MPEG2 Decoder Question

[badger02]

Hi,
I have a new Dell Zino running Vista with the default ATI HD 3200 integrated graphics - not that powerful I know, but I was hoping it would be enough to play HD from my OTA tuner. The tuner I have is a Dvico Fusion USB tuner. When I use the Dvico TV program, it plays no problem, when I try using Sage, with the Sage MPEG2 decoder it barely plays. I've tried using the Nvidia PureVideo decoder and that works well in Overlay mode, but tears slightly in VMR9 - I can't remember exactly how bad EVR was, but I know it didn't work. Anyway, to my point - is there a way to use the Dvico MPEG decoder with sage? I think I've heard that VMR or EVR is better than overlay, so I'd like to get to that point. Also, (at least on my previous system) when on overlay, MPEG4 files didn't work.

Thanks for your help,
Scott

[SWKerr]

I hope you got the dual core but either way you should have not problems with OTA Mpeg2 files. Perfect playback and codecs are challenging. The 3200 should be ok as long as you get the hardware acceleration working.

Not sure what Nvidia PureVideo you are using but they are pretty old at this point I bought the PureVideoBronze awhile back thinking they would be newer but they still sucked. I like the Cyberlink codecs for MPEG2 playback but I am not particularly found of their software. I have Cyberlink 8 but don't like to install it becasue of some auto play functions I can't seem turn off. It also seems to no longer displays the codces to sage when I install an update. I have tried for find a minimalist setup for my Clients and here is what I do.

My main clients are Vista64 but it appears to work for Windows7 32 and 64 on my dual boot Desktop. The main machines are ATI 4550 but the same setup works flawlessly on my Asrock 780G/3200 Test box which is now Vista 64. (Athlon 5400)

Clean install of Vista
Update Service Pack 1
Update Service Pack 2
All other online updates
Latest ATI 3200 Drivers from ATI site "9-12_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu.exe"
Latest Realtek HD Drivers from thier site. "Vista_Win7_R236.exe"
FlashPlayer: latest beta to get hardware acceleration "flashplayer10_1_p2_activex_121709.exe" and "flashplayer10_1_p2_plugin_121709.exe"
Silverlight: Silverlight.exe
Latest DirectX: "directx_aug2009_redist.exe"
Cyberlink8 or CLVDPack(Clean install of Cyberlink Codecs without the Player)
FFDShow: "ffdshow-20041012.exe"
Haali Media Splitter: Latested gives me problems with VC1 files "MatroskaSplitter110109.exe"
SageTV Client: "SageTVClient_V6_6_2Setup.exe"
SageMC: "sagemc_6_3_9a_full.zip"

I generally also install VLC, it does not help with Sage but will playback most files in its own lite player: "vlc-1.0.3-win32.exe"
I also install the Arcsoft TME software that came with my HD-PVR to playback my BluRay rips but I do not use those codecs in Sage. (Have to physically attach the HD-PVR to it once in order to install updates.)

I test on my dual monitor setup with the main one running 1920x1080.

In Sage I select EVR \ Cyberlink 8 for MPEG2 \ Cyberlink 8 for h.264. I use FFDShow for the Audio Decoder Filter

Turn Windows Areo: (seems to be off by default)
My Netflix playback had bad tearing and a google search indicated having Areo on would fix it. It worked and appears to fix the minor tearing I got in Sage as well.

I can play back without problems. 1080p BluRay rips, h.264 files from HD-PVR 1080i and 720p, 1080i MPEG2 files from my HDHR, DVD rips, MakeMKV mkv files from DVDs (No Menu DVDs), Other older formats Divx etc.