What Happend to my Sage :(

[Justintoxicated]

Originally Posted by ToxMox

I just wanted to know what the default codecs were that were associated with his files. VMR is controlled in Sage so it didn't matter what the last step of the graph was. I wasn't looking for him to test playback in graphedit.

Ok I have that program but I honestly don't really know what I'm doing and I'm afraid to screw something up and make it worse.
I see VMR9 in the list, but no VMR7. What exactly am I supposed to do with this progam?

[ToxMox]

Don't worry about VMR9 or VMR7 etc. You don't need to mess with that. Just make sure Sage is set to use VMR9. As for the other stuff do what I mentioned. Use DSFilter manager and adjust the merits for the codecs I mentioned in the above post to the merits I suggested. Make a system restore point before doing this and that should be able to return you to the before state if anything goes wrong or simply write down what the current merits are before changing them. It isn't doing anything that isn't reversible. I'm sorry but I don't really have the time to post step-by-step instructions

[ToxMox]

Perhaps this will help. I'm attaching screenshots of most of my merits for various codecs. Use them as a guideline if you like. Also bump up AC3Filter to the HIGHEST merit possible.
DSFilter manager is DirectShow Filter Manager. A quick google will get that for you. Once you have set your merits then reboot and try your playback problem files.

[Justintoxicated]

What exactly does changing the merits do? (does it change Priority?)
I don't have 1/2 of the codes your using as high merit, and you don't have 1/2 the ones I am using

I tried to make the high merits match as close as possible, but probably only have 1/3 of the same ones that you have. Only one Roxio was set high.

BTW I still have bars using Sage so I reset to teh system restore point.
Why would sage have problems when all other video players play everything fine?

Since our machines are so different is there a general concept to figuring out what merit should be set for what? I attached my merits after system restore. only thing I changed was the AC3 filter to maximum.

Also can you tell me again why it is so important to run in VMR9 vs Overlay?

[ToxMox]

I just want to make sure...you rebooted after changing the merits right? and lowered all the ones I mentioned? It isn't important to run VMR9 instead of overlay...if you are happy with overlay then use it.

[ToxMox]

also it looks like you raised the ffdshow mpeg4 video decoder instead of lowering it.

[talbot3]

One difference between overlay and VMR9 is the way the video color space is handled. The overlay renderer most likely will convert the video color range to PC, but VMR9 will pass it thru to the display device. Some people say expanding 16-235 to 0-255 causes color banding, but I cannot see it on my hardware.

Also with VMR9, sage is able to render the OSD transperant over the video.

I prefer overlay so that I do not have to mess around with the FSE mode and so that I do not have to recalibrate between video and playing games.

[Justintoxicated]

No I didn't reboot! l

The above shot is after I used my restore point (so back to default) but i did lower the things you suggested first I just did not reboot before trying in sage!

I'll give it another shot, but it sounds like I want overlay anyways. I'm not sure what color banding looks like. I also do not understand why I would have to re-calibrate between games and TV; cann you explain? thought I saw some color differences but I figured it was all in my head.

Looks like time to lookup color banding, since I don't really know what that is. I had OSD overlay working when I first installed sage (and had CCCP installed so something must have gotten overwritten by re-installing CCCP after sage was installed) I don't really like OSD verlay anyways and quickly changed to not use it.

Previous poster said his video card (7600) did not like FSE mode (whatever that is) and I found that disabeling the exclusive setting solved my issue with trying to maximize (sage was giving exceptions). (F = Full, S = Screen, E = exclusive? ) just a guess.

I also game on my PC so perhaps Overlay is what I need. perhaps I don't see color banding because my TV is also my monitor (or is this something more signal related?)? I'm using a 37" westinghouse 1080p TV to serve dual purposes. I'm Extreamly happy with this set as a PC monitor. Until you try it you would never guess how clear text can look on a TV

Setup has been a bit painful but I have learned alot of great stuff thanks everyone for their help so far. Should I even screw with the DSFilter editor or just leave it in overlay mode? I would love to understand more about what I am doing and how to know which Codecs should have higher merit. Should i re-start after every change while trying to fix the problem?) I think its the ffdshow that you have mentioned twice as needing lower priority (how low?). I would HATE to break something, or worse break something and not know it for a month or 2 I will leave the AC3 filter with high merit though for sure.

Any other changes I definately should make to the list? Also Anny insightful info for anny of my questions would be much appreciated.

[Conejo]

Originally Posted by Justintoxicated

I'm not sure what color banding looks like.

These are examples of color BANDING. This normally occurs with compression algorithms that reduce color bit-levels to reduce overall size, but banding can also occur if you play with the drivers and decoders. What do you think happens to digital brighteness levels 0-255 if you force it to display brighter? Change it and it's no longer mapped 1 to 1. Some level numbers disappear, others get repeated. The result is visual banding.

I also do not understand why I would have to re-calibrate between games and TV; cann you explain?

Television and Movies are biased toward a DARKER overall screen. Video Games are generally brighter. People adjust their TVs to taste. If you don't need to adjust then don't.

Previous poster said his video card (7600) did not like FSE mode (whatever that is)

I wish you would read the previous posts carefully. I mentioned changing FULL SCREEN EXCLUSIVE mode in troubleshooting but you seem to have ignored it. Full-screen exclusive mode is a powerful feature that enables you to suspend the windowing system so that drawing can be done directly to the screen. This 'mode' is commonly used by GAMES to improve the drawing speed to the display, especially when you don't need other window apps interrupting. Unfortunately other installed apps and drivers can interfere and causing ongoing issues difficult to troubleshoot. (This is especially so when people want their 'computer' do be everything, not just a SageTV PVR).

[Graphic is from Wikipedia Color Banding]

[Justintoxicated]

Originally Posted by Conejo

These are examples of color BANDING. This normally occurs with compression algorithms that reduce color bit-levels to reduce overall size, but banding can also occur if you play with the drivers and decoders. What do you think happens to digital brighteness levels 0-255 if you force it to display brighter? Change it and it's no longer mapped 1 to 1. Some level numbers disappear, others get repeated. The result is visual banding.


Television and Movies are biased toward a DARKER overall screen. Video Games are generally brighter. People adjust their TVs to taste. If you don't need to adjust then don't.


I wish you would read the previous posts carefully. I mentioned changing FULL SCREEN EXCLUSIVE mode in troubleshooting but you seem to have ignored it. Full-screen exclusive mode is a powerful feature that enables you to suspend the windowing system so that drawing can be done directly to the screen. This 'mode' is commonly used by GAMES to improve the drawing speed to the display, especially when you don't need other window apps interrupting. Unfortunately other installed apps and drivers can interfere and causing ongoing issues difficult to troubleshoot. (This is especially so when people want their 'computer' do be everything, not just a SageTV PVR).

[Graphic is from Wikipedia Color Banding]

No I didn't ignore the FSE mode in fact you solved my problem, I just didn't understand what it actualy did (thanks for makind it more clear). I am definately using my computer to do everything (Several background apps).

I just forgot what it stood for for a min (Yea that looked dumb). Info overload when trying to lean all ths stuff. I guess I will work on getting VMR9 then to see if I can get a better picture although I have not noticed much banding (also have not been looking for it).


Calibrated my monitor with a spyder, but I can always click up the backlight if needed, or incrase contrast within the game engines (I have the backlight on the lowest setting anyways)