Why Are These Things Still Broke (at least for me)?

[AWS]

1.) Why is Sage supposed to be set to "default" (talking about the various renderers in the settings for Audio/Video and DVD)? Why can't we set the renderer to the setting of our choice and have it work? It doesn't make sense. If I want to use my nvidia codec for audio and video I should be able to select it within Sage and have it function correctly. Why have it always set to "default" and then rely on some other program to set it for me?

Maybe my very limited knowledge of how Sage works is showing here, but I would have thought it'd be "fixed" by now - version 6. Or at least have some sort of "Defaults Manager" where can pick and chose what codec will decode what file format/type.

2.) Why have my ripped DVD's and "real" DVDs menus not worked since something like verion 2? It's something that I've just learned to get used to; navigating the menu system with where I *think* the first menu selector is.

[GKusnick]

As far as I know, #1 is an Nvidia bug, not a Sage bug.

[nielm]

Originally Posted by AWS

2.) Why have my ripped DVD's and "real" DVDs menus not worked since something like verion 2? It's something that I've just learned to get used to; navigating the menu system with where I *think* the first menu selector is.

this is also a combination decoder/renderer problem...

For me on XP, Sage decoder does not display menu highlights. Intervideo (windvd) and FFmpeg do. I don't have nvidia so I cannot comment

[mayamaniac]

I've also tried cyberlink, sonic cinema, nvidia, intervideo and elecard. And Intervideo works best for me also, DVD menus works well.

[AWS]

Ok, thanks. for the responses.

I'm coming off as a complete arse... Don't get me wrong, I think Sage is a great product and I'm very happy with it. I just wish little things like "default" would work and DVD menus. Little things.

AWS

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by AWS

Ok, thanks. for the responses.

I'm coming off as a complete arse... Don't get me wrong, I think Sage is a great product and I'm very happy with it. I just wish little things like "default" would work and DVD menus. Little things.

AWS

DVD menus are fixed in 6.2.10. I do feel that Sage has focused too much lately on wiz-bang features at the expense of basic functionality. I was miffed they let 6.1 out the door without fixing the known DVD menu bug.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by AWS

1.) Why is Sage supposed to be set to "default" (talking about the various renderers in the settings for Audio/Video and DVD)? Why can't we set the renderer to the setting of our choice and have it work? It doesn't make sense.

I run VMR9 and M-Audio Revolution renderers exclusively on my primary Sage client (only place I care what renderer it uses).

If I want to use my nvidia codec for audio and video I should be able to select it within Sage and have it function correctly. Why have it always set to "default" and then rely on some other program to set it for me?

I use nVidia for audio and video and it works perfectly. There's only one small catch, and that is that you can't access the tray tools if you specify nVidia as the decoder. I'm 99% sure this affects TheaterTek as well (they disable the tray icon). But unless you're constanly accessing the tray tools, what's it matter if you can't access them? I have nVidia selected explicitly for Audio and Video decoder for MPEG and DVD and it works perfectly (save aforementioned tray tool bug in nVidia).

Maybe my very limited knowledge of how Sage works is showing here, but I would have thought it'd be "fixed" by now - version 6. Or at least have some sort of "Defaults Manager" where can pick and chose what codec will decode what file format/type.

There are properties for MPEG2, DVD, and H.264 already, I'm not really sure what more you would need, that covers pretty much everything there are multiple options for.

2.) Why have my ripped DVD's and "real" DVDs menus not worked since something like verion 2? It's something that I've just learned to get used to; navigating the menu system with where I *think* the first menu selector is.

Probably 99% of DVD menus work fine here (VMR9). There's the occasional oddball though.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by GTwannabe

DVD menus are fixed in 6.2.10. I do feel that Sage has focused too much lately on wiz-bang features at the expense of basic functionality. I was miffed they let 6.1 out the door without fixing the known DVD menu bug.

I'd almost be willing to lay down money that nobody reported the bug in 6.1, so they didn't know it was there. That seems to be the case probably 90% of the time here with the "annoying" bugs, everybody assumes SageTV knows about them and expects them to get fixed, and then Jeff will stop by and say nobody reported it.

I'm guessing that's the basic issue. Doesn't seem like SageTV ignores any known bug, but far too often it seems like there are some bugs (DVD menu?) that don't show up in their internal/private testing, don't get reported by the public, and thus propogate.

[AWS]

Guilty as charged. I think I may have logged a bug issue... maybe two years ago

So the menus are working for DVDs? Humm. I'm one of the oddballs then that doesn't have it working. Any hints?

So you're saying I *can* specify the nvidia decoders but I just lose the icon in the task tray? Well that isn't a problem since I only use it once to set it up then don't touch after that. It was my (incorrect) impression that if you specified a decoder, like nvidia, then it wouldn't use it.

"There are properties for MPEG2, DVD, and H.264 already, I'm not really sure what more you would need, that covers pretty much everything there are multiple options for." -- I haven't found that part. I'll look for it.

Thank you again.

AWS

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by AWS

Guilty as charged. I think I may have logged a bug issue... maybe two years ago

So the menus are working for DVDs? Humm. I'm one of the oddballs then that doesn't have it working. Any hints?

So you're saying I *can* specify the nvidia decoders but I just lose the icon in the task tray? Well that isn't a problem since I only use it once to set it up then don't touch after that. It was my (incorrect) impression that if you specified a decoder, like nvidia, then it wouldn't use it.

"There are properties for MPEG2, DVD, and H.264 already, I'm not really sure what more you would need, that covers pretty much everything there are multiple options for." -- I haven't found that part. I'll look for it.

Thank you again.

AWS

Use DECCHECK to set PureVideo as your default MPEG2 decoder. Then set Sage to use the Default codec. When video starts playing, the nVidia tray icon should appear.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by AWS

Guilty as charged. I think I may have logged a bug issue... maybe two years ago

So the menus are working for DVDs? Humm. I'm one of the oddballs then that doesn't have it working. Any hints?

Not really, nVidia + VMR9 works fine here.

So you're saying I *can* specify the nvidia decoders but I just lose the icon in the task tray? Well that isn't a problem since I only use it once to set it up then don't touch after that. It was my (incorrect) impression that if you specified a decoder, like nvidia, then it wouldn't use it.

Yes, exactly, the tray icon appears either way, you just can't access the properties if you specify the decoder.

"There are properties for MPEG2, DVD, and H.264 already, I'm not really sure what more you would need, that covers pretty much everything there are multiple options for." -- I haven't found that part. I'll look for it.

There isn't a GUI option for the h264 decoder, it's in the properties file. It's been mentioned several times on the forum, but I don't have it handy at the moment (I don't use it).

[AWS]

I use the VMR9 + nVidia and I still can't get DVD menus. Maybe my problem is with Vista... ? Video card drivers wouldn't have anything to do with DVD menus would they?

AWS

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by AWS

I use the VMR9 + nVidia and I still can't get DVD menus. Maybe my problem is with Vista... ? Video card drivers wouldn't have anything to do with DVD menus would they?

AWS

Can you see the DVD menu selection if you switch to the overlay renderer? If so, I remember there was a registry setting that Narflex posted quite a while back to fix the issue in VMR9. I'll have to hunt down the post.

Aloha,
Mike

Edit: Here it is.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Frey Technologies\SageTV\DirectX9\YUVMixing=0

[michelkenny]

Isn't there a registry key that you can change to make the tray icon show up even when you use "default"? I don't remember what it is, but I vaguely remember using it a year or so ago when I was still using PC clients.

[AWS]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Can you see the DVD menu selection if you switch to the overlay renderer? ... [/CODE]

No, I get no DVD menus no matter what configuration I use - VMR, Overlay, Smart, Automatic, Film, etc.

For those of you that DO have DVD menus working with the nvidia codec, would you mind sharing your settings?

Are all DVD menus "equal"? Meaning, if I pop in "Ice Age: The Meltdown" is it a guarantee that every other machine out there will handle it the same? Band of Brothers DVD 2, etc?

Thanks.

AWS

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by michelkenny

Isn't there a registry key that you can change to make the tray icon show up even when you use "default"? I don't remember what it is, but I vaguely remember using it a year or so ago when I was still using PC clients.

Unless you're using TheaterTek, it always shows up.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by AWS

No, I get no DVD menus no matter what configuration I use - VMR, Overlay, Smart, Automatic, Film, etc.

For those of you that DO have DVD menus working with the nvidia codec, would you mind sharing your settings?

SageClient 6.2
Geforce 6800 (I think the 93.71 drivers)
nVidia 1.02-223 decoders
VMR9 w/ FSE
nVidia Video Decoder
M-Audio Revolution (audio renderer)
nVidia Audio Decoder

Are all DVD menus "equal"? Meaning, if I pop in "Ice Age: The Meltdown" is it a guarantee that every other machine out there will handle it the same? Band of Brothers DVD 2, etc?

Whenever I have trouble, it seems consistently to be the non-animated menus (completely static). And even then, I think it's just a subset of those.

[AWS]

This must be a combination issue to include the video card driver. I've configured my system to be like that of what you posted above, except for the nVidia driver version, and I still don't have DVD menus (offline or real DVD).

Ugh.

Life goes on.

AWS