HD-PVR HD picture does not fill the screen

[MalibuDave42]

First off, thanks to all that went before me. Installed the HD PVR first time without lockups etc. It's been working in 5.1 and all.

The image I am getting is definately HD, but it is not filling the screen. A HDHR tuned channel does fill the screen. I was getting a Playback error with the default h.264 video decoder filter. I have that set to DivX h.264 decoder. Could this be the problem?

Thanks for the help.

[SWKerr]

"DivX h.264 decoder" Yes, that would be my guess.

The HD-PVR comes with TME which has the Arcsoft codec you need. Did you install it on the machine you are using for playback?

The HDHR will use a MPEG2 codec which is very common and generally free but is totally different form what you need for the HD-PVR.

A good h.264 codec will come with Win7 (will work with Sage Fix) but I still use the Arcsoft or Cyberlink for h.264 playback. CoreAVC is great on Nvidia hardware but does not support hardware acceleration on ATI. I also download the latest ffdShow for audio.

[MalibuDave42]

I did not install TME. I did not realize that was required.

Now that I have it installed, I do not see a ArcSoft nor TME codec to choose. It seemed to install correctly, asked for a reboot, I opened up Sage and no new h.264 codec as far as I can see. I even scrolled through the complete list of all codecs.. ok, what's the secret? :-)

[Spectrum]

You have to register the codec.
I did it as follows:

1. download DirectShow Filter Manager (DFM) from http://www.softella.com/dsfm/index.en.htm
2. Unzip and run DFM
3. Click "Register New Filter"
4. Point it to ASVid.ax default location is %PROGRAMFILES%\ArcSoft\TotalMedia Extreme\Codec\ASVid.ax

Note: %PROGRAMFILES% is an environmental variable. It is usually "C:\Program Files" or "C:\Program Files (x86)"

After registering the codec it should be available in Sage. Might want to shut down Sage and stop the service before registration to be sure it picks it up.

[MalibuDave42]

Man am I feeling dumb..

Your provided Great directions, I followed the link, downloaded it, unzipped DSFMgr, fired it up... there no buttons to register the codec. The screen shot on the download page shows buttons, but the program does not have any buttons to register the codec.

Do you have a version that does?

[Spectrum]

I just used whatever version was available when I did this a month or so ago. I just tried 0.5 which is what's there now (and probably what I used before) and it works just fine. The page claims support for Win95-XP but it worked fine for me on Vista x64 and Win7 x86. Not sure what to say other than you may have funkiness from a codec pack if you have installed any in the past /shrug.

I attached a pic of what I get when I run DSM on Vista64 with the add button circled in red. YMMV

[MalibuDave42]

Totally wierd. I am on Vista 32bit with all patches applied. I do not have those buttons. If it's not one thing, it's another...

Thanks for the help

[Spectrum]

Another thought. One of the first things I do on a fresh Vista install is turn off UAC. Are you right clicking and running as administrator? Not applicable if you have UAC disabled though

[SWKerr]

administrator is very important!

It seems like I have had that problem before as well. I think I changed the resolution or font size and it showed up.

[MalibuDave42]

For my dedicated HTPC, first thing I do is turn off UAC. There is not much of a sercurity risk, especially considering the pain in the "#&&" it is.

Justr tried running as admin.... no love. Attached is my screen cap. Notice no buttons and no scroll bars. BTW, all other apps seem to be fine.

Edit: missed the post with the font size suggestions.... BINGO, DSF buttons and scroll bars now visible - and not feeling so dumb - who wouldda guess it.

Back to the original inquiry -- double BINGO.. now running full screen as adverstised. Though, I not as crisp a picture as the feedfrom the HDHR from OTA. Any thoughts on this?

[Fuzzy]

It's never going to be as crisp as OTA. OTA is the far highest quality you can get into your home (save possibly some Big Dish channels). The cable.sat feeds are very highly compressed in most areas, so they will definately take a quality hit.

[MalibuDave42]

I am still not getting consistent fullscreeen playback. SWKerr mentions "Cyberlink for h.264 playback" codec, then Spectrum gives details how to register the TMC codec.

What is the exact name and location of the Cyberlink codec so I can register and try that one.

Thanks

[aclarke]

***
Edit: I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot for posting an audio question in a video thread, and I'm an idiot because the problem was just that I had the volume all the way down in SageTV. I humbly apologize, and entreat you to please carry on as before, as if I was never here at all.
***

Thanks everybody for your postings here. Using DFM I was able to get video showing. I had audio earlier, but now no matter what setting I choose I don't get audio.

I know my files have audio in them as they play fine in VLC. I have the following settings under "mpeg2 audio decoder filter" in SageTV setup and I've tried them all:

default
ac3filter
mpeg audio decoder
sagetv mpeg audio decoder

Should I be able to get an ArcSoft audio decoder in this list as well like I did for video? If anyone can help me get audio playing, I'd be very happy! I'm running an analogue line out from my computer into my receiver.

- Andrew.