and stop the Sage service before upgrading.

[newmedia42]

Yeah, I agree that it was causing me no end of grief until I tracked it down to the AC3 Decoder getting priority. I explicitly specify the PureVideo decoders, and it always works correctly on the video decoder of things, but the audio one always encounters the problem. My guess is that the problem is not with the Sage not selecting the PureVideo audio decoder, my guess is that the audio filtergraph is being built that includes some component of the AC3 Decoder - which I normally wouldn't even know was working, except that I use the digital output, so if it doesn't use the PureVideo audio decoder, then I can't hear anything. I should also point out that this is only relevent to HD recordings, if I remember correctly the problem doesn't manifest itself with SD recordings (but I could be wrong). When I originally encountered it, I tried jamming the merit for the AC3 Decoder down to nothing, and it still keep getting used...

On my install process - I'm actually not running the service, I run Sage old-school (just running the full client). I had the service crash on my ages ago, so I'm probably going to switch back to using it, but everything I'm describing happens with Sage definitely not being running. Also, a reboot doesn't have much of an effect on what I'm describing - I can easily do the following:

1. Shutdown Sage
2. Install new Sage

If I try running video now, it will go through the AC3 filter. If I reboot, same thing, so normally I continue to:

3. Manually remove AC3 Decoder from Directshow (the one in the Frey directory)
4. Reinstall PureVideo

The interesting thing is that if I just do step 3, then it won't playback audio properly - it just says something about not being able to locate the correct codec (WMP), so I always need to perform set 4 to make it happy again.

[StephaneM]

Originally Posted by newmedia42

Once the Sage one gets installed, I've never been able to get PureVideo back to workable without deleting their AC3 Decoder

Well this is not directly the fault of the AC3 filter or SageTV MPEG decoder, the culprit here is the SageTV MPEG Splitter.

The SageTV MPEG Splitter is given high priority and it should not be, so you can use the Radlight Filter manager to change its priority to "do not use" (of course SageTV can still use it). Also you'll have to configure AC3 filter to not be used (directly in AC3 Filter configuration utility)

So SageTV can install any decoder (audio / video) they wants but should set their priority to "do not use" so as no other application other than SageTV will use them.

Ohterwise I agree, as soon as you install SageTV it breaks the audio part of Nvidia DVD Decoder and it shouldn't.

[Polypro]

A choice to install or not install AC3 Filter would be nice, but it's only a few clicks to get it back:

1. Upgrade Sage.

2. Open Radlight Filter Manager, expand DirectShow Filters, select AC3 Filter, choose properties, last tab "Prefer Other Decoder".

3. Close Radlight.

(Or you can go through WMP, like stated above).

That's all I have to do on my system.

P

[newmedia42]

Thanks StephaneM, I'll give that a shot next time I re-install Sage...

PolyPro, the reason I make the suggestion is two fold:

1. It's annoying to me to have to perform extra steps each time I update (and running the beta's lately, that's been fairly often).
2. Improve the experience of users who are not as sophisticated as me.

The second one is really the big one - by adding this simple option, no one else running PureVideo or another codec that has a similar problem would have this problem. For me it was annoying enough but I knew I'd be able to track it down; but for a new user to the Sage just trying it out, this could be reason enough to move on to another platform (which I would consider to be a loss for both SageTV and the user).